Table 5 Healthcare utilization quotes. Quotes illustrating our findings regarding local health-endangering settings and practices (primarily healthcare utilization related) and the local consultants’ related ethnically framed reasoning
Quotes | Exposure elements |
|---|---|
‘Of course they [healthcare staff in the nearby administrative centre] treat non-Roma differently… but they don’t do any harm to us.’ K., man, 27, medium social level [Sep 2005] | Discrimination |
‘What’s causing them, what’s causing them [diseases in general]… bacteria, right? [A.B.: ‘And what’s that exactly?’]… It’s these miniature [sic] animals… They live in the body, there are lots of them there; they eat and they destroy you with it… at least this is how I saw it [in a TV documentary].’ D., woman, 31, medium social level [Sep 2005] | Medical knowledge |
‘You bet I’d see the doctor more often [did she have more cash for public transport] with my kids at least […] How would we take those [prescription pills]? We take them exactly as told [by the healthcare staff] sure, the way the hours are supposed to go […] Are you crazy? You cannot just add more to what you should be taking, that could hurt you… or it just doesn’t work then.’ A., woman, 34, low social level [Sep 2005] | Healthcare affordability; SEP; healthcare use; compliance |
‘Most people here only make some effort [taking medications for chronic diseases] when they are in unbearable pain. A soon as the pain goes, they return to normal Gypsy life. [AB: What do you mean?] You know, we stop caring that much. You start smoking more, eating what you like and so on.’ D2., woman, 34, lived in a nearby town, visiting a high social level sister [Jul 2005] | Compliance; social norms; bonding social capital |
‘We [the Roma] are like that. We cannot withhold pain. When we are in pain, we panic. But what can we do? […] I have tried to stay off chilli food for some time. I took the pills [medications for oesophagitis]. But, see, even I am not enough of a gadji [non-Roma woman] to stay that serious all the time. I will bear for some time. But then I just say to myself, what kind of a life is this? So you will vomit, so what?’, M., woman, 36, high social level [Mar 2010] | Compliance; social norms; bonding social capital |