Challenges of a healthy lifestyle for socially disadvantaged people of Dutch, Moroccan and Turkish origin in the Netherlands: a focus group study

Abstract

Lifestyle interventions often fail to successfully reach individuals with lower socio-economic status (SES), possibly because of the individual behavioural orientation to health behaviour and because limited research has included the target groups’ perspectives in the development of interventions. Certainly, in order to make lifestyle interventions more applicable, target groups’ viewpoints should to be taken into account. In order to tailor an effective lifestyle intervention to groups with lower SES of different ethnic origins, 14 focus group interviews were conducted with Turkish, Moroccan and Dutch male and female groups. The target groups’ responses highlight their viewpoint and their dilemmas with regard to physical activity behaviour and healthy eating. Exploration of the target groups’ behaviour in terms of their own logic revealed three prominent themes. Firstly, some individuals find it difficult to maintain healthy eating habits and regular physical activities, as their concept of a healthy life comprises competing values and activities. Secondly, social norms and social practices of others influence health behaviour. Thirdly, respondents’ answers reflect how they deal with the dilemma of competing values and norms. They use different ways of reasoning to make sense of their own (health) behaviour. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that considering physical activity and eating as collective social practices rather than as determinants of health will provide new opportunities to initiate healthy lifestyles and to make lifestyle interventions more applicable to target groups’ realities.

“At this age, a Moroccan woman’s life’s work is over”-older Moroccan-Dutch migrant women’s perceptions of health and lifestyle, with a focus on Ramadan experiences: qualitative research integrating education and consultation

“…However, encouraging people to be more physically active and to adopt a healthy diet proves to be more difficult than just providing information. Programmes and educational courses have limited impact on the general public and even more so on migrant groups and people of lower economic status (SES) [6]. Health messages, interventions and educational programmes are often ill-matched with migrants' perceptions and beliefs about health and lifestyle.…”

“…Not all groups conceptualise an individual meaning of lifestyle, physical activity and nutrition. Some see lifestyle, not as a determinant of health, but more as a social (collective) activity [6,13]. This different understanding creates other, new, opportunities for health-promoting interventions.…”

Development and evaluation of a physical activity intervention informed by participatory research- a feasibility study

“…Despite the small sample size, the study results indicate a positive direction for further large-scale studies in this context. Problems such as isolation including the need to remain indoors owing to sociocultural practices, language barriers and lack of social network leading to physical inactivity is regarded as more common among women in this context compared to men [19]. Hence, the reach out to more women was considered a positive effort to reduce disparities.…”

“…Nearly 65% of the Swedish population over the age of 18 years are reported to be physically active on a regular basis. However, there are reported differences in physical activity levels among subgroups of populations from disadvantaged backgrounds [14,[17][18][19][20][21]. Socially disadvantaged populations are diverse subgroups of the population who are heterogeneous with regard to their ethnicity, historical background, religion, culture, immigration status and practices related to health [22].…”

“…These subgroups commonly experience a higher risk of poverty, social exclusion, and discrimination. They are also exposed to several risky health behaviors owing to their poor living conditions [14,[18][19][20][21].…”