In search a medical tourism marketing pattern in Iran: The case of cultural sensitivities

Health tourism has a significant financial benefit in the current industrial world. In addition, attention is being paid to the medical and cultural sensitivities in the development of the medical tourism industry, which increases the willingness of foreign patients to receive health care and treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role and importance of the factor of paying attention to the medical and cultural sensitivities of international patients in the proposed pattern of medical tourism marketing. In the stage of exploratory factor analysis, the proposed pattern including 9 factors with 60 items after confirmatory factor analysis confirmed and the 'attention to the cultural and medical sensitivities' factor with 6 variables ranked 8 among other factors. Regarding the issue of medical and cultural sensitivities of foreign patients, it can be expected that patients will be more intimate and sympathetic during admission to medical centres and receive health care services, which will increase their sense of security and trust towards health workers. Healthcare activists and government officials are expected to give special attention to the cultural and medical sensitivities in developing short-term and long-term plans for the development of the health tourism industry.