Iranian Migrants' Discourses of Health and the Implications for Using Standardized Health Measures with Minority Groups

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 5 - Trang 173-180 - 2003
Sirous Momenzadeh1, Natasha Posner2
1Goodna Neighbourhood House, Goodna, Australia
2Social Policy Research Centre, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Tóm tắt

This paper explores the concept of health implied in the SF-36 within a group of Iranians in Australia. Qualitative data were collected from a sample of 21 people—10 females and 11 males. For the first time, the NUD*IST program was used to organize and manage the data in Persian (also known as Farsi), the language spoken by Iranians. Health was defined in terms of holistic, spiritual, social, physical/emotional aspects, and absence-of-disorder dimensions. Among these, physical, absence of disorder, holistic, and spiritual aspects of health were mentioned more frequently than other themes. The findings of the study raise concerns about the extent to which the SF-36 captures the diversity of the concept of health as expressed by the sample of Iranian migrants.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Australian Bureau of Statistics: Community Profiles: Extracted From C-Lib. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics; 1996 Boorse C: Health as a theoretical concept. Philos Sci 1077; 44:542-573 Cardus D, Thrall RM: Overview: Health and the planning of health care systems. Prev Med 1977; 6(1):134-142 Baranowski T: Toward the definition of concepts of health and disease, wellness and illness. Health Values: Achiev High Level Wellness 1981; 5:246-256 World Health Organization: Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference. New York; 1946 Morse JM: The meaning of health in an inner city community. Nurs Pap: Perspect En Nurs 1987; 19(2):27-40 Stuifbergen AK, Becker HA, Ingalsbe K, Sands D: Perceptions of health among adults with disabilities. Health Values Achieving High Level Wellness (HEALTH-VALUES) 1990; 14(2): 18-26 (20 ref); 1990 Ware JE, Jr, Sherbourne CD: The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Med Care 1992; 30(6):473-483 Jenkinson C, Coulter A, Wright L: Short form 36 (SF36) health survey questionnaire: Normative data for adults of working age. BMJ 1993; 306(6890):1437-1440 Ware JE, Jr: SF-36 health survey update. Spine 2000; 25(24):3130-3139 Ware JE, Jr, Gandek B: Overview of the SF-36 Health Survey and the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) Project. J Clin Epidemiol 1998; 51(11):903-912 Staniszewska S, Ahmed L, Jenkinson C: The conceptual validity and appropriateness of using health-related quality of life measures with minority ethnic groups. Ethnicity Health 1999; 4(1/2):51-63 Bullinger M, Anderson R, Cella D, Aaronson N: Developing and evaluating cross-cultural instruments from minimum requirements to optimal models. Quality Life Res 1993; 2(6):451-459 Scott KM, Sarfati D, Tobias MI, Haslett SJ: A challenge to the cross-cultural validity of the SF-36 health survey: Factor structure in Maori, Pacific and New Zealand European ethnic groups. Soc Sci Med 2000; 51(11):1655-1664 Zargooshi J: Quality of life of Iranian kidney “donors.” J Urol 2001; 166(5):1790-1799 QSR NUD*IST 4: User Guide [computer program]. Version 4. Melbourne: QSR; 1997 Kuzel AJ: Sampling in qualitative inquiry: In: Miller WL, ed. Doing Qualitative Research: Research Methods for Primary Care. Vol 3. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; 1992:3-28 Denzin NK, Lincoln YS: Handbook of Qualitative Research. CA: Sage; 1994 Keller MJ: Toward a definition of health: Advances Nurs Sci 1981 Oct: 43-64; 1981 Pierret JH: Conducting discourse about health and their social determinants: In: Radley A, ed. Worlds of Illness: Biographical and Cultural Perspectives on Health and Disease. New York: Routledge; 1993:205p. Williams R: Concepts of health: An analysis of lay logic. Sociology 1983; 17(2):185-205 Herzlich C: Health and Illness: A Social Psychological Analysis. New York: Published in cooperation with the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology by Academic Press; 1973 d'Houtaud A, Field MG: The image of health: Variations in perception by social class in a French population. Sociol Health Illness 1984; 6(1):30-60 Curtis S, Taket A: Health and Societies: Changing Perspectives. New York: Edward Arnold; 1996 Festinger L, d'Houtaud A, Field M-G: A theory of social comparison processes. The image of health: Variations in perception by social class in a French population. Human Relat 1954; 7(1):117-140 Buunk B, Gibbons FX: Health, Coping, and Well-Being: Perspectives From Social Comparison Theory. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum; 1997 Mihalopoulos C, Pirkis J, Naccarella L, Dunt D: The Role of General Practitioners and Other Primary Care Agencies in Transcultural Mental Health Care. Melbourne: Australian Transcultural Mental Health Network; 1999 Lipson JG, Meleis AI: Issues in health care of Middle Eastern patients. West J Med 1983; 139(6):854-861