[Patients with non-Danish background? Citizenship, nationality, ethnicity or culture]

Abstract

The ethnic and cultural background of patients in the Danish health care sector has gained increased attention in research as well as in clinical practice. Often the only available information concerning these patients is their citizenship. It is, however, problematic to use citizenship as proxy for other background variables. This article presents definitions of citizenship, nationality, ethnicity and culture from a social scientific perspective and discusses how these categories should be used in order to obtain the most precise information about the patient's background.