Domestic violence, especially violence against women, is a serious health problem in the United States and in many countries of the world. However, information on violence against women in the Arab culture is scarce. The purpose of this descriptive study is to investigate the incidence of violence against women in one Middle Eastern country. The focus of the research is to determine the cultural context in which violent crimes against women are committed and the social and legal implications of such crimes. The research method included: (1) a review of all court files of women murdered during 1995 in the country of Jordan and, (2) the social norms and sanctions against persons who commit crimes against women. Of 89 homicide cases reviewed, 38 involved female victims. Analysis of the court files of the 38 murdered women indicated that a male relative of the female victim, primarily the brother, committed the majority of the murders. The most common cause for the murders provided in the files was "honor crime." Honor crime was defined as crime committed against women by their male family members because the women had violated the honor of their family. Cultural norms and practices including the legal practices related to honor crimes support the practice of killing women for sexual misconduct and excuse perpetrators of the crimes from punishment.
Purpose: To describe successful and not‐so‐successful strategies for recruiting and retaining Arab Muslim immigrant women and their adolescent children for research.
Design and Methods: A longitudinal study of mother‐child adjustment of Arab immigrants to the US is used for illustration. A panel of experts was assembled and provided culturally specific advice about gatekeepers, advertising, data collectors, data collection, and how to track and encourage participation at subsequent time points in the study.
Findings: Most of the strategies recommended by the panel were overwhelmingly positive, including advice about data collectors, how to collect data, financial incentives, avoiding offending families, and personal contacts. Hiring data collectors who were able to establish personal and culturally appropriate relationships with study participants was the single most successful recruitment and retention strategy. Advice from cultural experts about which gatekeepers to engage and how to advertise for study participants was not productive.
Conclusions: Researchers should not only assemble a panel of cultural experts to provide advice about group specific strategies to build trust and maintain cultural sensitivity, but also to budget generously for time for data collectors to build and maintain rapport with study populations who, like Arab immigrant women, highly value personal relationships.
The purpose of this study was to discover perceptions, experiences, and patterns of health care behavior among Arab Americans in an urban Midwestern area of the United States and then to discover perceptions and experiences of health care providers related to culturally competent care. The goal of the study was to generate findings that would provide the basis for implementing system-wide changes to include culturally competent care. A qualitative focus group methodology was used to discover the care patterns and perceptions of Arab Americans and the local health care providers. The nurse researchers conducted 10 focus groups. Six themes were identified, including the unique caring behaviors of Arab families, the complexity of the health care system to Arab Americans, communication gaps, the diversity of perceptions of cultural competency, obstacles to accessibility of care, and workforce diversity issues.
This study examined personal, psychosocial, sociocultural, and environmental predictors in tobacco use for 1671 Arab American adolescents. Cigarette smoking in past 30 days was 6.9%. This increased from 1% at age 14 to 14% at age 18. Twenty-nine percent of the youths reported 'ever cigarette smoking.' Experimentation with narghile was 27%; it increased from 23% at 14 years to 40% at 18 years. All trends were significant (p < .001). Logistic regression analyses found ten predictors for 'smoked a cigarette in past 30 days' and nine and seven, respectively, for 'ever smoked a cigarette or narghile'. Friends and family members smoking were the strongest predictors of cigarette smoking and 'ever narghile use.' 'Ever narghile use' supported cigarette smoking.
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