Journal of Community Health
Volume 43, Issue 4, 2018, Pages 667-672

Discrimination and Health Among Taxi Drivers in New York and Toronto (Article)

Mirpuri S.* , Gill P. , Ocampo A. , Roberts N. , Narang B. , Hwang S.W. , Gany F.
  • a Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 485 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017, United States, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, 401B Runme Shaw Building, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
  • b Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
  • c Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 485 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017, United States, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, United States
  • d Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 485 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017, United States
  • e Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 485 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017, United States
  • f Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada, Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
  • g Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 485 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017, United States

Abstract

Immigrant taxi drivers in metropolitan cities are exposed to experiences of discrimination and occupation-based health risks. Given the structural differences in health care systems in the United States and Canada, we investigated the differences in reports of discrimination, health conditions and concern about health conditions between taxi drivers in New York City and Toronto, Ontario. Participants were recruited for a taxi driver Needs Assessment Survey as part of a Taxi Network needs assessment project using a street side convenience sampling technique in New York City and Toronto. The matched sample contained 33 drivers from Toronto and 33 drivers from NYC. All Toronto drivers in our sample reported having health insurance while over a quarter of NYC drivers did not have health insurance. Toronto drivers reported greater everyday and workplace discrimination. Drivers in both cities experienced higher rates than average, and reported concern about, major health conditions. We also found preliminary evidence suggesting a relationship between experiencing discrimination and reporting chronic pain. Our findings suggest the need for future research to more closely examine the associations between discrimination and health among the taxi driver population. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Author Keywords

Health discrimination Taxi drivers Chronic pain

Index Keywords

Automobile Driving insurance health insurance human Insurance Coverage middle aged health status Insurance, Health Surveys and Questionnaires Humans migrant psychology New York male Emigrants and Immigrants questionnaire Ontario adult New York City Prejudice car driving
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85040936916&doi=10.1007%2fs10900-018-0466-4&partnerID=40&md5=49b75b48c1cc1f00f7fc8ca2acacf94b
DOI: 10.1007/s10900-018-0466-4
ISSN: 00945145
Cited by: 3
Original Language: English