Research Project Revisiting Personal is Political :
Immigrant Women’s Health Promotion
Collaborative project between the Faculty of Nursing, University of
Toronto and Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health
Centre (WHIWH)
Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Principal Investigator: Denise Gastaldo
Co-Investigators: Nazilla Khanlou, Notisha Massaquoi, Deone Curling
Research Coordinator: Amoaba Gooden

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Project developed over an year (2001); a collaboration between academics and practitioners
Study undertaken between Sept 02-Dec 04
Two phases
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1 st – focus groups with 33 recent immigrant women
2 nd – PAR with 13 participants

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The 1 st phase was exploratory
Three focus groups with recent immigrant and refugee women from various cultural backgrounds
Objective: to examine perceptions of health and well-being in the context of displacement and the strategies and resources immigrant women employ to promote their own health

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2 nd phase was participatory and action-oriented
Participants were recent immigrants who met bi-weekly to discuss their experiences for 10 months
Particular attention was paid to place and gender as analytical categories.
In the action phase, the participants and researchers put together the knowledge collectively created and produced information for other immigrants in the format of a webpage, a poetry book, a video, and a selfhelp group.

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Empowerment is a collective process
In the health area, empowerment is a process of enabling people to increase control over their own health and well-being
 Participatory-action research is an opportunity for critical analysis of a particular phenomenon, consciousness raising/knowledge production, and development of new personal and collective skills to promote social change
 Real enablement happens when people change and the social relations that render them powerless are also changed

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Participatory phases: easy, “natural” experience
 3-month action phase: Resistance, participants felt de-skilled
 Strategies used: identifying skills and knowledge (18 languages, artistic, practical, and academic knowledge)
 Researchers acted as resource persons
 Work in small groups to facilitate interactions
 Budget did not cover all initiatives

Three main analytical categories:
 Experiences of displacement
 Becoming an immigrant
 Limits to empowerment

 Experiential knowledge: Information that speaks to other immigrants in a language that is meaningful because it is based on real people’s experience
 Voice: Information that was created to
‘talk’ to students, professionals and policy-makers, who are not people immigrants cannot easily reach

 In my country I was happy, I was loved.
I had a house, a car, and many friends.
 In Toronto, I live in a 2 nd floor, 2bedroom apartment with balcony.

 Written by recent immigrant women to provide information based on their experiences of living in Toronto
 Presented in 9 languages: English, Farsi,
Chinese, Hindi, Gujarati, Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian
 If you like the content, please create a link to your institution’s website www.nursing.utoronto.ca/immigrationguide

 When coming to Canada, the first two things you will acquire are an accent and the label of
"newcomer" or "immigrant". After 20 years in
Canada people will still ask you, "Where are you from?"
 One of the ways in which to gain entry to Canada as an immigrant is as a skilled worker. But even though Canadian Immigration selects immigrants according to a list of professions, you have no guarantee that the private sector in Canada will be recruiting for particular jobs. Many of us came thinking we would find jobs, but unfortunately we couldn't find any in our field.

 The first thing you should remember is that your family can be a great support system for you, but they can also represent an important source of stress if they only count on you to give them support and comfort.
 If before coming to Canada you have a cleaner, nanny, or someone beyond your nuclear family that helps with housework, test your family before deciding to immigrate.
For a month or two, get no help, and have your partner and children do housework, not to "help you," but to share the work in equal amounts, depending on the age of your children. If they do not do it or complain all the time about it, consider that, most probably, this will be what your everyday life will be like in the next few years. Perhaps you should wonder if this is what you want for yourself.

 The Bridge
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Others See, Others Don’t See, We
See

Immigration is like entering a bridge
When you get onto a bridge, you know there is an entrance and an exit
My problem is that I got onto the bridge,
However I don’t know whether I am at
The beginning, the middle
Or the end of the bridge
I also don’t know where the bridge will take me
I feel anxious; I don’t know how much longer I have to keep going
I can’t tell if I am just at the beginning or if I am almost out of the bridge
My only hope is to reach the end; this is what keeps me moving
But this is such a hard process
I never thought the bridge was this long

When people look at us, they see new immigrants
We look like new immigrants because of our appearance,
Our physical features, our accents
Some think we are competition for jobs
Others see us as perfect to do the jobs Canadians don’t want to do
Also, people don’t see what we bring
Our degree of preparation
We see ourselves as people with many capacities
People with good training who face challenges in Canada
We see ourselves as friendly, warm people who can offer a lot to this country
We also see we are not used according to our potential, our talents
Canada is losing big time

Free download at: www.nursing.utoronto.ca/immigrationguide/
30_poems_by_recent_immigrant_women
OR www.nursing.utoronto.ca/immigrationguide
Click link to Poetry Book

Video produced by the Research Project Revisiting Personal is
Political : Immigrant Women’s Health Promotion
Recent Immigrant Women’s Experiences in Toronto –
“I am not the woman I used to be”

 20-minute video were some participants of the study discuss their experiences as immigrants in Toronto; especial attention to employment as a social determinant of health
 Questions to promote group discussion are enclosed

 With participants: acknowledge authorship
 Both institutions benefited from the partnership
 Important learning experience
 Synergic effect in reaching stake holders and broader audience
 Lengthy process and occasional difficulties

 Some participants of the study created a group to support other recently arrived immigrants at WHIWH
 This group has prepared pamphlets with relevant information to newcomers and will visit LINC schools and other community centres for presentations

 Papers and presentations
 Opportunity to advance research training for practitioners (2 PhDs)
 Training opportunities for many undergraduate and graduate students
 Creation of standards for collaboration between academics and WHIWH

 CIHR accountability vs. poetry book
 Agreement signed
 Acquisitions were shared 50/50
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Need to address “lack of resources” in next application
 Poetry book funded by WHIWH