This paper discusses progressive thinking and clinical views on improving mental health practice for immigrants and refugees. It addresses policy, care delivery, professionals’ attitudes, and immigrants’ access to mental health care — all factors especially pertinent for practice in major immigration hubs. The data was gathered from invited presentations and discussions among participants at an international multidisciplinary symposium, including health and social scientists from Toronto (Canada) and Paris (France), major urban centres attracting large numbers of immigrant and refugees who constantly encounter challenges for their successful settlement. The focus is on alternative care thinking and innovative approaches for better care and understanding of these populations’ health behavior. Recommendations on how to advance knowledge relevant for these two urban hubs of immigration were documented, underpinned by the consensus that economic disparities, societal and political forces, as well as cultural and linguistic factors, influence immigrants’ and refugees’ vulnerability regarding mental health stability.
An ethnographic study explored ideas about the possibility of creating social support networks for breast cancer within the Portuguese-speaking community in Toronto (Canada). Nineteen men and women from Angolan, Brazilian and Portuguese communities informed about a social support network with a focus on enabling versus challenging conditions for its construction. The fundamental components in creating social support networks were: the demystification of breast cancer and its prevention, emphasis on health education, mobilizing volunteers and direct social support to women living with breast cancer. The potential enabling factors were the participation of older women as social leaders, and the utilization of schools and religious institutions. Perceived barriers were: breast cancer believed to be women’s disease, lack of knowledge about its cure/ rehabilitation, as well as a limited sensitivity to cancer. Social support networks should consider the communities’ diverse cultural and tangible needs, as well as more informal social support services.
The aim of this study is to describe the context, resources and procedures for planning/implementing health promotion initiatives targeting the children and youth population in African Francophone countries. The method of work used multiple case studies with an online survey ( n = 11) and individual interviews ( n = 6) (2017–2018). Strategies to mobilize/use community’s available resources and assets were influenced by gender and professional status, as well as the stakeholder’s valorization and degree of community interest and engagement in the proposed health promotion initiatives. Major social impacts relate to the support provided by the community stakeholders with individual and collective assets. Evidence uncovered professional networking, collaboration and exchange that could help regional health promoters.
Data from focus groups held in Montréal (Canada) with 13 women born in Cameroon, Colombia, and Democratic Republic of Congo were used to explore cancer knowledge among immigrant grandmothers and mothers-in-law and their influence over family cancer-preventative practices. Thematic analysis identified the following leading themes: cancer literacy and influence over family cancer preventative and early detection practices, cancer literacy in relation to family health behaviors, and barriers to accessing health services. Perceived external causes of cancer and its prevention are countered by healthy eating and exercises. Cancer literacy was contextualized by the development of women's ways of being and doing.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.