Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst. / Härtill 7 uppsatser.

International migration has reached an all-time high in 2015 where many global states were not able to keep up with the numbers of people crossing political borders. With many reasons to flee a landscape, both refugees and undocumented immigrants face the continued stressors that are part of the migratory journey, even years after their journey is over. Many who fled during this time frame were escaping war in Syria, while many others were escaping economic devastation, gender violence, and other forms of insecurity all over the world. Evidence has shown that groups who have experienced violent geographies who have been forcibly displaced have higher rates of psychiatric illness than those who were not exposed to these stressful conditions. The effects of toxic stress do not stop once the individual is taken out of the traumatic landscape; it stays within the individual as they continue their life. This study will discuss additional stressors associated with the migratory experience during and after resettlement. This thesis discusses three groups of actors associated with migration including NGOs, migrating people, and citizens affected by migration. It will discuss personal accounts of refugees and NGOs who have experience with displacement. This thesis will focus particularly on issues such as mental health and access to health, education, and employment services for displaced populations. This thesis will also discuss indicators of psychiatric illness in displaced populations and present-day solutions to restructure contemporary immigration systems around the world.

China has undergone rapid urbanisation over the last few decades, involving both migration into urban areas and the geographical expansion of urban areas. While we know that both migration and urbanisation have a bidirectional relationship with health, this relationship has only been studied to a limited extent in China. In particular, the exiting literature has neglected the effects of migration and urbanisation on health and well-being in later life, instead focusing on the relationship between these outcomes over the short term in relation to temporary rural-to-urban movements. Using an inter-disciplinary approach, drawing literature from economics, epidemiology and sociology, this thesis conceptualises and examines the association between different forms of migration and their relationship with later life health and well-being. It then compares these relationships with the impact of the geographical expansion of urban areas on those who do not migrate, but consequently become urbanised. It then attempts to draw conclusions on likely causal processes. To do this, I use the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a nationally representative and multi-disciplinary dataset that examines the circumstances of the Chinese population aged over 45 years old. Moreover, using the structure of the dataset, this thesis is able to independently study migration and urbanisation processes. The results show that there are strong associations between migration status and later life health and well-being in China, with migrations to or within urban areas having the largest positive effects, these hold even after accounting for selective features of migration. Moreover, the results show there are no significant differences in health and well-being in later life between return migrants and non-migrants; although return migration seems to positively relate to risky health behaviours in later life. In addition, the results show that urbanisation in China has largely exogenous and positive impacts on health and well-being. This thesis contributes to the literature by examining different forms of migrations in China and showing how these migrations may relate to health and well-being in later life. The results highlight the need to study return migration and urbanisation along with studying migration in China in order to understand the impacts of migration on health and well-being, as these processes may have impacts on the relationship between migration and health and well-being too.

Research demonstrates that perspectives of health and illness vary by social and cultural context. This has implications for the ways in which people experience and respond to health and illness and becomes particularly important when people face major social and cultural change through migration. This is explored in this study through the relationship between health and place. The location for the study is a Chinese community centre, in which the centre members are first generation migrants from Hong Kong, China and Vietnam, aged 50 and over, who have spent the larger part of their lives living in the UK. The study uses the concept of therapeutic landscapes as an analytical lens through which to explore understandings of health and illness, issues of identity and belonging, and practices of wellbeing as they are enacted outside of formal healthcare settings. As an ethnographic study, the primary means of data collection has been through participant observation. This included regular attendance at the community centre to participate in activities and events over a period of ten months from August 2013 to May 2014. Twenty one formal interviews were also conducted with members of the community centre, the majority in English, and several in Cantonese. The migration stories of the participants in the study are explored as gendered experiences; that is, that the men and women experienced, and spoke about, migration differently. For the women in particular, their experiences of migration were recalled as a time of profound loneliness and isolation. Understandings of health and illness among the centre members are also explored. A shared understanding of health as a holistic and collective concept was expressed. In particular, they spoke about maintaining a positive attitude in the face of difficulties, about their own health in terms of family and social relationships, and the importance of being together and being active. The choices that they make around the use of Chinese and/or biomedicine are also explored within the context of this understanding. The experiences of migration and the understandings of health and illness are further explored through a consideration of the everyday practices, and associated materialities, that constitute the day-to-day life of the centre. These are explored as ways of re-connecting with the past and maintaining a sense of identity, but also as ways of negotiating both continuity and change at the same time. The role of the community centre in the lives of its members, and the ways in which they interact with one another in this particular place, is approached through the concept of therapeutic landscapes. The day-to-day activities, and the ways in which the centre members participate in these are presented as everyday practices of care; as the enactment of a particular understanding of health and wellbeing that helps to create a sense of identity and belonging at the community centre, which in turn contributes to the health and wellbeing of the centre members.

