Reading the signs in health visits—Perspectives of adolescents with migration experiences on encounters with school nurses

Abstract

Aim: To explore the experiences of health visits within the school health services from the perspective of adolescents with migration experiences. Design: A descriptive qualitative study. Methods: Data were collected using focus groups and semi-structured individual interviews with adolescents with migration experiences aged 13–17 years old. Analysis was conducted using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: The results described adolescents reading the signs in the guided interaction between them and the school nurses. Reading the signs illustrated the adolescents' continuous interpretation of the interaction with the school nurse, and their decisions on how to respond throughout the health visit. These interpretations influenced the adolescents' shifting willingness to talk about their health and how they adapted to the space of participation provided by the school nurse. The interpretation also influenced their experiences of health visits as focusing on their health without making them feel singled out. Conclusion: Although individual considerations might be warranted in health visits with adolescents with migration experiences, the results indicate that similarities in intrapersonal communication in various encounters between adolescents and health professionals might be greater than any differences. Healthcare encounters with adolescents with migration experiences might thus need to be conducted with an awareness that adolescents read the signs in the guided interaction and that similarities in this interaction are greater than any differences.