Vulnerability and health promotion of Haitian immigrants: reflections based on Paulo Freire's dialogic práxis

Abstract

Objective: To understand the perceptions of Haitian immigrants about the possibilities to promote health, in the face of the vulnerabilities they experience. Method: This is a qualitative, participatory action study, based on Paulo Freire's Research Itinerary, which has three phases: thematic investigation; encoding and decoding; critical unveiling. Ten Haitian immigrants, students of a public university in Brazil, participated in the Culture Circle. Results: In the face of vulnerabilities, Haitian immigrants expressed the need to participate in university social groups, to have moments of integration with Brazilians, to know their rights, to master the Portuguese language, to adapt socially and culturally and to the food, to engage in the promotion of mental health and quality of life through physical activities and leisure. Conclusion: The discussions led to a process of action-reflection-action, in which immigrants reframed their reality, looking for strategies to promote health and empowering themselves in the search for a healthier life.

Experiences of Providers and Immigrants/Refugees with Health Care: A Meta-Synthesis of the Latin American Context

“…These vulnerabilities are related to the migration/refugee process and are maintained in the host country. Different forms of vulnerability have been identified: social (Losco & Gemma, 2021; Ramírez-Santana et al, 2019), health (Barbosa et al, 2020), labor (Ramírez-Santana et al, 2019), economic (Aizenberg et al, 2015; Souza et al, 2021), and educational (Barreto et al, 2019; Ramírez-Santana et al, 2019). Another prominent situation identified by providers is related to immigrants/refugees’ lack of knowledge of the host country's health system, which leads to vulnerability by delaying the search for care and hindering access to health services (Barreto et al, 2019; Calderón et al, 2020; Ramírez-Santana et al, 2019).…”

“…Current and Past Vulnerabilities of Immigrants/Refugees. Several studies indicate that immigrants/refugees experience intense and diverse situations of vulnerability that interfere in their relationship with providers (Agudelo-Suárez et al, 2022;Aizenberg et al, 2015;Arcos et al, 2018;Barbosa et al, 2020;Barreto et al, 2019;Bernales et al, 2017;Carneiro-Junior et al, 2018;Shedlin et al, 2014;Souza et al, 2021). These vulnerabilities are related to the migration/refugee process and are maintained in the host country.…”

“…These vulnerabilities are related to the migration/refugee process and are maintained in the host country. Different forms of vulnerability have been identified: social (Losco & Gemma, 2021;Ramírez-Santana et al, 2019), health (Barbosa et al, 2020), labor (Ramírez-Santana et al, 2019), economic (Aizenberg et al, 2015;Souza et al, 2021) Chart 2. Primary data aggregation process, 2023.…”

“…Relationship Between Providers and Immigrants/Refugees. The relationship between health care professionals and immigrants/refugees is mostly characterized as asymmetric (Souza et al, 2021), conflictual (Aizenberg et al, 2015), dehumanized (Barreto et al, 2019), unable to solve problems (Shedlin et al, 2014), and seeking to homogenize the migrant population (Aizenberg, 2019) by denying the other's culture (Aizenberg, 2019), devaluing their history (Calderón et al, 2020;Delamuta et al, 2020), and promoting the acculturation of cultural habits and customs that influence health (Aizenberg et al, 2015). This results in a non-comprehensive service (Motizuki et al, 2019) and an asymmetric relationship with the decision-making power under the providers' control.…”

Modos de vida e trabalho de imigrantes haitianos no Oeste do Paraná/Brasil

“…Os sintomas como dores nas mãos, braços e coluna; o estresse; o frio congelante; os resfriados, entre outros, ainda não configuram doenças ocupacionais, mas são indicativos da forma que assume a relação trabalho-saúde nos frigoríficos. Além dos aspectos relacionados à atividade laboral, os efeitos da própria imigração sobre a saúde devem ser levados em consideração, dado o contexto de vulnerabilidades que afetam os imigrantes (18) .…”