Search Advanced

AIMS Public Health

2022, Volume 9, Issue 3: 521-541. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2022036
Previous Article Next Article
Research article

Experiences of wellbeing and resilience among refugee mothers and families in Calgary during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the role of participation in HIPPY, a home visiting program

  • 1.
    Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
  • 2.
    The Mothers Matter Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada
  • 3.
    Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
  • 4.
    School of Public Health and Social Policy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
  • Received: 16 February 2022 Revised: 12 May 2022 Accepted: 20 May 2022 Published: 13 June 2022

  • In order to provide meaningful and effective support to refugees in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as during post-pandemic recovery efforts, it is critical to explore the experiences of refugee mothers and families during the pandemic, and to identify sources of resilience that can be leveraged to promote individual and household wellbeing. From November 2020 to June 2021, we conducted in-depth interviews with mothers from refugee backgrounds (n = 28) who resettled in Calgary, Alberta and are currently participating in the Multicultural Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program. Interviews were conducted virtually using Microsoft Teams; we sought to better understand the pathways and barriers to wellbeing experienced by refugee mothers during the pandemic. The results indicate that the refugee mothers and families in our study experienced widespread disruptions to education and employment and increased motherhood burden, contributing to diminished wellbeing. Mental health was further impacted by heightened levels of worry, stress and social isolation, as well as intense fear pertaining to the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Some mothers reported experiencing barriers to accessing healthcare services and reliable health information during the pandemic. In the face of these challenges, the mothers demonstrated great resilience and identified tangible individual, household and extra-household factors and resources that supported them in coping with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, our findings suggest that participation in HIPPY played a significant role in fostering the resilience of the participating mothers and families during the pandemic, speaking to the potential of home visiting intervention models in mitigating household hardship during current and future public health crises.

    Citation: Chloe Zivot, Cate Dewey, Meghan Brockington, Chioma Nwebube, Ghaid Asfour, Natasha Vattikonda, Debbie Bell, Sharada Srinivasan, Matthew Little. Experiences of wellbeing and resilience among refugee mothers and families in Calgary during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the role of participation in HIPPY, a home visiting program[J]. AIMS Public Health, 2022, 9(3): 521-541. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2022036

    Related Papers:

  • In order to provide meaningful and effective support to refugees in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as during post-pandemic recovery efforts, it is critical to explore the experiences of refugee mothers and families during the pandemic, and to identify sources of resilience that can be leveraged to promote individual and household wellbeing. From November 2020 to June 2021, we conducted in-depth interviews with mothers from refugee backgrounds (n = 28) who resettled in Calgary, Alberta and are currently participating in the Multicultural Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program. Interviews were conducted virtually using Microsoft Teams; we sought to better understand the pathways and barriers to wellbeing experienced by refugee mothers during the pandemic. The results indicate that the refugee mothers and families in our study experienced widespread disruptions to education and employment and increased motherhood burden, contributing to diminished wellbeing. Mental health was further impacted by heightened levels of worry, stress and social isolation, as well as intense fear pertaining to the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Some mothers reported experiencing barriers to accessing healthcare services and reliable health information during the pandemic. In the face of these challenges, the mothers demonstrated great resilience and identified tangible individual, household and extra-household factors and resources that supported them in coping with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, our findings suggest that participation in HIPPY played a significant role in fostering the resilience of the participating mothers and families during the pandemic, speaking to the potential of home visiting intervention models in mitigating household hardship during current and future public health crises.


    加载中

    Acknowledgments


    This study was supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council through a COVID-19 Partnership Engage Grant (no. 1008–2020–0163).

    Conflict of interest


    Home Visitors, facilitators of the HIPPY program, were present at data collection activities for this study in their role as community researchers. Data collection activities occurred during the same period in which the refugee mothers in our study population were participating in the HIPPY program and receiving services through CIWA.

