This two-part study evaluates a government sponsored Long Term Care Aide/ESL
Program taken by a group of immigrant women. The purpose of the first part of the study was to
assess how effective a B.C. government sponsored Long Term Care Aide/ESL program was in
preparing a group of immigrant women for the workplace. A questionnaire was used to
determine demographics and employment status. Also, it obtained perceptions on the strengths
and weaknesses of the program. The purpose of the second part of this study was to hear the
women's personal insights and voices about their experiences while taking the program and after
the program. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain these stories. Results from the
quantitative questionnaire indicated that 94% of the immigrant women who had taken this course
were employed as care aides. Three years after the completion this program, the women felt that
the course had provided them with both a vocational skill and more English language skills.
Results from the qualitative portion of this paper focused on how the women felt about
their experiences in this Long Term Care Aide/ESL program in their own words. The data were
analyzed and put into themes. Theme 1 was "The pain of renewal". It presented their collective
stories of being an immigrant and struggling to begin again. Theme 2 was "The costs and the
benefits". This theme presented the women's insights on working as care aides. Most of the
women liked their jobs but found trying to secure a full time job difficult. Theme 3 was "The
need to learn the language of care". All the women interviewed wanted to have more "caring"
language, the "everyday" language to relate to their clients. Theme 4 was "Advice to other
immigrant women". This theme revealed how some women felt about the work they did. The
last theme, Theme 5, was "Hopes and dreams". Half of the women interviewed had aspirations
to continue their education and these women were already enrolled in other health care courses.
The results of the study are discussed and implications are drawn for research and
pedagogy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/7969 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Wilson, Silvia M. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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