Research Project Revisiting Personal is Political:Immigrant Women’s Health Promotion

Collaborative project between the Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto and Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre (WHIWH)

Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Principal Investigator: Denise Gastaldo

Co-Investigators: Nazilla Khanlou, Notisha Massaquoi, Deone Curling

Research Coordinator: Amoaba Gooden

Introduction

Project developed over an year (2001); a collaboration between academics and practitioners

Study undertaken between Sept 02-Dec 04

Two phases 1st – focus groups with 33 recent

immigrant women2nd – PAR with 13 participants

Methodology (1)

The 1st phase was exploratory Three focus groups with recent

immigrant and refugee women from various cultural backgrounds

Objective: to examine perceptions of health and well-being in the context of displacement and the strategies and resources immigrant women employ to promote their own health

Methodology (2) 2nd phase was participatory and action-

oriented Participants were recent immigrants who

met bi-weekly to discuss their experiences for 10 months

Particular attention was paid to place and gender as analytical categories.

In the action phase, the participants and researchers put together the knowledge collectively created and produced information for other immigrants in the format of a webpage, a poetry book, a video, and a self-help group.

Participatory Action Research & Empowerment

Empowerment is a collective process In the health area, empowerment is a process

of enabling people to increase control over their own health and well-being

Participatory-action research is an opportunity for critical analysis of a particular phenomenon, consciousness raising/knowledge production, and development of new personal and collective skills to promote social change

Real enablement happens when people change and the social relations that render them powerless are also changed

Difficulties in the Action Phase

Participatory phases: easy, “natural” experience

3-month action phase: Resistance, participants felt de-skilled

Strategies used: identifying skills and knowledge (18 languages, artistic, practical, and academic knowledge)

Researchers acted as resource persons Work in small groups to facilitate interactions Budget did not cover all initiatives

Results

Three main analytical categories:

Experiences of displacement

Becoming an immigrant

Limits to empowerment

Action for knowledge exchange - KTE

Experiential knowledge: Information that speaks to other immigrants in a language that is meaningful because it is based on real people’s experience

Voice: Information that was created to ‘talk’ to students, professionals and policy-makers, who are not people immigrants cannot easily reach

Experiences of Displacement

In my country I was happy, I was loved. I had a house, a car, and many friends.

In Toronto, I live in a 2nd floor, 2-bedroom apartment with balcony.

Outcomes – Webpage

Webpage

Written by recent immigrant women to provide information based on their experiences of living in Toronto

Presented in 9 languages: English, Farsi, Chinese, Hindi, Gujarati, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian

If you like the content, please create a link to your institution’s website

www.nursing.utoronto.ca/immigrationguide

Thinking of coming to Canada? When coming to Canada, the first two things you

will acquire are an accent and the label of "newcomer" or "immigrant". After 20 years in Canada people will still ask you, "Where are you from?"

One of the ways in which to gain entry to Canada as an immigrant is as a skilled worker. But even though Canadian Immigration selects immigrants according to a list of professions, you have no guarantee that the private sector in Canada will be recruiting for particular jobs. Many of us came thinking we would find jobs, but unfortunately we couldn't find any in our field.

Women Immigrating with Family

The first thing you should remember is that your family can be a great support system for you, but they can also represent an important source of stress if they only count on you to give them support and comfort.

If before coming to Canada you have a cleaner, nanny, or someone beyond your nuclear family that helps with housework, test your family before deciding to immigrate. For a month or two, get no help, and have your partner and children do housework, not to "help you," but to share the work in equal amounts, depending on the age of your children. If they do not do it or complain all the time about it, consider that, most probably, this will be what your everyday life will be like in the next few years. Perhaps you should wonder if this is what you want for yourself.

Outcomes – Poetry Book

Poems

The Bridge

Others See, Others Don’t See, We See

The bridge

Immigration is like entering a bridgeWhen you get onto a bridge, you know there is an entrance and an

exitMy problem is that I got onto the bridge,However I don’t know whether I am at The beginning, the middle Or the end of the bridgeI also don’t know where the bridge will take meI feel anxious; I don’t know how much longer I have to keep goingI can’t tell if I am just at the beginning or if I am almost out of the

bridgeMy only hope is to reach the end; this is what keeps me movingBut this is such a hard processI never thought the bridge was this long

Others See, Others Don’t See, We See

When people look at us, they see new immigrantsWe look like new immigrants because of our appearance, Our physical features, our accentsSome think we are competition for jobsOthers see us as perfect to do the jobs Canadians don’t want to

doAlso, people don’t see what we bringOur degree of preparationWe see ourselves as people with many capacitiesPeople with good training who face challenges in CanadaWe see ourselves as friendly, warm people who can offer a lot

to this countryWe also see we are not used according to our potential, our

talentsCanada is losing big time

Poetry

Free download at:

www.nursing.utoronto.ca/immigrationguide/30_poems_by_recent_immigrant_women

OR

www.nursing.utoronto.ca/immigrationguide

Click link to Poetry Book

Video produced by the Research Project Revisiting Personal is Political: Immigrant Women’s Health

Promotion

Recent Immigrant Women’s Experiences in Toronto –“I am not the woman I used to be”

Outcomes – Video

Video

20-minute video were some participants of the study discuss their experiences as immigrants in Toronto; especial attention to employment as a social determinant of health

Questions to promote group discussion are enclosed

Partnership Issues

With participants: acknowledge authorship

Both institutions benefited from the partnership

Important learning experience Synergic effect in reaching stake

holders and broader audience Lengthy process and occasional

difficulties

Outcomes – Support Group

Some participants of the study created a group to support other recently arrived immigrants at WHIWH

This group has prepared pamphlets with relevant information to newcomers and will visit LINC schools and other community centres for presentations

Academic & Practice Outcomes

Papers and presentations Opportunity to advance research

training for practitioners (2 PhDs) Training opportunities for many

undergraduate and graduate students Creation of standards for collaboration

between academics and WHIWH

Funding Issues

CIHR accountability vs. poetry book Agreement signed Acquisitions were shared 50/50 Need to address “lack of resources” in

next application Poetry book funded by WHIWH