Do chronically ill, elderly Francophone patients believe they are adequately served by Ontario’s health care system? Exploratory study of the effect of minority-language communities

In an exploratory study conducted on behalf of the Consortium national de formation en santé, a Canada-wide umbrella organization bringing together 11 postsecondary institutions that deliver training programs in various health disciplines in French, our research team explored the effect of language barriers perceived by elderly Francophone patients living in 3 different regions of Ontario with one or more chronic diseases. Our study was based on semistructured interviews of 25 elderly subjects (13 men and 12 women) with chronic diseases. It enabled us to determine the effect on the perception of the quality of care received by this Francophone population in relation to the challenges of language and literacy.