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Exploring Informal Caregivers’ Roles In Medical Tourism Through Qualitative Data Triangulation, Rebecca Whitmore, Valorie A. Crooks, Jeremy Snyder

The Qualitative Report

When Canadian medical tourists go abroad, they are often accompanied by friends and family, referred to as caregiver-companions, who provide informal care. These individuals play a role in patient decision-making and are stakeholders in medical tourism, yet little is known about their participation in this consumer health practice. To examine the roles that Canadian caregiver-companions play while accompanying medical tourists abroad, and to identify how multi-perspective qualitative data can augment our understanding of these roles, primary and secondary analysis was undertaken on datasets generated from multiple qualitative studies: semi-structured interviews with medical tourists, caregiver-companions, and international patient coordinators, and a …