. 2025 May 30;24:156. doi: 10.1186/s12939-025-02510-6

Table 1.

Illustration of the narrated experiences, as a response to the nonnarrated government services

Stage of access	The nonnarrated (government services)	The narrated (mainly family), as a response to the nonnarrated
Perception of need and desire for care (Question about health literacy: knowledge about health issues or the needed health services)	Lack of health information/promotion services in Kurdish	• “I ask my daughter.” (68-year-old man) • “Who will I ask? I will ask a sister, what do you do with your knees?” (67-year-old woman) • “For example, I will ask a neighbor, if I trust. I will say I have this issue, what should I do?” (33-year-old woman) • “I ask those who have the same health problem, what they do.” (49-year-old woman) • “Sometimes I watch TV. Sometimes they talk about what is good and what is not [for health]. I watch the Kurdish ones.” (51-year-old woman) • “For example, our [family] doctor is Kurdish, because he explains in Kurdish, everybody goes to him. Everybody goes and asks about whatever they want to learn about. Even those who do not have a health issue go. The one before him was Turkish, no one would go [for asking something].” (33-year-old woman)*
Healthcare seeking (Questions about making an appointment)	Lack of appointment-making services, call centers etc. in Kurdish	• “I give my ID card to my kids and ask them to make an appointment for me. I can’t do it myself.” (59-year-old man) • “I have never done that [making an appointment]. I would ask my son, and he would do it and tell me the [appointment] time.” (51-year-old woman) • “There is no way, I could never do that, I would ask my daughter-in-law, my daughter, son etc.” (67-year-old woman)
Healthcare reaching (Questions about physically reaching and navigating healthcare facilities)	Hesitation to use certain services due to internalized oppression (e.g., ambulances)	• “My son would either take a car and take me to the hospital, or ask someone to drive me. I can’t go [to the hospital] by myself.” (67-year-old woman) • “Once, I had an infection in my kidneys, I was in pain, I asked my son to call his uncle [who is a minibus (dolmuş) driver] and immediately take me to the hospital. I couldn’t stand the pain.” (51-year-old woman)* • “It’s very hard [to navigate the healthcare facility]. If someone is not with me, I can’t help myself. They would tell you go do some tests, go do a tomography etc.… I would just go back and forth.” (49-year-old woman)* • “[When I go to hospital alone] I ask the people around. I say, my son, I don’t speak Turkish, please come translate for me. Some people help, but some say I have work to do. It’s like that.” (66-year-old woman)
Healthcare utilisation (Questions about patient provider relationship)	Lack of healthcare services in Kurdish, as well as Kurdish interpretation services	• “If I don’t have anyone with me, I don’t go. Because I can’t speak. I would tell the person with me I have pain here and there, and they would tell the doctor.” (59-year-old man) • “The doctor talks to the person with me. And I talk with that person too. I say I have a problem here. It is sometimes my husband, sometimes my son, my brother, my uncle… Always a relative.” (51-year-old woman) • “If [the doctor] is Kurdish, I tell him myself. I can let him understand [my health problem] more clearly. But if it is Turkish, I would just stare at him till the morning.” (59-year-old man)
Healthcare consequences (inductively derived from answers to different questions)	Not being able to negotiate treatments with doctors, and do the follow-up after healthcare utilisation	• “If I could help myself, I would go [to doctor] 2–3 times a month. But I can’t. Last year I had that thing [MRI], I didn’t go check my results for 5–6 months. I stayed in that [painful] situation until my granddaughter came [from another city] and said Grandpa I got your test results.” (68-year-old man)* • “I go [to doctor] only for those big issues. I don’t go for a headache or stomach-ache. I don’t want to be a burden. Who is going to take me there and back?” (67-year-old man) • “If my daughter is not with me, I won’t go, even if I die here.” (68-year-old man)*

Stage of access

The nonnarrated (government services)

The narrated (mainly family), as a response to the nonnarrated

Perception of need and desire for care

(Question about health literacy: knowledge about health issues or the needed health services)

Lack of health information/promotion services in Kurdish

• “I ask my daughter.” (68-year-old man)

• “Who will I ask? I will ask a sister, what do you do with your knees?” (67-year-old woman)

• “For example, I will ask a neighbor, if I trust. I will say I have this issue, what should I do?” (33-year-old woman)

• “I ask those who have the same health problem, what they do.” (49-year-old woman)

• “Sometimes I watch TV. Sometimes they talk about what is good and what is not [for health]. I watch the Kurdish ones.” (51-year-old woman)

• “For example, our [family] doctor is Kurdish, because he explains in Kurdish, everybody goes to him. Everybody goes and asks about whatever they want to learn about. Even those who do not have a health issue go. The one before him was Turkish, no one would go [for asking something].”* (33-year-old woman)

Healthcare seeking

(Questions about making an appointment)

Lack of appointment-making services, call centers etc. in Kurdish

• “I give my ID card to my kids and ask them to make an appointment for me. I can’t do it myself.” (59-year-old man)

• “I have never done that [making an appointment]. I would ask my son, and he would do it and tell me the [appointment] time.” (51-year-old woman)

• “There is no way, I could never do that, I would ask my daughter-in-law, my daughter, son etc.” (67-year-old woman)

Healthcare reaching

(Questions about physically reaching and navigating healthcare facilities)

Hesitation to use certain services due to internalized oppression (e.g., ambulances)

• “My son would either take a car and take me to the hospital, or ask someone to drive me. I can’t go [to the hospital] by myself.” (67-year-old woman)

• “Once, I had an infection in my kidneys, I was in pain, I asked my son to call his uncle [who is a minibus (dolmuş) driver] and immediately take me to the hospital. I couldn’t stand the pain.”* (51-year-old woman)

• “It’s very hard [to navigate the healthcare facility]. If someone is not with me, I can’t help myself. They would tell you go do some tests, go do a tomography etc.… I would just go back and forth.”* (49-year-old woman)

• “[When I go to hospital alone] I ask the people around. I say, my son, I don’t speak Turkish, please come translate for me. Some people help, but some say I have work to do. It’s like that.” (66-year-old woman)

Healthcare utilisation

(Questions about patient provider relationship)

Lack of healthcare services in Kurdish, as well as Kurdish interpretation services

• “If I don’t have anyone with me, I don’t go. Because I can’t speak. I would tell the person with me I have pain here and there, and they would tell the doctor.” (59-year-old man)

• “The doctor talks to the person with me. And I talk with that person too. I say I have a problem here. It is sometimes my husband, sometimes my son, my brother, my uncle… Always a relative.” (51-year-old woman)

• “If [the doctor] is Kurdish, I tell him myself. I can let him understand [my health problem] more clearly. But if it is Turkish, I would just stare at him till the morning.” (59-year-old man)

Healthcare consequences

(inductively derived from answers to different questions)

Not being able to negotiate treatments with doctors, and do the follow-up after healthcare utilisation

• “If I could help myself, I would go [to doctor] 2–3 times a month. But I can’t. Last year I had that thing [MRI], I didn’t go check my results for 5–6 months. I stayed in that [painful] situation until my granddaughter came [from another city] and said Grandpa I got your test results.”* (68-year-old man)

• “I go [to doctor] only for those big issues. I don’t go for a headache or stomach-ache. I don’t want to be a burden. Who is going to take me there and back?” (67-year-old man)

• “If my daughter is not with me, I won’t go, even if I die here.”* (68-year-old man)

The quotes marked with an * are also partially cited in the primary paper of this study (please see [25])