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Open Access“We were leery of going”: qualitatively exploring Canadian international retirement migrants’ travel-related decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic
International retirement migration, which is the seasonal or permanent relocation of older people to another country, has grown in popularity in recent years. These retirees are motivated by the promise of war...
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Article
Open AccessQualitatively exploring the intersection of health and housing needs in Canadian crowdfunding campaigns
Online crowdfunding platforms such as GoFundMe fundraise millions of dollars annually for campaigners. Medical crowdfunding is a very popular campaign type, with campaigners often requesting funds to cover bas...
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Article
Open AccessSelling cannabidiol products in Canada: A framing analysis of advertising claims by online retailers
In Canada, the legalization of cannabis has enabled cannabidiol (CBD) to become a popular commercial product, increasingly used for medical or therapeutic purposes. There are currently over one thousand CBD pr...
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Open AccessWhat are the informational pathways that shape people’s use of cannabidiol for medical purposes?
Cannabidiol (CBD) is commonly used to manage symptoms in conditions and diseases for which there is limited clinical research for its application. How consumers arrive and decide to use CBD for medical treatme...
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Open Access“If you have a pain, get on a plane”: qualitatively exploring how short-term Canadian international retirement migrants prepare to manage their health while abroad
Every year, tens of thousands of older Canadians travel abroad during the winter months to enjoy warmer destinations that offer social and recreational opportunities. How do these Canadians prepare to manage t...
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Open AccessOpportunities and challenges in providing health care for International Retirement Migrants: a qualitative case study of Canadians travelling to Yuma, Arizona
Increasing numbers of older individuals opt to spend extended time abroad each year for lifestyle, health, and financial reasons. This practice is known as international retirement migration, and it is particu...
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Open AccessCrowdfunding abortion: an exploratory thematic analysis of fundraising for a stigmatized medical procedure
Medical crowdfunding is the process of using a crowdfunding platform to raise funds for medical treatment and associated expenses, such as missing work or transportation costs to access care. This type of crow...
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Open Access“Medical tourism will…obligate physicians to elevate their level so that they can compete”: a qualitative exploration of the anticipated impacts of inbound medical tourism on health human resources in Guatemala
Medical tourism, which involves cross-border travel to access private, non-emergency medical interventions, is growing in many Latin American Caribbean countries. The commodification and export of private heal...
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Open AccessGovernment roles in regulating medical tourism: evidence from Guatemala
Regulation of the medical tourism and public health sectors overlap in many instances, raising questions of how patient safety, economic growth, and health equity can be protected. The case of Guatemala is use...
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Open Access“I didn’t have to prove to anybody that I was a good candidate”: a case study framing international bariatric tourism by Canadians as circumvention tourism
Medical tourism is a practice where patients travel internationally to purchase medical services. Medical tourists travel abroad for reasons including costly care, long wait times for care, and limited availab...
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Open AccessA critical examination of empowerment discourse in medical tourism: the case of the dental tourism industry in Los Algodones, Mexico
Medical tourism is a term used to describe the phenomenon of individuals intentionally traveling across national borders to privately purchase medical care. The medical tourism industry has been portrayed in t...
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How Medical Tourism Enables Preferential Access to Care: Four Patterns from the Canadian Context
Medical tourism is the practice of traveling across international borders with the intention of accessing medical care, paid for out-of-pocket. This practice has implications for preferential access to medical...
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Open Access“Ensure that you are well aware of the risks you are taking…”: actions and activities medical tourists’ informal caregivers can undertake to protect their health and safety
When seeking care at international hospitals and clinics, medical tourists are often accompanied by family members, friends, or other caregivers. Such caregiver-companions assume a variety of roles and respons...
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Open AccessWhat does the development of medical tourism in Barbados hold for health equity? an exploratory qualitative case study
Although the global growth of privatized health care services in the form of medical tourism appears to generate economic benefits, there is debate about medical tourism’s impacts on health equity in countries...
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Open Access“That’s enough patients for everyone!”: Local stakeholders’ views on attracting patients into Barbados and Guatemala’s emerging medical tourism sectors
Medical tourism has attracted considerable interest within the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. Governments in the region tout the economic potential of treating foreign patients while several new pr...
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Open AccessOutbound medical tourism from Mongolia: a qualitative examination of proposed domestic health system and policy responses to this trend
Medical tourism is the practice of traveling across international boundaries in order to access medical care. Residents of low-to-middle income countries with strained or inadequate health systems have long tr...
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Open Access“You don’t want to lose that trust that you’ve built with this patient…”: (Dis)trust, medical tourism, and the Canadian family physician-patient relationship
Recent trends document growth in medical tourism, the private pursuit of medical interventions abroad. Medical tourism introduces challenges to decision-making that impact and are impacted by the physician-pat...
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Open Access“Best care on home ground” versus “elitist healthcare”: concerns and competing expectations for medical tourism development in Barbados
Many countries have demonstrated interest in expanding their medical tourism sectors because of its potential economic and health system benefits. However, medical tourism poses challenges to the equitable dis...
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Article
Open Access“I knew what was going to happen if I did nothing and so I was going to do something”: Faith, hope, and trust in the decisions of Canadians with multiple sclerosis to seek unproven interventions abroad
Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) treatment is an unproven intervention aimed at relieving some of the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Despite limited evidence of the efficacy and safety ...
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Open AccessKnowledge brokers, companions, and navigators: a qualitative examination of informal caregivers’ roles in medical tourism
Many studies examining the phenomena of medical tourism have identified health equity issues associated with this global health services practice. However, there is a notable lack of attention in this existing...