    [1] Government of CanadaCanada: A History of Refuge (2018). Available from: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/canada-role/timeline.html.
    [2] Houle R (2019) Results from the 2016 Census: Syrian Refugees who Resettled in Canada in 2015 and 2016.Statistics Canada, Government of Canada. Available from: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2019001/article/00001-eng.htm.
    [3] Guruge S, Sidani S, Illesinghe V, et al. (2018) Healthcare needs and health service utilization by Syrian refugee women in Toronto. Confl Health 12: 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-018-0181-x
    [4] Gushulak BD, Pottie K, Roberts JH, et al. (2011) Migration and health in Canada: health in the global village. Can Med Assoc J 12: 952-958. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.090287
    [5] Simich L, Beiser M, Stewart M, et al. (2005) Providing social support for immigrants and refugees in Canada: Challenges and directions. J Immigr Minor Health 7: 259-268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-005-5123-1
    [6] Stewart M, Dennis CL, Kariwo M, et al. (2015) Challenges faced by refugee new parents from Africa in Canada. J Immigr Minor Health 17: 1146-1156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-0062-3
    [7] Lamba NK (2003) The employment experiences of Canadian refugees: Measuring the impact of human and social capital on quality of employment. Can Rev Sociol 40: 45-64. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-618X.2003.tb00235.x
    [8] Krahn H, Derwing T, Mulder M, et al. (2000) Educated and underemployed: Refugee integration into the Canadian labour market. J Int Migr Integr Mar 1: 59-84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-000-1008-2
    [9] Wilson RM, Murtaza R, Shakya YB (2010) Pre-migration and post-migration determinants of mental health for newly arrived refugees in Toronto. Can Issues 45. Available from: https://acs-aec.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CITC-2010-Summer-Ete-L.pdf#page=47.
    [10] Beiser M, Goodwill AM, Albanese P, et al. (2015) Predictors of the integration of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Canada: pre-migration adversity, mental health, personal attributes, and post-migration experience. Int J Migr Health Soc 11: 29-44. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-02-2014-0008
    [11] Ali MA (2008) Loss of parenting self-efficacy among immigrant parents. Contemp Issues Early Child 9: 148-160. https://doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2008.9.2.148
    [12] Zivot C, Dewey C, Heasley C, et al. (2020) Exploring the state of gender-centered health research in the context of refugee resettlement in Canada: a scoping review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 20: 7511. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17207511
    [13] Edmonds J, Flahault A (2021) Refugees in Canada during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int J Environ Res Public Health 18: 947. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18030947
    [14] Brickhill-Atkinson M, Hauck FR (2021) Impact of COVID-19 on resettled refugees. Prim Care 48: 57-66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pop.2020.10.001
    [15] Murdie R (2010) Precarious beginnings: The housing situation of Canada' refugees. Can Issues 47.
    [16] Orcutt M, Patel P, Burns R, et al. (2020) Global call to action for inclusion of migrants and refugees in the COVID-19 response. Lancet 395: 1482-1483. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30971-5
    [17] Moffat T, Mohammed C, Newbold K, et al. (2017) Cultural dimensions of food insecurity among immigrants and refugees. Hum Organ 76: 15-27. https://doi.org/10.17730/0018-7259.76.1.15
    [18] Moroz H, Shrestha M, Testaverde M (2020) Potential responses to the COVID-19 outbreak in support of migrant workers.World Bank. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33625.
    [19] Clarke SK, Kumar GS, Sutton J, et al. (2021) Potential impact of COVID-19 on recently resettled refugee populations in the United States and Canada: perspectives of refugee healthcare providers. J Immig Minor Health 23: 184-189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-020-01104-4
    [20] Logie CH, Turan JM (2020) How do we balance tensions between COVID-19 public health responses and stigma mitigation? Learning from HIV research. AIDS Behav 24: 2003-2006. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-020-02856-8
    [21] World Health OrganizationPreparedness, prevention and control of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for refugees and migrants in non-camp settings: interim guidance, 17 April 2020 (2020). Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331777/WHO-2019-nCoV-Refugees_Migrants-2020.1-eng.pdf.
    [22] Sieffien W, Law S, Andermann L (2022) Immigrant and refugee mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Additional key considerations. Can Fam Physician .
    [23] Benjamen J, Girard V, Jamani S, et al. (2021) Access to refugee and migrant mental health care services during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic: a Canadian refugee clinician survey. Int J Environ Res Public Health 18: 5266. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105266
    [24] Guruge S, Lamaj P, Lee C, et al. (2021) COVID-19 restrictions: experiences of immigrant parents in Toronto. AIMS Public Health 8: 172. https://doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2021013
