Factors associated with access to healthcare among participants in Japanese classes in local communities in Aichi, Japan

This study aimed to investigate factors associated with barriers to healthcare access among participants in Japanese language classes in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. We conducted a cross-sectional study by distributing self-administered questionnaires to 14 Japanese classes in Aichi. Participant inclusion criteria were: (1) 18 years old or over; (2) living in Aichi prefecture; and (3) from one of four countries (Brazil, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines). Health-related questions included experience of unmet healthcare needs (UHNs), self-reported health (SRH), and awareness of multilingual health information available on local government websites. Univariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the factors associated with UHNs. Among 175 participants, 18.3% reported experiencing UHNs and 21.1% were aware of multilingual health information on local government websites. Univariable logistic regression analysis revealed that participants unaware of multilingual health information on local government websites had higher odds of experiencing UHNs (COR = 5.10 95% CI 1.16–22.4). Additionally, those from Vietnam (COR = 3.97 95% CI 1.10–14.40), those in their 30s age group (COR=2.83 95% CI 1.06-7.55), and those who reported poor SRH (COR = 3.45 95% CI 1.25–9.51) had higher odds of experiencing UHNs. Our findings highlighted the importance of health information. We propose encouraging collaboration between community organizations and local governments along with healthcare providers to disseminate health information widely to foreign residents.