Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 20, Issue 3, 2018, Pages 759-761

Developing a Research Agenda on the Political Economy of Immigrants’ Oral Health (Article)

Calvasina P.* , Gastaldo D. , Quiñonez C. , Muntaner C.
  • a Young Talents for Science Program - CAPES Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) - Brazil, Santos Dumont Avenue, no. 5753, Room 1107, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
  • b Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Director Centre for Critical Qualitative Health Research (CQ), University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
  • c Faculty of Dentistry, Director Specialty Training Program in Dental Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
  • d Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Abstract

Acculturation has been widely used in health research to explain oral health disparities between immigrants and their native born counterparts. However, immigrants’ oral health studies have not clearly defined the acculturation construct. Also, a narrow focus on cultural oral health behaviours is likely to be inadequate for explaining immigrants’ oral health inequities, which are also rooted in societal, political and economic factors produced across the globe. In this brief report, we discuss the use of the acculturation framework in the dental public health literature, note gaps in this approach, and argue for the need to incorporate the political economy lens to help better understand the complexities of immigrants’ oral health. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Author Keywords

Political economy Oral health immigrants

Index Keywords

Emigrants and Immigrants cultural anthropology Acculturation Health Status Disparities politics Humans cultural factor Oral Health health disparity health human Health Behavior migrant Culture
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85032786885&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-017-0666-5&partnerID=40&md5=584f26b9383da587a332f20415e54d35
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-017-0666-5
ISSN: 15571912
Original Language: English