As people continue to immigrate to Canada, it is becoming more important to consider the many social challenges that migrant youth face upon their arrival. The purpose of this MSW thesis was to evaluate the subjective experience of adolescents in a welcoming class who participated in a video art pilot project. Twelve adolescents were interviewed using a semi-structured qualitative format after the end of the project. They reported enjoying the group work process, discovering each other's talents and learning new skills such as how to use a video camera. All of these responses echo the goals of the Positive Youth Development model. It is hoped this study will contribute to the social work literature regarding programs for migrant youth.

This doctoral thesis considers how factors from the home country, the family, and the individual impact the risk for criminal offending among young males from a foreign background residing in Stockholm. I use Swedish register data to examine the risk for police registered suspicion of criminal offending. The introductory chapter presents an historical overview of immigration in Sweden, theories of criminal offending, and details about analysis of register data. It is followed by three empirical studies that consider unique risk factors for crime among children of immigrants while controlling for factors encountered within Sweden. The first study shows that young male children of immigrants do not seem to be inherently violent as a result of coming from a war-torn country. The second study indicates that it is not the age at immigration, but the family situation that seems to dictate criminal propensity. The final study suggests that threats of deportation and stricter immigration policies do not seem to deter criminality. The most interesting result was probably that high home country human development was a protective factor against crime. This is the first known work to uncover such a result. Future theoretical development may be best aimed at unpacking and empirically evaluating the human development index as a risk factor. Together, these three studies suggest that some previously unconsidered uniquely immigrant factors are related to risk for criminality. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript.</p>

In this thesis the regional effects of immigration onto native wages and employment in the United Kingdom and in Germany were examined. Using the regional survey data of the British QLFS from 1993-2009, the estimation results confirmed that foreign workers and British are imperfect substitutes. Natives and immigrants with middle education are found to have the highest elasticity of substitution. Unsurprisingly, the largest percentage of foreign population has been found to be in England. In the analysed time of 1993 until 2009, only middle educated British experienced negative earnings and employment effects caused by immigration. Taking the wage and employment impacts for natives of all three skill groups in the four British countries and the UK itself into account, it can be seen that the positive wage effects were numerically larger than the negative employment changes. Applying the individual data of the German SOEP from 1984-2007 (from 1994 including data about East Germany), imperfect substitution between regional Germans and foreigners were determined. Examining several regions of West Germany (North- West and Middle-South-West) in the time frame of 1994-2007, it could be seen that natives with low and middle education gained in their wages but lost in their employment to immigrants of similar education. However, highly skilled German P a g e | 2 citizens were confronted with a wage loss but higher employment. The analysis of the effect of immigration on native wages and employment in East Germany led to interesting results. Low, middle and highly educated East German natives experienced either a minimal wage increase or no wage change. Considering the employment in East Germany, low educated natives saw a small rise in their employment. However, no change could be found in the employment of middle and highly skilled workers in East Germany.

Perceived increased prevalence and levels of awareness of food allergy has become a global phenomenon, making it a major public health concern. Although little is known about its etiology or prevalence, substantial variation in prevalence on a global scale is evident. Studies on food allergy in Asia are reporting an increase in prevalence, particularly in economically developed regions like Hong Kong. Interestingly, risk perception studies have found that Canadians’ perceived prevalence of food allergy surpasses systematic estimates. Moreover, Canadian immigrants are more likely to rate the risk of food allergy as “high” compared to non-immigrants. To explore these issues further, qualitative interviews were conducted with key informants (n=3) and allergic individuals of Asian descent (n=18) in order to capture their lived experience with food allergies. Interviews lasted 30 minutes on average and they were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim for subsequent thematic analysis using QSR International’s NVivo 9. Results are organized around four major themes: perceived prevalence, risk perception, management and coping, and quality of life. With respect to perceived prevalence and risk, participants found food allergies to be more common in Canada than in Asia. Participants also agreed that having a food allergy is more manageable in Canada as a result of the policy environment (e.g., food labelling and school board policies). In addition, participants had dealt with skepticism and disbelief about their food allergy in Asia, impacting their quality of life. These findings demonstrate the need to recognize the varied impacts and experiences of food allergy among new Canadians, given that immigrants represent a large and growing proportion of the Canadian population.

No description available.

Background: In 2010, immigrants comprised 20% of the Canadian population. Canada has one of the highest incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) in the world. This study seeks to explore factors that are associated with CRC screening and to determine whether immigrants are less likely to be screened for CRC compared to non-immigrants. Methods: Data were obtained from Statistics Canada Canadian Community Health Survey, 2008. The Behavioral Model of Health Services Use was used as a theoretical framework. Chi-square statistics and multiple logistic regression models were employed. Results: Recent immigrants were less likely to be screened by endoscopy within 5 years (OR: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.29 – 0.77), endoscopy within 10 years (OR: 0.38; 95% CI: 0.24 - 0.60) and be up-to-date with screening (OR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.37 - 0.91) compared to non-immigrants. Conclusions: A formal screening program and patient navigators may address disparities among recent and non-immigrants.

