A geography of health and ethnicity : the health concerns of South Asian Fijian women living in greater Vancouver British Columbia
Date
1995
Authors
Gillie, Joan Frances
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Abstract
This thesis reports the results of a research project designed to investigate the health and health care experiences of South Asian Fijian women currently living in the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia (B.C.). The health of B.C.'s growing immigrant population was identified as a priority issue in a recent Royal Commission report on health care and costs (1991). In addition, recent directions in health geography which probe the role of space and place in social life provide the opportunity to explore relationships between place and health in the context of the immigration experience. This research is based on data collected through depth interviews conducted in the summer of 1994 with twenty South Asian Fijian women and nine health/community service providers. Health and health care experiences in B.C. are explored in the context of women's everyday lives, as they are contextualized within the immigration experience. Interviews were taped and transcribed verbatim, then analyzed for major themes. It was found that immigrant women face numerous challenges, most of which impact upon their health and wellbeing. In virtually all cases, women mentioned emotional well-being as a central health concept. Many women also reported the importance of place, of 'feeling at home', as a primary determinant of their ability to achieve health.
Further, individual definitions of health often went beyond illness and disease to include broader conceptions of wellbeing. Varying levels of success in accessing the health care system were reported and appear to be related to social support networks, opportunities for employment and language ability. These findings have implications for how we conceptualize health and how health care services are delivered to particular groups. In addition, this research contributes to current literature in health geography which seeks to illuminate local contextual factors and subjective experience which mediate between and impact upon wider sets of social relations to create health in place.