This study explores how highly educated refugees in the U.K. perceive the relation between their post-migration experiences and their psychosocial well-being. A literature review of the migration and psychological health area and the widely-used stress and coping approach revealed that the “vulnerable” and “passive” images have all too often been assigned to refugees when discussing their psychological health, and that the latter have often been approached as beings detached from their social context. The aim of the research was to explore the participants’ own perceptions (or “lay narratives”) of their experiences and their well-being. These were used to converse with the stress and coping concepts and with the images related to psychological activism, an alternative stress and coping perspective that views people as active agents who try to take control of their life, instead of mere passive recipients of stress. The study is based on constructivism, and accordingly the emphasis is put on the subjective world of experience and the researcher critically reflects on how the social context shapes the participants’ perceptions. The empirical work consists of two studies. In the first one, semi-structured interviews were carried out with fifteen young and highly educated refugees in the U.K. The findings highlight how the participants used the stress and coping concepts and the images related to psychological activism, so the value of such concepts is reconfirmed. But a deeper critical look reveals that the semi-structured interviewing may have strongly directed how the participants discussed their perceptions and that it was unclear how these perceptions are formed in social interaction. Consequently I conducted additional empirical work to carry the emerging issues further. In the second study, autobiographical narrative interviews were carried out with another group of fifteen highly educated refugees in the U.K. The findings reveal that they made sense of their experiences and their well-being through three distinctive stories. The stories of hope and survival presented by two subgroups of participants suggest a more balanced view of refugees, one that is not necessarily “vulnerable” and “passive”. These participants made sense of their experiences and well-being through the elements of “hope, persistence and activism”. But the story of disappointment presented by a third subgroup revealed that some participants did not perceive their experiences and their well-being through a positive lens. It also highlighted the need to further explore how they formed their perceptions in social interaction. Indeed, it was shown how the social context, particularly negative attitudes they received at the community level, was largely responsible for their narrative of disappointment. The theoretical contribution of this research lies in exploring how the participants, through their own narratives, made sense of the concepts of stress and coping. The methodological contribution refers to the bridging of ideas and previous work from other disciplines and to the innovative application of narrative interviewing to this population. A major practical contribution is that this research offered a channel for refugees to talk about their experiences and their well-being in their own words. Furthermore, possible explanations emerge on why some refugee groups can indeed seem “vulnerable” and “passive” and this has important implications for those who design and implement interventions aimed at enhancing the well-being of refugees.