The total number of births among immigrants is on the rise and currently exceeds one fifth of live births within industrialized countries. The relation between adverse birth outcomes and migration remains unclear. The objectives of this thesis are to undertake a literature review to clarify the relation between migration and adverse birth outcomes, and to examine the interplay between duration of residence, maternal country of origin, and the residential environment using data on immigrants to Ontario Census Metropolitan Areas. The findings indicate that: a) Analyzing disparities in birth outcomes by migrant status with migrants defined as a single category is not informative. Rather, ethnicity and country of origin are important predictors of birth outcomes among immigrants. b) Duration of residence is linearly associated with low infant birth weight and preterm birth, mainly driven by decreases in gestational age with prolonged stay in Canada. c) The detrimental effects of long duration of residence on preterm birth are modestly attenuated, but not prevented, among immigrants living in urban neighbourhoods characterized by low material deprivation. d) Neighbourhood material deprivation has little, if any, influence on birth outcomes of recent immigrants, and only becomes influential after 15 years of stay in Canada. Maternal world region of origin constitutes a stronger predictor of adverse birth outcomes among recent immigrants. These findings stress the importance of the maternal country of birth and duration of residence as key predictors of immigrants’ health. They also support further research aimed at clarifying the nature of the association between time spent in Canada after migration and decreases in gestational age at delivery, and the identification of immigrant groups at high risk of adverse birth outcomes, based on these two key predictors.

This study explored the responsiveness of two Ontario Colleges (called Eastern and Western for the purposes of this study) in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to internationally trained immigrant (ITI) students accessing college education for retraining purposes. Many highly educated immigrants are unable to have their credentials recognized because professional regulatory bodies and employers are reluctant to accept their previous education and work experience. Therefore, many ITIs access Ontario college education in the hope that, upon graduation, they will find skill-related employment that will contribute to their settlement in Canada. The purpose of this research was to examine how the two participating colleges address the ITI students’ occupation-specific needs in their current institutional policies and practices. Qualitative research methods, interviews and document analysis, were utilized to examine the admission and program delivery practices at each of the study colleges. Interviews were conducted with 13 ITI student participants and 14 college personnel to provide an opportunity for them to voice their opinions about their college experiences. To provide direction for interpreting and analyzing the research findings, the single- and double-loop organizational learning framework developed by Argyris and Schon (1974, 1978) was used. The findings suggest that Eastern and Western Colleges have different approaches in valuing and placing importance in responding to ITI students’ retraining needs. The data indicated that ITI students at Eastern College were not perceived by college personnel as a unique group of students having specific retraining needs; rather, they were seen as part of the larger student constituency. On the other hand, Western College recognized the ITI students’ distinctive occupation-specific needs and made commitments towards improving its policies and practices to increase the College’s effectiveness in meeting the ITIs needs. Although limited to only two Ontario colleges, the study findings have some important implications for theory and practice. The findings have contributed to increased awareness and a better understanding of challenges ITI students face in accessing Ontario college education, and it has offered recommendations for college efforts to respond to ITI students’ educational needs.

Cognitive screening tools for dementia have often shown a cultural bias. Although in the preliminary stages of research, the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) (Storey, Rowland, Conforti, & Dickson, 2004) has recently shown promise. It obtains high sensitivities and specificities, does not appear susceptible to the effects of translation, and appears applicable in a multicultural setting. Therefore; the aim of the current research was to examine further the performance of the RUDAS in an ethnolinguistically diverse sample. Archival data consisting of scores on the RUDAS and on a comprehensive test battery was gathered from 64 neuropsychological referrals to an Australian health service from 2002-2006. The majority (83%) of these referrals were from a non-English speaking background and were tested in their preferred language. The RUDAS was found to be a fairly cohesive measure, and domain subscales were strongly correlated with corresponding scores on other neuropsychological tests indicating accurate performance. Although moderately predictive of diagnoses of dementia and cognitive decline (obtaining sensitivities of 71% and 62% respectively) the RUDAS lacked specificity, a finding which may be attributed to the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment in the sample. The RUDAS fullscale score was found resilient to age, gender, English language proficiency and education effects; however subscale scores were differentially affected, perhaps indicating a tendency towards bias. Overall, this study suggests that the RUDAS is a useful screening instrument in an ethnolinguistically diverse clinical population. / Thesis (MPsychology)--University of South Australia, 2006.

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building. / The purpose of this research is to examine the initial post-arrival process of recently arrived humanitarian entrants into Sydney, Australia from three non-traditional source countries, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Resettlement was examined from social, economic and health perspectives, with the determinants influencing the settlement process being identified as a precursor to understanding the long-term adjustment process. A literature review on settlement adjustment from a multidisciplinary approach confirmed the dearth of research on early refugee settlement experience in Australia and overseas for groups other than the Indochinese. Such research has tended to concentrate on one of the specific aspects of settlement rather than attempting a holistic approach to understanding adjustment patterns. Subsequently, 44 key informants, representing over 25 different organisations providing services (both government and non-government) to humanitarian entrants, were individually surveyed to gather information on their clients' needs, perceptions and problems. Issues emerging from both the literature review and key informants' survey formed the basis of a survey of 172 recently arrived Bosnian, Iraqi and Afghan humanitarian entrants. Among the statistical tools used to analyse the entrants' surveys were Pearson's correlation coefficient, analysis of variance, Kendall's tau correlation, Spearman's rho correlation and Cronbach's alpha. Results indicated that during the initial settlement stage, the former socio-economic background of the entrants has little impact on their economic, social or health adjustment. Instead, the conditions of departure, such as the loss of property, long-term incarceration, torture and trauma, were found to have a far reaching influence on the entrants' social and health experiences in their new country; however, despite the variety of traumatic pre-departure experiences, the resilience of the entrants reinforced their determination to participate in the workforce. Although commonalities were found among the three groups in settlement outcomes, there were also distinct differences. The groups shared difficulties such as post-arrival unemployment, lack of suitable accommodation and family reunion concerns. However, the Bosnians, for example, experienced the greatest degree of health-related problems, the Iraqis expressed the greatest interest in sponsoring family members and the Afghans were the most well-adjusted of the three groups. Detailed policy implications are also presented; these emphasise that humanitarian entrants may experience adjustment difficulties qualitatively different from those of traditional migrants and argue for improved support services.