Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Hong Kong has a population of more than seven million people which since 1995 has been growing by 150 immigrants per day from Mainland China. Although migrants from Mainland China do share some similar cultures with their counterparts in Hong Kong, the concept of health and actions they take to maintain their health are different. This study aims to investigate the association between socio-economic factors, the settlement period since migration and the health status of migrant women from China to Hong Kong and their utilization of health care facilities. This research further aims to investigate any implications for the practice of health promotion and prevention-related activities among these women and compares these results with those of Chinese women in Mainland China. A total of four hundred women between the ages of 20 and 50 years were selected for this study, two hundred women who had migrated from Mainland China to Hong Kong and two hundred women still resident in Mainland China. Participants in China were selected from Guangzhou, Guangdong,Shanghai, and Xiamen, these being the more common areas of origin of the immigrant women in Hong Kong. The two cross-sectional surveys were carried out to collect comparable data on the health status for both the groups, their utilization of health care services, their understanding of health promotion and prevention, and their actual health promotion behaviour. The results show that nearly half of the immigrant women from Mainland China had no further education beyond primary school (51%) and that a greater majority of them were unemployed (84%). A surprising 73% of the migrant women had more than two children despite most belonging in the lowest income group (total family income of below HK$15,000k) per month. While younger migrants were generally shown to be healthier, most immigrant women reported their health as being ‘much worse’ than before migration. The single-most significant predictor for immigrant women’s physical health was the number of children they had, while for women in Mainland China, the significant predictor was age. Regarding stress, among immigrant women having more children and being unemployed were significant predictors of increased stress; while for women in Mainland China living in rented private rooms or units, having a higher number of children, low family income, and living with their extended family were significant predictors. Regarding health service utilization, immigrant women living on public or private estates were significantly more likely to use health care services than those living in temporary housing or shelters; and the more educated immigrant women were, the more they used health care services. For women in Mainland China, the higher the family income and the larger the family household, the more they used health care services. Despite 95% of the immigrant women feeling they could do more to improve their health status, only 22% of them reported having performed health promotion and preventative strategies since relocating to Hong Kong. Being Cantonese-speaking and living in a family household were significant predictors for immigrant women to perform health promotion and preventative activities. Results for participants in Mainland China show that while a smaller number of these women, 85 % felt they could be doing more, 61.5% of them were already performing health promotion and preventative strategies to improve their health status. A significant predictor for women in Mainland China was total family income; the higher the family income, the more health promotion activities were performed. The findings of this study should greatly assist both government and non-government organizations in Hong Kong and elsewhere not only in providing more effective health care services for migrant women from Mainland China but also in informing the public health policies and planning of health care provision.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/290194 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | CHOW, Mei Kuen |
| Publisher | Health Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | The author retains copyright of this thesis., http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/copyright.html |
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