Cultural Health Assets of Somali and Oromo Refugees and Immigrants in Minnesota: Findings from a Community-Based Participatory Research Project

Abstract

This community-based participatory research study sought to identify the cultural health assets of the Somali and Oromo communities in one Minnesota neighborhood that could be mobilized to develop culturally appropriate health interventions. Community asset mappers conducted 76 interviews with Somali and Oromo refugees in in Minnesota regarding the cultural assets of their community. A community-university data analysis team coded data for major themes. Key cultural health assets of the Somali and Oromo refugee communities revealed in this study include religion and religious beliefs, religious and cultural practices, a strong culture of sharing, interconnectedness, the prominence of oral traditions, traditional healthy eating and healthy lifestyles, traditional foods and medicine, and a strong cultural value placed on health. These cultural health assets can be used as building blocks for culturally relevant health interventions.

Oral Health Challenges in Refugees from the Middle East and Africa: A Comparative Study

“…The African countries where most participants originated from, were Eritrea and Somalia. There is little research on Eritrean oral health, but several studies emphasize the importance of oral hygiene in Somalian culture and religion [13][14][15]. Moreover, traditional Somalian diet is low in fat and sugar, which may contribute to the lower caries prevalence in the African participants.…”

“…Moreover, traditional Somalian diet is low in fat and sugar, which may contribute to the lower caries prevalence in the African participants. But research has demonstrated a tendency of Somali refugees to easily adapt to a Western diet [13,14]. Therefore, dietary information to encourage continuation of positive cultural traditions may be important to emphasize in future reception programs.…”

“…Dental clinics may be destroyed or closed during conflicts, which according to Saltaji [12] was seen recently in Syria, where many dental clinics were affected, and health personnel fled the country. Health clinics in refugee camps have limited resources for the treatment of dental diseases [5], and when settling in Western countries, some migrant groups are introduced to more high-sugar foods than they are accustomed to [13,14]. Refugees in the process of resettlement may have more pressing problems than oral health, and previous research demonstrated a tendency to under-utilize dental services and seek emergency dental treatment only [7][8][9]15].…”

Health, faith and therapeutic landscapes: Places of worship as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) public health settings in the United Kingdom

“…The WHO 'healthy settings' initiative is an example of this approach, where, according to the 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 'Health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life; where they learn, work, play, and love' (WHO no date). Work on this has been carried out within schools, workplaces, hospitals, prisons and universities (Dooris 2005;, but virtually no attention has been paid to places of worship as 'healthy settings', with the exception of Corcoran et al (2013) approach looks for things that already exist within a community that are being or could be leveraged by that community to achieve their goals (Foot and Hopkins 2010;Lightfoot et al 2016).…”

Facilitators and Barriers of Cervical Cancer Screening and Human Papilloma Virus Vaccination Among Somali Refugee Women in the United States: A Qualitative Analysis

“…Knowledge, awareness, specific religious or cultural factors, embarrassment or modesty, fear, language barriers, inconvenient clinic hours, and childcare needs have been identified as barriers for Somali women in both the United States and London, United Kingdom (Abdullahi et al, 2009;Carroll et al, 2007). Studies in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area have also identified that East African refugees learn about health information at social gatherings and are more likely to trust health information that has been shared and vouched for by trusted East African peers (Lightfoot, Blevins, Lum, & Dube, 2016;Simmelink, Lightfoot, Dube, Blevins, & Lum, 2013).…”