Impact of Acculturation on Dental Attendance of Preschoolers Among Filipino Immigrants in Edmonton, Canada

To explore how acculturation influences preventive dental care-seeking behavior for children among Filipino newcomers. We conducted a qualitative focused ethnographic research using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Participants were a purposive sample of English-speaking, self-identified members of Filipino community in Edmonton who had lived in Canada for less than 10 years and had children aged 2–6 years. Concurrent thematic analysis was used. Six interviews and two focus groups were conducted with 18 participants. Three main themes identified from our inductive analysis were emergency pain-driven concept for children’s dental visit before migration, migration challenges and low priority for preventive dental visits, and acculturation and new perceptions of preventive dental care utilization. Long-term socioeconomic deprivation in home country, challenges for survival in host country, and dental care-seeking behaviors influenced by acculturation process were psychosocially conceptualized within the three identified themes. Exposure to the new culture of dental care in Canada caused a shift from an aggressive treatment-oriented to a more conservative preventive-oriented approach among Filipino immigrants in our study.