Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 17, Issue 6, 2014, Pages 1840-1847

“It is an Issue of not Knowing Where to Go”: Service Providers’ Perspectives on Challenges in Accessing Social Support and Services by Immigrant Mothers of Children with Disabilities (Article) (Open Access)

Khanlou N.* , Haque N. , Sheehan S. , Jones G.
  • a York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • b York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • c York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • d Kerry’s Place Autism Services, Mississauga, ON, Canada

Abstract

In Canada little is known about the challenges immigrant mothers of children with disabilities encounter in accessing formal and informal social support. This paper presents the perspectives of service providers on the mothers’ challenges. Data was collected from 27 service providers in Toronto, Canada in 2012 through in-depth interviews. The interview guide was informed by published literature on families of children with special needs. Level one analyses entailed descriptive analyses; and level two consisted of applying House’s 4 domains of social support to organize the themes. Following House’s domains, challenges to (1) Structural support, (2) Instrumental support, (3) Emotional support, and (4) Perception of support were identified. Among providers who work with families of children with disabilities there is recognition of the mothers’ particular challenges in light of their immigration status. Language and communication are significant barriers for immigrant mothers in accessing social support. © 2014, The Author(s).

Author Keywords

Social support Immigrant Disability Mothers Service providers

Index Keywords

information processing perception communication barrier Communication Barriers handicapped child Disabled Children human Social Workers social support language rehabilitation social worker Social Work qualitative research Humans migrant psychology male Canada Emigrants and Immigrants female Mothers organization and management mother Focus Groups Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84946475271&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-014-0122-8&partnerID=40&md5=90c05ca69ca662eafcf00a7e899a1ee7
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-014-0122-8
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 16
Original Language: English