Immigrants In Montreal Research Articles

Why are African immigrants in Montreal reluctant to use mental health services?: a systematic inventory of reasons.

Previous research has shown that non-Caucasian immigrants in Western countries are less likely than native-born people to use mental health services. This study examined the reasons underlying reluctance to use mental health services among African immigrants in Montreal, Canada. The study participants were 280 African immigrants who had experienced symptoms suggesting depression but did not use formal mental health services. They were presented with a questionnaire that contained 65 statements referring to reasons for not using formal mental health services while experiencing those symptoms and were asked to indicate their degree of agreement with each of the statements on a scale of 0-10. Responses were then analyzed using factor analysis. An eight-factor structure of reasons was found: "Minimizing symptoms and perceived self-efficacy" (61% of the sample), "Relying on spiritual care" (56% of the sample), "Cost and waiting time" (45% of the sample), "Influence of significant others" (34% of the sample), "Lack of cultural competence" (32% of the sample), "Fear of stigmatization" (23% of the sample), "Nature of the consultation" (10% of the sample) and "Social models" (8% of the sample). Scores on these factors were related to participants' demographics. Effectively addressing the underutilization of mental health services among African immigrants requires a multifaceted approach rather than one focused on a single barrier. Our findings suggest critical points that could help develop tailored interventions to address the various barriers to care.

Linguistic Distance, Languages of Work and Wages of Immigrants in Montreal

We use the Levenshtein linguistic distance measure to explore the question of whether the distance between an immigrant’s mother tongue and a Canadian official language (English or French) has an impact on his/her economic integration into the labor market. Using microdata from the master files of the 2001 and 2006 Canadian censuses and from the 2011 National Household Survey, we investigate the relationship between linguistic distance and the intensity of use of English and French at work in the Montreal metropolitan area. That region is characterized by the presence of sizeable French- and English-speaking communities, as well as by a large number of immigrants from a wide variety of linguistic backgrounds. Those elements of linguistic diversity interact in the environment of English being the lingua franca. We find that linguistic distances between immigrants’ mother tongues and English and French have an important impact on the relative intensities of use of the two Canadian official languages at work. We further investigate the role of the languages used at work on the earnings of immigrants by estimating earnings functions. We find that the use of both French and English is remunerated positively in the labor market, but that using English at work has a larger impact on earnings.

Interdisciplinary case discussions as a training modality to teach cultural formulation in child mental health.

The DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) may become an important tool to help operationalize culture in the clinical realm. However, challenges exist in teaching its use to avoid the risk of stereotyping and oversimplification, which could result in misunderstanding and stigma. The aim of this article is to document whether the CFI can be taught using regular Interdisciplinary Case Discussion Seminars (ICDSs), proposed as continuing education in child mental health and as part of clinical rotations for new trainees. During a two-year evaluative research project, ICDSs were held monthly in three different primary care settings servicing recent immigrants in Montreal, Canada. ICDSs were recorded and analyzed to examine their effect on the cultural formulation process and focus groups were conducted to explore the subjective experience of the participant trainees and professionals. Results suggest that ICDSs are a helpful way to teach the use of the CFI. The group discussions helped participants to better capture the complexity of the cultural and social experience of the child and family by moving away from simple identity assignations, supporting an inquiry into structural dimensions, and considering stigma and inequality in their formulation. The multiple levels of diversity (individual, disciplinary, and interinstitutional) represented in the discussion groups helped clinicians to understand the cultural formulation as situated in a specific relational context and a particular moment and, in so doing, helped trainees to avoid cultural formulations that essentialize culture.

Everyday Life Information Seeking Behaviour of New Muslim I mmigrants in Montreal

The study will examine the everyday life information seeking behavior of new Muslim immigrants in Montreal, as well as their information needs and the challenges they face. While there has been some work that focuses on the information needs and information seeking behavior of new immigrants in the United States, to date there has been little research within the Canadian context. Specifically, there is a failure to account for new Muslim immigrants' information needs in Montreal from the perspective of the library and information science field. Most information behavior research categorizes Muslim immigrants in Canada according to nationality or gender.

Los mexicanos en Montreal: ¿Una comunidad transnacional?

Este artículo analiza los lazos que los inmigrantes mexicanos en Montreal mantienen con la sociedad de acogida y con sus comunidades de origen. Nos basamos en el estudio de documentos y en la realización de entrevistas con empresarios, profesionales y refugiados mexicanos residentes en Montreal. Concluimos que los mexicanos residentes en Montreal viven su identidad territorial en una situación de tensión social y económica donde domina un sentimiento de pertenencia híbrida. “No nos sentimos ni de aquí, ni de allá” nos confía la mayoría de los entrevistados, lo cual da muestras de una comunidad transnacional en gestación.

