141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

284455
Importance of social context in understanding and promoting low-income immigrant women's health

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Maria De Jesus, PhD , School of International Service and Center for Health, Risk, and Society, American University, Washington, D.C., DC
Understanding the social context and realities of low-income immigrant women is important to promote their overall health and well-being more effectively. The aim of this study was to gain a contextual understanding from the perspectives of community health promoters who work with immigrant women. Using a Glaserian grounded theory approach, six salient themes describing women's social context emerged: community and domestic violence, loss and isolation, economic injustice, immigration-related issues and abuse, unequal gender-based power relations, and cultural taboos. These findings challenge health researchers and practitioners to understand health problems and health promotion not only at an individual level, but at multiple levels of infuence including interpersonal, family, neighborhood, and structural levels.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related nursing

Learning Objectives:
Identify six salient themes describing women’s social context to understand and promote their overall health and well-being more e!ectively.

Keywords: Immigrants, Health Promotion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have authored several papers on health and health care with underserved populations.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.