Origin-Based Social Distance Among Nurses in Croatia: Implications for Migrant-Sensitive Healthcare Delivery

Background and Objectives: Migrant-sensitive healthcare depends on organisational communication support and on a workforce prepared to provide equitable care across perceived social and cultural differences. This study treated origin-based social distance as a workforce-context measure, rather than a measure of clinical conduct. It examined whether it varied across migrant-worker labels and which identity-, threat-, and contact-related factors were associated with it. Materials and Methods: An anonymous cross-sectional online survey was completed by 453 qualified nurses and nursing technicians in Croatia between March and April 2026. Participants rated the closest relationship they would accept with Croats and with Filipino, Nepalese, Indian, and Bangladeshi workers and migrants from Arab countries using an adapted seven-level Bogardus measure. Repeated-measures analysis, Bonferroni-adjusted comparisons, correlations, and hierarchical regression were used. Results: Social-distance ratings differed across the five migrant-worker labels (F(4, 1808) = 162.75, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.265). Distance was lowest toward Filipino workers and highest toward migrants from Arab countries. National exclusiveness (β = 0.29), economic insecurity and status threat (β = 0.21), and ethnocentrism (β = 0.20) were associated with greater distance. In contrast, contact quality (β = −0.19) and wider travel and intercultural experience (β = −0.13) were associated with lower distance. Conclusions: The findings identify a potentially modifiable workforce context for migrant-sensitive care and support organisation-wide safeguards for equitable communication and continuity. They do not demonstrate unequal clinical conduct or patient harm; those pathways require direct prospective evaluation using care-process, patient-experience, safety, and health-outcome measures.