Browsing by Author "Robinson, Alexandra"

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    Barriers and Strategies of Newcomers to Canada in Forming Primary Supports During Pregnancy
    (2019-01-03) Robinson, Alexandra; Arthur, Nancy; Benzies, Karen Marie; Kassan, Anusha
    Canada has a long tradition as an immigrant-receiving country. Women who have recently immigrated to Canada contribute significantly to Canadian population growth, first by migrating to Canada, and second, by bearing children soon after arrival to Canada. Considering the crucial role that women who immigrate contribute towards the population growth of Canada, understanding her pregnancy health needs is of national importance. Surprisingly, there remains a conspicuous knowledge gap in understanding immigrant women’s experiences in pregnancy, in particular, in understanding her experiences establishing pregnancy supports. The aim in conducting this study was to address the current knowledge gap in relation to pregnancy experiences of newcomers to Canada who identify with a non-European ethnic group by identifying (a) facilitative strategies used in primary support formation, (b) the barriers to forming primary supports in Canada and, (c) what supports participants would have wanted but were unavailable to them at the time. Individual in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 13 participants using the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique (Butterfield, Borgen, Amundson, & Maglio, 2005). Findings from this study identified systemic barriers to forming pregnancy support networks such as acculturation issues, difficulty accessing information, language barriers, inadequate information on supports available, financial barriers, difficulty accessing maternity leave benefits, and not perceiving adequate attention from health care providers. There were also several factors identified as helpful in pregnancy support formation such as the support of their partner, persistence advocating for pregnancy care needs, pregnancy apps, community programs offering pregnancy supports for newcomers, doctors who showed concern, and mental health care services. Participants identified wanting access to information about supports that they thought would have been helpful but were not available to them at the time. This research informs primary healthcare providers about the social, psychological, and economic factors that contribute to primary support formation during pregnancy as well as specific considerations faced by newcomers to Canada. Findings from this study not only inform interventions specific to newcomers to Canada, many of the findings have elucidated barriers to primary support formations shared by pregnant women, regardless of her country of origin.
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    Differential Effects of Stress on Maternal and Infant Health Amongst Canadian Ethnic Minorities
    (2013-10-02) Robinson, Alexandra; Cairns, Sharon; Benzies, Karen
    The aim of the present study was to identify specific types of maternal psychosocial stress experienced by women of ethnic minority status (Asian, Arab, Other Asian, African, First Nations and Latino) in relation to pregnancy and infant health. A secondary analysis of variables that may contribute to maternal psychosocial stress was conducted using data from the All Our Babies prospective study where questionnaires were completed at less than 24 weeks of pregnancy, between 34-36 weeks of pregnancy, and at 4 months postpartum. Questionnaires included standardized measures of perceived stress, anxiety, depression, physical and emotional health, and social support. Socio-demographic data included immigration status, language proficiency in English, ethnicity, age, and socio-economic status. Findings from this study indicate that women who identify with an ethnic minority experience greater levels of psychosocial stress during pregnancy and have significantly poorer pregnancy and birth outcomes than those who identify with the dominant culture. Preterm birth, low birth weight, small or large for gestational age, extended hospital stay, and Apgar scores < 7 were used in the outcome assessment. From these findings, counselling interventions that target the most detrimental stressors faced by women of minority status in Canada are also discussed.