Public Pressure, Private Protest: Illness Narratives of West Indian Immigrants in Montreal with Medically Unexplained Symptoms

Abstract

Some evidence suggests that West Indian immigrants in Canada are a marginalized and over-burdened group. However, little attention has been given to examining health status and beliefs. We partly redress this gap by investigating health beliefs of West Indian immigrants in Montreal with somatic, emotional, or medically unexplained symptoms. The overall aim was to elicit and explore illness narratives, explanatory models, symptom-attribution and help-seeking in the community. A sample of 15 West Indian immigrants took part in semi-structured interviews. We found that participants overwhelmingly ascribed their symptoms to post-migratory experience. They particularly highlighted the importance of two related factors: chronic overwork since migration and irregular patterns of daily living. Many worked long hours, including overtime and moonlighting. Participants related their irregular patterns of daily living to disturbances of bodily functions (e.g., sleeping, eating) as well as to social functions (e.g., family life). These themes reflected elements of ethno-physiological beliefs common in the West Indies, as well as North American illness models. Attributing medically unexplained symptoms to overwork and irregularity in personal and social realms may be a socially acceptable way of critiquing perceived injustices in participants’ work, social and interpersonal situations. This is especially so because the dominant discourse regarding race and ethnicity in Canada tends to emphasize positive aspects of multiculturalism—only reluctantly acknowledging conflict and inequality. Narratives could be interpreted as an oblique criticism of Canadian society's apparent indifference to participants’ ongoing marginalization.