Being a Creative and an Immigrant in Montreal

Work on creative careers has focused on the main national populations, while little research has addressed the situation of artists and creators of immigrant origin or different ethnic groups to determine whether they have the same access to work and employment rights. To respond for a call for research on different ethnic groups in the cultural sector, or the ethnic consequences of the individualization of careers, we therefore undertook research on the creative careers of immigrants in Montreal. We were interested in how they emerged as an artist, how they developed their careers, the access and rights they have in terms of support to their career, as McRobbie seems to indicate that ethnicity adds its “own weight to the life chances of those who are attempting to make a living in these fields. We found that these immigrant artists consider their main difficulties to be the lack of social networks, access to various forms of support to compensate for financial risks and difficulties in finding a job. We conclude with a few suggestions: measures to facilitate networking for immigrants, more training and information on government programs, mentoring support, as well as the support from community organizations, associations, and programs.

Do acculturation strategies have impacts on the self-declared health, well-being and lifestyle of first-generation allophone immigrants in Montreal, Canada?

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to understand to what extent, the process of acculturation and the strategies which ensue from it can affect the self-declared health as regards the lifestyle, the physical activity, the diet and the well-being of first-generation immigrants living in the Montreal region (Quebec, Canada).Design/methodology/approach– A supervised survey was administered to adult allophones immigrants attending French-language courses, autumn 2011 (506 valid surveys). The authors discuss the concept and the validation of their acculturation model and its relevance in regard of the purposes of the research.Findings– The indicator allowed to clearly identify three groups that differentiate on numerous variables of the survey. Independently of the acculturations strategies adopted by the respondents, the authors observe a deterioration of the self-declared overall state of health, development of sedentary living, a fairly high level of stress and depressive episode within the entire sample. However, the group isolated as “retention” has consistently the lowest scores on all these variables. In terms of public health and health social inequalities issues these results are worrisome. The “assimilation” group have the highest scores and the “integration” group consistently shows and intermediate “balancing” position.Originality/value– The authors claim that the strategies of acculturation are not always the expression of a free will. They are also the product of constraints specific to the host society and are just as much the result of the pre-migratory socialization. This is especially the case of the “retention” group and more specifically of women. The negative effects of social, cultural and economic constraints of the host society on overall health, well-being and lifestyle as well as adaptation strategies should be monitored in a more systematic manner in recent immigrant populations and be specifically addressed in immigrant integration policies and programmes.

Dan Roden: learn, apply, evolve.

As a scientist, Dan Roden grew up as clinical electrophysiology did. Widely recognized for his research into mechanisms behind abnormal heart rhythms and drug responses, Roden was on the front lines in the 1980s and 1990s as new antiarrhythmic drugs were tested, the ability to use catheters to study drug actions evolved, and the specialty of clinical electrophysiology arose. From his first publication, appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1980,1 Roden set a tone for a career focused on variable action of antiarrhythmic therapies and genetic determinants of that variation. Much of his current work focuses on individual cardiac ion channel mutations and their role in variable responses to drug therapy, and applications of genomics to healthcare. Among his achievements, Roden is credited with developing the idea of reduced repolarization reserve leading to acquired long QT intervals and arrhythmias2–4 and was one of the first to suggest that early afterdepolarizations cause long QT-related arrhythmias.5,6 As leader of Vanderbilt University’s pharmacogenomics project PREDICT (Pharmacogenomic Resource for Enhanced Decisions in Care & Treatment)—which pre-emptively enhances individuals’ electronic medical records with personalized information about genetic variants that could guide drug therapy—Roden and colleagues7 have demonstrated multiple advantages of preemptive genotyping. Meanwhile Vanderbilt’s massive BioVU DNA bank, which includes ≈175 000 human DNA samples and which Roden pioneered and directs, is similarly showing the power of incorporating genomic data into electronic medical records, for research purposes.7–11 Roden, who initially flirted with a future in journalism, described to Circulation Research some of his interests beginning as a child of immigrants in Montreal and leading to not just 1 career as an investigator, but a series of interlinked careers—in clinical pharmacology, cellular electrophysiology, molecular genetics, and population science. The paradigm for his progress, …

Religion as A Context of Reception: The Case of Haitian Immigrants in Miami, Montreal and Paris

AbstractIn this article, I use cross‐national comparative and ethnographic methods to explore how religion influences the incorporation of Haitian immigrants into the US, Quebec and France. First, I explore the ideological, legal and institutional forces that shape religion‐state differentiation in the US, Quebec and France. Using census and immigration data from each site as well as interviews with Haitian leaders and government officials in Miami, Montreal and Paris, I show that the general pattern of consensual differentiation between religion and state in the US favours the more successful symbolic and socio‐economic incorporation of Haitians in Miami, whereas secular nationalism in Quebec and assertive secularism in France weaken the incorporation of Haitian immigrants in Montreal and Paris, respectively.

Immigration and food insecurity: social and nutritional issues for recent immigrants in Montreal, Canada

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to measure changes in food habits of first‐generation immigrants in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), as well as their self‐declared state of health and physical activity level. A subset of the sample was found to be in a state of food insecurity (FI).Design/methodology/approachA supervised questionnaire was administered to 506 adult allophone immigrants attending French‐language courses, autumn 2011. A FI indicator was developed and applied to this sample. The authors discuss the concept of FI and issues about measurements of FI.FindingsIn total, 10 per cent of the sample was found to suffer from FI, which has a negative impact on fruit, vegetables, dairy product, fish and red meat consumption, and diet quality in general. FI shows a positive correlation with changes in state of health and lifestyle and the development of chronic disease such as type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. Results also show that certain groups are more at risk, that FI prevalence decreases with the years of residence and that FI is a deep source of anxiety.Originality/valueFI should be monitored in a more systematic manner in recent immigrant populations and be specifically addressed in immigrant integration policies. The authors also stress that problems occurring because of FI are rooted in the incapacity and the failure of the social programs to protect very low income families from harmful consequences of poverty.

