Social Science and Medicine
Volume 239, 2019

Ethnic boundary-making in health care: Experiences of older Pakistani immigrant women in Norway (Article)

Arora S.* , Straiton M. , Rechel B. , Bergland A. , Debesay J.
  • a Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy, Oslo Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 4 St. Olavs Plass, Oslo, N-0130, Norway
  • b Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway, PO Box 222, Skøyen, Oslo, 0213, Norway
  • c European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH, United Kingdom
  • d Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physiotherapy, Oslo Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 4 St. Olavs Plass, Oslo, N-0130, Norway
  • e Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing and Health Promotion, Oslo Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 4 St. Olavs Plass, Oslo, N-0130, Norway

Abstract

Older immigrant women experience several barriers in accessing health care. In this study, we explored how older Pakistani women are met with, and respond to, barriers to health care in Norway, using an ethnic boundary-making and intersectionality approach. Our data included interviews with 23 older Pakistani women and 10 caregivers. We found that ethnic boundaries were constructed in healthcare interactions and were influenced by participants’ social positions. At the micro level, the interplay of language barriers and being an immigrant fuelled the making of ethnic boundaries. At the macro level, ethnicised cultural discourse in the public sphere fuelled the making of ethnic boundaries in health care. Having encountered ethnic boundaries in health care, older Pakistani women actively coped through compensatory, de-stigmatising and boundary-modifying strategies. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Author Keywords

Barriers immigrants Intersectionality Women's health Older age Norway Ethnicity health care

Index Keywords

Pakistani female immigrant ethnicity migrants experience clinical article language Norway health services Article health care interview women's health caregiver human adult womens health human experiment
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85072303930&doi=10.1016%2fj.socscimed.2019.112555&partnerID=40&md5=9eaa2b263a1806daa30981d62f9c8ddf
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112555
ISSN: 02779536
Original Language: English