Objetivos: Apresentar características do processo migratório de Bolivianos no Município de São Paulo, explorando, num contexto de saúde global, a relação entre os Sistemas de saúde do Brasil e da Bolívia; destacando os respectivos processos históricos, noções de acesso universal e semelhanças que possam vir a ser fundamentais na compreensão da problemática específica da alta incidência de Tuberculosos entre bolivianos residentes na capital do Estado de São Paulo. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo de abordagem qualitativa e exploratória em que foi realizado um levantamento teórico bibliográfico capaz de apresentar a problemática do tema. Dentre os métodos foi utilizado o descritivo e a pesquisa histórica para caracterizar os processos de implementação e reforma dos sistemas de saúde do Brasil e da Bolívia. Resultados: As fortes correntes migratórias internacionais levam a uma discussão do papel do Estado na garantia dos direitos do migrante, dentre eles, o acesso universal a saúde. Neste trabalho foi possível caracterizar a dinâmica do mundo em constante modificação e ausência de fronteiras no contexto da saúde globalizada. Usando como base o imigrante Boliviano com Tuberculose no Município de São Paulo, analisou-se os Sistemas de Saúde Universal Brasil e Bolívia. Por fim, através deste trabalho foi possível perceber que após o processo migratório há uma combinação de fatores que propiciam o aumento de TB nesta comunidade. / Objective: We attempted to present some of the characteristics of the migratory process of Bolivians in São Paulo. We attempted to observe the relationship between the health systems of Brazil and Bolivia. We observe the historical processes of creation of two health systems; highlight how countries perceive universal access to healthcare. And we highlight the similarities and differences of the two health systems. The purpose is that this will serve to help understand the high incidence of tuberculosis in the Bolivian citizens living in Sao Paulo. Methods: This is a qualitative and exploratory study. This study conducted a bibliographical theoretical research. This served to explore the issue of Bolivians in São Paulo. The main method used was a descriptive and historical research. This allowed the characterization of the processes of implementation and reform of health systems in Bolivia and Brazil. Results: This study shows that international migration flows have resulted in a renewed discussion of the role of the state in ensuring the rights of migrants. This discussion was particularly seen in the problem of universal access to healthcare. In this work it was possible to characterize the dynamics of the ever-changing world. We also observed the lack of geographical boundaries in the context of global health. When looking at the case of Bolivian immigrants with tuberculosis in São Paulo, we analyzed the relevance of the differences between Universal Health Systems in 9 Brazil and Bolivia. Finally, this worked allowed to realize that the migratory process of Bolivians to Sao Paulo consists of a combination of factors that potentiate the increase of tuberculosis in this immigrant community.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Geography, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-124).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 240-257).

Objetivos: Apresentar características do processo migratório de Bolivianos no Município de São Paulo, explorando, num contexto de saúde global, a relação entre os Sistemas de saúde do Brasil e da Bolívia; destacando os respectivos processos históricos, noções de acesso universal e semelhanças que possam vir a ser fundamentais na compreensão da problemática específica da alta incidência de Tuberculosos entre bolivianos residentes na capital do Estado de São Paulo. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo de abordagem qualitativa e exploratória em que foi realizado um levantamento teórico bibliográfico capaz de apresentar a problemática do tema. Dentre os métodos foi utilizado o descritivo e a pesquisa histórica para caracterizar os processos de implementação e reforma dos sistemas de saúde do Brasil e da Bolívia. Resultados: As fortes correntes migratórias internacionais levam a uma discussão do papel do Estado na garantia dos direitos do migrante, dentre eles, o acesso universal a saúde. Neste trabalho foi possível caracterizar a dinâmica do mundo em constante modificação e ausência de fronteiras no contexto da saúde globalizada. Usando como base o imigrante Boliviano com Tuberculose no Município de São Paulo, analisou-se os Sistemas de Saúde Universal Brasil e Bolívia. Por fim, através deste trabalho foi possível perceber que após o processo migratório há uma combinação de fatores que propiciam o aumento de TB nesta comunidade. / Objective: We attempted to present some of the characteristics of the migratory process of Bolivians in São Paulo. We attempted to observe the relationship between the health systems of Brazil and Bolivia. We observe the historical processes of creation of two health systems; highlight how countries perceive universal access to healthcare. And we highlight the similarities and differences of the two health systems. The purpose is that this will serve to help understand the high incidence of tuberculosis in the Bolivian citizens living in Sao Paulo. Methods: This is a qualitative and exploratory study. This study conducted a bibliographical theoretical research. This served to explore the issue of Bolivians in São Paulo. The main method used was a descriptive and historical research. This allowed the characterization of the processes of implementation and reform of health systems in Bolivia and Brazil. Results: This study shows that international migration flows have resulted in a renewed discussion of the role of the state in ensuring the rights of migrants. This discussion was particularly seen in the problem of universal access to healthcare. In this work it was possible to characterize the dynamics of the ever-changing world. We also observed the lack of geographical boundaries in the context of global health. When looking at the case of Bolivian immigrants with tuberculosis in São Paulo, we analyzed the relevance of the differences between Universal Health Systems in 9 Brazil and Bolivia. Finally, this worked allowed to realize that the migratory process of Bolivians to Sao Paulo consists of a combination of factors that potentiate the increase of tuberculosis in this immigrant community.

This study examines the 2019 ‘FEG’ through policy process and interest-based lenses, thus aiming to address the relationship between labour shortages and migration policy. Hence, the roles of political stakeholders and interest groups in the policy process are discerned.