School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, UK.
Centre for Technology Enabled Health Research, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, England, UK.
BMC Psychol. 2017 Mar 20;5(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s40359-017-0178-z.
There is a well-established association between migration to high income countries and health status, with some groups reporting poorer health outcomes than the host population. However, processes that influence health behaviours and health outcomes across minority ethnic groups are complex and in addition, culture ascribes specific gender roles for men and women, which can further influence perspectives of health. The aim of this study was to undertake a comparative exploration of beliefs of health among male and female Ghanaian and Indian migrants and White British participants residing in an urban area within the UK.
Thirty-six participants (12 each Ghanaian, Indian and White British) were recruited through community settings and participated in a semi-structured interview focusing on participant's daily life in the UK, perceptions of their own health and how they maintained their health. Interviews were analyzed using a Framework approach.
Three super ordinate themes were identified and labelled (a) beliefs about health; (b) symptom interpretation and (c) self-management and help seeking. Gender differences in beliefs and health behaviour practices were apparent across participants.
This is the first study to undertake a comparative exploration of health beliefs among people who have migrated to the UK from Ghana and India and to compare with a local (White British) population. The results highlight a need to consider both cultural and gender-based diversity in guiding health behaviours, and such information will be useful in the development of interventions to support health outcomes among migrant populations.
移民到高收入国家与健康状况之间存在着密切的关联，一些群体的健康状况比东道国的人口还要差。然而，影响少数族裔群体健康行为和健康结果的过程是复杂的，此外，文化赋予了男性和女性特定的性别角色，这可能进一步影响对健康的看法。本研究的目的是对居住在英国城市地区的加纳裔、印度裔和英国白人男性和女性移民的健康信念进行比较性探索。
通过社区环境招募了 36 名参与者（加纳裔、印度裔和英国白人各 12 名），并让他们参与了一项半结构化访谈，重点关注参与者在英国的日常生活、对自己健康的看法以及他们如何保持健康。采用框架方法对访谈进行分析。
确定并标记了三个超主题，分别是（a）健康信念；（b）症状解释；（c）自我管理和寻求帮助。参与者的信念和健康行为实践存在明显的性别差异。
这是第一项对从加纳和印度移民到英国的人的健康信念进行比较性探索的研究，并与当地（英国白人）人口进行了比较。研究结果强调需要考虑文化和性别多样性，以指导健康行为，这些信息将有助于制定干预措施，以支持移民群体的健康结果。
