Adam Anczyk

The so-called “homecoming” is one of the most (if not the most) popular ways of depicting the process of becoming a follower of Neo-Paganism found in literature, from Margot Adler’s classical Drawing Down the Moon (1979) to contemporary authors, like Graham Harvey. It is interesting that “homecoming” simultaneously occurs in Neo-Pagan literature, as the common way of becoming Pagan, seen as opposite to the process of conversion (usually as a rapid change of religious beliefs). The critique of the “homecoming” defined in the academic field concentrates on showing that there is a possibility it may be more a theological notion, rather than a model of religious change to contemporary Paganism. The broad definition of religious conversion, understood as change in religious behaviour and beliefs, does include “homecoming” as one of the possible conversion narratives. Therefore, we may speak of a “coming home experience” as one of the main themes – but certainly not the only one – that is present in the histories of conversion to contemporary Paganism.

This article presents the results of a pilot study on Polish migrants’ relations with the Norwegian health services. The study was qualitative in nature – 20 partially structured interviews were conducted with Poles living in Norway for more than two years who had contact with the Norwegian healthcare system. The aim of the study was to identify potential problems arising in the contact of Polish migrants with the Norwegian healthcare provider. The interview questionnaire, built on the basis of the Interview of Cultural Formation (DSM V), was focused on obtaining as rich data as possible in order to identify other factors hindering the use of healthcare than the bilateral deficit of language competence, which was indicated mainly in previous studies. In light of the respondents’ answers, the Norwegian health service received mixed reviews: about as many people were satisfied with its functioning as those who were not. In this study, the issue of trust came to the fore of the interpretation – Polish patients trust a doctor if they meet their cultural expectations (e.g. prescribe an antibiotic or other strong agent, what they would expect from doctors in Poland), a phenomenon we name “conditional trust”. Respondents also mentioned problems in obtaining a referral/accessing specialist doctors in Norway as compared to Poland, which may reflect differences in the system of organization of healthcare. In Norway, GPs have more responsibilities that require competences than in Poland, where a GP is a person referring patients for tests to a specialist if a medical problem arises that s/he cannot solve. Therefore the article is an introduction to research that should be conducted in the future on the relations of Polish migrants with foreign health care systems. The qualitative method used has enabled the presentation of the diverse attitudes of people most interested in the practical applications of conclusions, namely Poles permanently residing in Norway.