Health in HIPPY homes: Exploring women’s experiences of gender, motherhood and social support as determinants of health during refugee resettlement in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Abstract
Thousands of refugee families are resettled across Canada each year, and many must navigate parenthood while simultaneously contending with resettlement challenges. Refugee women are primarily responsible for care work yet often face disproportionate barriers to information, resources, and access to health services. We leveraged a community-engaged research approach with several project partners to: i) explore the scope, nature, and extent of literature examining the influence of gender norms, roles, and expectations on health and wellbeing during resettlement; ii) explore women’s diverse conceptualizations of health and what it means to be healthy; iii) identify barriers and resilience factors for health and wellbeing during resettlement, including in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; iv) explore women’s experiences of gender as a determinant of health during resettlement, specifically in the context of motherhood; and v) explore the role of participation in Multicultural Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), a home visiting program, in promoting health during resettlement. We conducted a scoping review, followed by surveys, in-depth interviews, and collage-building with refugee mothers (n=28) enrolled in the HIPPY program delivered by the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association. Data were analyzed using a participatory inductive deductive thematic analysis. Our findings establish gender roles, norms, and expectations as important determinants
of health, mediating experiences of other social determinants of health during resettlement. Participation in HIPPY promoted wellbeing during resettlement and the COVID-19 pandemic by mitigating social isolation and improving women’s access to information and resources for health and parenting in Canada.
Notes
Integration timeline: not defined
Open access: Yes
Location: Calgary, AB
Community organizations: Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA)
Key populations: refugee mothers in the Multicultural Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program in Calgary
Key findings:
1) Mothers emphasized social wellbeing as a critical dimension of health, characterized by access to safe environments and availability of formal and informal social supports.
2) Mothers conceptualized and experienced health as interconnected with that of family members. Children’s wellbeing constituted a leading motivating factor for resettlement in Canada and a key source of resilience for parents.
3) Agency, self-efficacy, and resilience were highlighted as integral to health, particularly in relation to their importance in one’s ability to fulfill parental responsibilities and self-expectations.
4) Other key social determinants of health during resettlement that participants identified were language, education, employment, physical environment, and social support.
Key recommendations:
1) Implement policies that lessen the burden of women’s care work, and specifically childcare responsibilities, to ensure women have the time and resources necessary to explore and situate themselves in their new communities.
2) Expand and promote participation in community-based social programming with the dual and interconnected objectives of fostering mothers’ social networks and promoting structural, social, and cultural familiarity with their new environments.
Future research / gaps identified:
1) Better understand how the dynamic nature of gender roles, norms, and expectations during resettlement in Canada impact the mental health and access to services of various members of refugee households
2) Illuminate the pathways through which men experience gender and health during resettlement, and the implications on household wellbeing via their role as partners and fathers.