Abstract
Increasing international migration in the context of aging populations makes a comprehensive understanding of older immigrant women’s health status and determinants of their health particularly urgent. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, we conducted a scoping review to examine the available literature on the health of older immigrant women in Canada. We searched CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase,Medline, and Cochrane databases for the period of 1990 to 2014 for Canadian-based, peer-reviewed studies on the topic. A total of 20 articles met the inclusion criteria.These articles were divided into six areas of focus: physical health; mental health; abuse; health promotion and chronic disease prevention; barriers to healthcare access and utilization; and health beliefs, behaviours, and practices. Our results show that the health of older immigrant women is affected by the interplay of various social determinants of health including the physical and social environment; economic conditions; cultural beliefs; gendered norms; and the healthcare delivery system. Our results also revealed that older immigrant women tend to have more health problems, underutilize preventive services, such as cancer screening, and experience more difficulties in accessing healthcare services.
Highlights
Aging and international migration are two prevailing global trends that have changed the age and ethnic composition of populations in countries worldwide, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia
For the purposes of this scoping review, we defined older adults as individuals aged 55 and older, because this is the definition generally used among our target population, which consists of a large proportion of older immigrants from low- and middle-income countries
Ballantyne et al [34] investigated medication use among a diverse group of older immigrants and found that older immigrants from China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Portugal often avoided discussing their self-care and alternative healthcare practices with their physicians; they found that the participants often disagreed with the assessment and the recommended treatment and sought out and tried alternative treatments. This scoping review summarizes the current literature on the health status of older immigrant women in Canada and the multiple and intersecting factors that affect this population’s health
Summary
Aging and international migration are two prevailing global trends that have changed the age and ethnic composition of populations in countries worldwide, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Between 1990 and 2013, the number of older immigrants increased from 26 to 37 million worldwide [1] This trend that is being observed in most countries around the globe is the result of several factors including declining fertility rates as well as advances in medical care and technology and public health initiatives that have reduced mortality and morbidity rates for both chronic and acute illnesses [1]. These demographics demand changes in policies and service delivery systems that address the health and illness concerns of older immigrants [2]. Building on our current and previous work, we focused on this topic in Canada
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