    [25] Smith JA, de Dieu Basabose J, Brockett M, et al. (2021) Family medicine with refugee newcomers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Am Board Fam Med 34: 210-216. https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2021.S1.200115
    [26] Necoechea DM (2007) Children at-risk for poor school readiness: The effect of an early intervention home visiting program on children and parents.University of California, Riverside.
    [27] Nievar MA, Jacobson A, Chen Q, et al. (2011) Impact of HIPPY on home learning environments of Latino families. Early Child Res Q 26: 268-277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.01.002
    [28] Johnson UY, Martinez-Cantu V, Jacobson AL, et al. (2012) The home instruction for parents of preschool youngsters program's relationship with mother and school outcomes. Early Educ Dev 23: 713-727. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2011.596002
    [29] Luthar SS, Cicchetti D, Becker B (2000) The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Dev 71: 543-562. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00164
    [30] Calgary Economic Development, Calgary, Census 2016- Inforgraphic. Calgary Economic Development, source data: Census 2016, Statistics Canada. Available from: https://www.calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com/assets/Reports/Research/Calgary-Census-2016-Infographic.pdf.
    [31] Santiago CD, Bustos Y, Jolie SA, et al. (2021) The impact of COVID-19 on immigrant and refugee families: Qualitative perspectives from newcomer students and parents. School Psychol 36: 348-357. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000448
    [32] O'Connell C, Lucić L (2021) An informal education intervention in response to the Covid-19 pandemic: Homework mentorships in a Berlin refugee shelter. Hu Arenas 4: 616-631. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-020-00161-3
    [33] Friedman M, Kostka Lichtfuss K, Martignetti L, et al. (2021) “It feels a bit like drowning”: Expectations and Experiences of Motherhood during COVID-19. Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender. Culture & Social Justice 42: 47-57. https://doi.org/10.7202/1082015ar
    [34] Arya N, Redditt VJ, Talavlikar R, et al. (2021) Caring for refugees and newcomers in the post–COVID-19 era: Evidence review and guidance for FPs and health providers. Can Fam Physician 67: 575-581. https://doi.org/10.46747/cfp.6708575
    [35] Cerna L (2019) Refugee education: Integration models and practices in OECD countries.OECD Education Working Papers. Available from: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/refugee-education_a3251a00-en.
    [36] Beiser M (2005) The health of immigrants and refugees in Canada. Can J Public Health 96: 30-44. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03403701
    [37] Beiser M, Hou F (2001) Language acquisition, unemployment and depressive disorder among Southeast Asian refugees: a 10-year study. Soc Sci Med 53: 1321-1334. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00412-3
    [38] Beiser M (2009) Resettling refugees and safeguarding their mental health: Lessons learned from the Canadian Refugee Resettlement Project. Transcult Psychiatry 46: 539-553. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461509351373
    [39] Smythe S, Wilbur A, Hunter E (2021) Inventive pedagogies and social solidarity: The work of community-based adult educators during COVID-19 in British Columbia, Canada. Int Rev Educ 67: 9-29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-021-09882-1
    [40] Johnston RM, Mohammed A, Van Der Linden C (2020) Evidence of exacerbated gender inequality in child care obligations in Canada and Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Politics Gend 16: 1131-1141. https://doi:10.1017/S1743923X20000574
    [41] Kristen C, Seuring J (2021) Destination-language acquisition of recently arrived immigrants. Do refugees differ from other immigrants?. J Educ Res Online for educational research online 13: 128-156. https://doi:10.25656/01:22068
    [42] Mawani FN (2014) Social Determinants of Refugee Mental Health. Refuge and Resilience.Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7923-5_3
    [43] Banulescu-Bogdan N (2020) Beyond work: Reducing social isolation for refugee women and other marginalized newcomers.Transatlantic Council on Migration. Available from: https://www.immigrationresearch.org/system/files/TCM-Social-Isolation_FINALWEB.pdf.
    [44] McKeary M, Newbold B (2010) Barriers to care: The challenges for Canadian refugees and their health care providers. J Refug Stud 23: 523-545. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feq038
    [45] Floyd A, Sakellariou D (2017) Healthcare access for refugee women with limited literacy: layers of disadvantage. Int J Equity Health 16: 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0694-8
    [46] Campbell RM, Klei AG, Hodges BD, et al. (2014) A comparison of health access between permanent residents, undocumented immigrants and refugee claimants in Toronto, Canada. J Immigr Minor Health 16: 165-176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9740-1
    [47] Browne DT, Smith JA, Basabose JD (2021) Refugee children and families during the COVID-19 crisis: A resilience framework for mental health. J Refug Stud 34: 1138-1149. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feaa113
