Look to Norway: Serving new families and infants in a multiethnic population

Abstract

Despite recognition that immigrant women face significant health challenges, addressing the healthcare needs of immigrants is a source of debate in the United States. Lack of adequate healthcare for immigrants is recognized as a social justice issue, and other countries have incorporated immigrants into their healthcare services. Oslo, the fastest growing capital in Europe, is rapidly shifting to a heterogeneous society prompting organizational action and change. The New Families Program serves first‐time mothers and their infants in an Oslo district serving 53% minorities from 142 countries. Anchored in salutogenic theory, the program aims to support the parent–child relationship, children's development and social adaptation, and to prevent stress‐related outcomes. Formative research has informed the successful program development and implementation within the existing maternal and child healthcare service. Implications for addressing maternal and child health needs of an immigrant population are presented.

Hospitalization Experience of Muslim Migrants in Hospitals in Southern Spain—Communication, Relationship with Nurses and Culture. A Focused Ethnography

“…The lack of intercultural knowledge complicates the therapeutic relationship with patients [47]. The lack of diversity in the ethnic origins of health personnel in hospitals in southern Spain is an obstacle in the provision of intercultural care and the solution may be to incorporate migrants into health services [48,49] to ensure culturally competent care [35], in addition to providing undergraduate and continuing intercultural training for nurses [50,51] and information about the rights of migrants to health care [52].…”

Salutogenesis and Migration

“…We found two pairs of studies that report on formative research for a health promotion intervention with migrant women, and then evaluate the intervention. In Norway, an intervention for new mothers in a multi-ethnic community was planned and evaluated using salutogenic theory (Leirbakk et al, 2018(Leirbakk et al, , 2019. In Spain, Bonmati-Tomas et al (2016) report on a qualitative study mapping the assets of immigrant women experiencing health inequities and at risk of social exclusion.…”

“…Antonovsky (1996, p. 15) promotes SMH as a systematic theoretical guide for research and action. We have included a few papers that use salutogenesis to plan and evaluate interventions (Bonmati-Tomas et al, 2016Leirbakk et al, 2018Leirbakk et al, , 2019.…”

Special Issue on Infant Mental Health and Reproductive Health and Justice

“…As reproductive justice advocates have noted, we cannot understand experiences of reproduction and maternity separate from our understanding of the social context in which these occur. Grady, Hinshaw‐Fuselier, and Friar (this issue) explore intergenerational transmission of trauma and the need to account for not only present circumstances and personal trauma histories but also historical trauma in “Expanding Perspectives: A Social Inequities Lens on Intimate Partner Violence, Reproductive Justice, and Infant Mental Health.” In “Look to Norway: Serving New Families and Infants in a Multiethnic Population,” Leirbakk, Magnus, Torper, and Zeanah (this issue) discuss how home visits “created a more equal power balance between the mothers and their PHNs, as compared to office visits” (p. 15). For providers, engaging with families in community settings can provide a deeper sense of families’ lived realities.…”