Building a welcoming community

Ingar, Nafisa; Farrell, Barbara; Pottie, Kevin

doi:10.1177/1715163512472321

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 11 publications

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“…Bellamy et al (2015) also highlighted the importance of providing services within US health-care settings to overcome common barriers to health care for refugee communities, including the development of professional translation services to ensure ethical treatment as professional health-care translators can communicate patients’ symptoms effectively and promote proper care. Other culturally responsive practices may include asking older refugees how a doctor or healer would treat them in their country of origin to promote trust and integrate traditional health conceptualisations into holistic health-care practices (Ingar et al , 2013; Bellamy et al ., 2015). The development and implementation of programmes that deconstruct barriers to health care and meet the needs of the refugee population, including through the incorporation of traditional health beliefs, advocacy and education, and translation services, such as the Refugee Health Nurse Liaison programme, offers the opportunity for multiple barriers to care to be dismantled, increasing accessibility of care for the older refugee population (McBride et al , 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Swallow medicine, eat rice, pray about health’: health, health care and health-seeking experiences of South-East Asian older refugees

2022

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South-East Asian refugees have lived in the United States of America for nearly four decades, with early refugee immigrants experiencing ageing and later life within the refugee context. As refugees age, health concerns of this older population grow, highlighting the need for ongoing assessment of refugee health and health-seeking behaviours. This study builds on previous literature that assessed the health and health-seeking patterns of South-East Asian refugees in the early years following resettlement, exploring how health and health-seeking is understood among older refugees 40 years after immigration. This paper includes a subset of 37 older refugees from a larger, community-based participatory, mixed-methods intergenerational study of Cambodian and Laotian refugee families conducted over four years (quantitative N = 433; qualitative N = 183). Thematic analysis of 34 semi-structured interviews with these older refugees in coastal Alabama revealed trends in health and health-seeking practices. Older refugees reported high rates of diabetes and hypertension within their generational cohort, and indicated a shift in health-seeking behaviours, whereby Western biomedicine is sought first for such chronic concerns, followed by traditional medicines for mild ailments such as headaches or colds. Older refugees underscored barriers of language, finances and transportation as limiting access to Western health care. Implications for engaging in community health practices and incorporating services to specifically meet the needs of the ageing refugee population are discussed.

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