    [48] Hynie M (2018) The social determinants of refugee mental health in the post-migration context: A critical review. Can J Psychiatry 63: 297-303. https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743717746666
    [49] Affleck W, Thamotharampillai U, Jeyakumar J, et al. (2018) “If one does not fulfil his duties, he must not be a man”: Masculinity, mental health and resilience amongst Sri Lankan Tamil refugee men in Canada. Cult Med Psychiatry 42: 840-861. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-018-9592-9
    [50] Gleeson C, Frost R, Sherwood L, et al. (2020) Post-migration factors and mental health outcomes in asylum-seeking and refugee populations: a systematic review. Eur J Psychotraumatol 11: 1793567. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2020.1793567
    [51] Dyck I, Dossa P (2007) Place, health and home: Gender and migration in the constitution of healthy space. Health Place 13: 691-701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2006.10.004
    [52] Lenette C, Brough M, Cox L (2013) Everyday resilience: Narratives of single refugee women with children. Qual Soc Work 12: 637-653. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325012449684
    [53] Racine N, Hetherington E, McArthur BA, et al. (2021) Maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: a longitudinal analysis. Lancet Psychiatry 8: 405-415. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00074-2
    [54] Cameron EE, Joyce KM, Delaquis CP, et al. (2020) Maternal psychological distress & mental health service use during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Affect Disord 276: 765-774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.07.081
    [55] Prime H, Wade M, Browne DT (2020) Risk and resilience in family well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Am Psychol 75: 631-643. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000660
    [56] Newbold B, Chung K, Hong E (2013) Resilience among single adult female refugees in Hamilton, Ontario. Refuge 29: 65-74. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.37507
    [57] Sossou MA, Craig CD, Ogren H, et al. (2008) A qualitative study of resilience factors of Bosnian refugee women resettled in the southern United States. J Ethn Cult Divers Soc Work 17: 365-385. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313200802467908
    [58] Vignoles VL, Jaser Z, Taylor F, et al. (2021) Harnessing shared identities to mobilize resilient responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Polit Psychol 42: 817-826. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12726
    [59] Pulvirenti M, Mason G (2011) Resilience and survival: Refugee women and violence. Curr Issues Crim Justice 23: 37-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2011.12035908
    [60] Mohaupt S (2009) Resilience and social exclusion. Soc Policy Soc 8: 63-71. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746408004594
    [61] (2021) Statistics CanadaLow income cut-offs (LICOs) before and after tax by community size and family size, in current dollars.Statistics Canada, Government of Canada. Available from: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110024101.
    [62] Picot G, Lu Y (2017) Chronic Low Income Among Immigrants in Canada and its Communities.Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series, Government of Canada. Available from: https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/301/weekly_acquisitions_list-ef/2017/17-39/publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/statcan/11f0019m/11f0019m2017397-eng.pdf.
    [63] Stewart MJ, Makwarimba E, Beiser M, et al. (2010) Social support and health: immigrants' and refugees' perspectives. Divers Health Care 7.
    [64] Stewart M, Simich L, Beiser M, et al. (2011) Impacts of a social support intervention for Somali and Sudanese refugees in Canada. Ethn Inequal Health Soc Care 4: 186-199. https://doi.org/10.1108/17570981111250840
    [65] Stewart M, Simich L, Shizha E, et al. (2012) Supporting African refugees in Canada: insights from a support intervention. Health Soc Care Community 20: 516-527. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2012.01069.x
    [66] Stewart M, Spitzer DL, Kushner KE, et al. (2018) Supporting refugee parents of young children: “knowing you're not alone”. Int J Migr Health Soc Care 14: 15-29. https://doi-org.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/10.1108/IJMHSC-04-2016-0018
    [67] Albanese AM, Russo GR, Geller PA (2019) The role of parental self-efficacy in parent and child well-being: A systematic review of associated outcomes. Child Care Health Dev 45: 333-363. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12661
    [68] Peacock S, Konrad S, Watson E, et al. (2013) Effectiveness of home visiting programs on child outcomes: a systematic review. BMC Public Health 13: 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13–17
    [69] Schestag L, Mehner-Gentner J, Stein L, et al. (2021) Ghosts in the nursery in exile—Supporting parenting in exile during the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Appl Psychoanal Stud 18: 197-207. https://doi.org/10.1002/aps.1702
  • Reader Comments
  • © 2022 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索
AIMS Public Health
3.3 3.4

Metrics

Article views(2141) PDF downloads(189) Cited by(0)

Preview PDF
Download XML
Export Citation
Article outline

Figures and Tables

Tables(1)

Other Articles By Authors

Related pages

Tools

/

DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
Return
Return

Catalog