Challenging the ‘official’ story of 9/11: Community narratives and conspiracy theories

This article examines the gap in meaning systems between the dominant mainstream understanding in North America of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the meaning given to it within different Pakistani communities in Canada and in Pakistan. It describes the emergence of 9/11 conspiracy theory discourses in three different studies involving Pakistani immigrants in Montreal and Pakistanis in Karachi, carried out at three different points in time over the last five years. The polarization of meaning in the war on terror between the host society and Muslim immigrant communities in North America is associated with the emergence of feelings of fear and threat in all communities. The results also suggest that views of local and global power relations play a role in shaping these conspiracy theory discourses.

RESIDENTIAL PATTERNS OF NEW IMMIGRANTS AND LINGUISTIC INTEGRATION

The present study looks at the residential patterns of new immigrants in Montreal and their impact on subsequent language use in the workplace and educational programs. We first explore the themes of language and territory, citing evidence for the neighbourhood of residence as being a site of language contact organized linguistically around models corresponding to the majority language spoken by its population. Secondly, we explore a sample of 1000 new immigrants, situating them in francophone, anglophone, allophone, and heterogeneous neighbourhoods. Three aspects of their residential establishment are examined: their distribution within the neighbourhoods of Montreal, the factors determining the choice of one or another of the four types of linguistic milieux, and the influence of these milieux on subsequent language use. These latter two aspects use Event History Analysis, a statistical model permitting the longitudinal analysis of dated data.

Broken English, Broken Bones? Mechanisms Linking Language Proficiency and Occupational Health in a Montreal Garment Factory

Language barriers are often cited as a factor contributing to ethnic inequalities in occupational health; however, little information is available about the mechanisms at play. The authors describe the multiple ways in which language influences occupational health in a large garment factory employing many immigrants in Montreal. Between 2004 and 2006, individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 women and 10 men from 14 countries of birth. Interviews were conducted in French and English, Canada's official languages, as well as in non-official languages with the help of colleague-interpreters. Observation within the workplace was also carried out at various times during the project. The authors describe how proficiency in the official languages influences occupational health by affecting workers' ability to understand and communicate information, and supporting relationships that can affect work-related health. They also describe workers' strategies to address communication barriers and discuss the implications of these strategies from an occupational health standpoint. Along with the longer-term objectives of integrating immigrants into the linguistic majority and addressing structural conditions that can affect health, policies and practices need to be put in place to protect the health and well-being of those who face language barriers in the short term.

Perceptions of Oral Illness Among Chinese Immigrants in Montreal: A Qualitative Study

Providing culturally competent care has been a growing concern for health care professionals in recent years. Being culturally competent means taking into account the culture of patients in order to provide high-quality services. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to better understand how oral illness was perceived by the largest visible minority group in Canada: Chinese immigrants. We conducted qualitative research based on in-depth interviews with twelve Chinese immigrants in Montreal, Canada. The participants had a high level of education and had lived in Canada for thirteen years or less. The interviews were transcribed, and thematic analyses were then performed. Among the participants, traditional beliefs coexisted with scientific dental knowledge. On the one hand, the subjects had a fairly good understanding of dental caries in terms of etiology, process, prevention, and treatment. On the other hand, they held strong traditional beliefs concerning gingival swelling and bleeding, which had an influence on their attitudes toward dental care and professional services. Oral health care professionals should be informed about Chinese immigrants' oral health beliefs and the acculturation process in order to understand their patients better and provide culturally competent care.

Acculturation, stress et santé mentale chez des immigrants libanais à Montréal

This cross-sectional study examined the effect of immigration and acculturative stress on the mental health of a sample of 197 Lebanese immigrants in Montreal. An Orthogonal Model of Cultural Identification was used to determine whether the acculturation style adopted by immigrants had any effect on mental health or on acculturative stress. Results revealed no significant differences in psychological distress between the Lebanese sample and a comparative group of Quebec native-born. Among the indices of acculturative stress, adaptation problems alone predicted psychological distress. Finally, acculturation styles did not have any effect on psychological distress or on acculturative stress indices, with discrimination excepted. Individuals who adopted the Assimilation style reported less discrimination than those in the Ethnocentric and Integration groups. Results are discussed with reference to findings reported in the literature on Canadian studies.

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

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.

BEYOND HOME/HOST NETWORKS: FORMS OF SOLIDARITY AMONG LEBANESE IMMIGRANTS IN A GLOBAL ERA

This article draws on postcolonial understandings in order to offer a sociological analysis of Lebanese immigrants in Montreal, New York City and Paris. I argue that the concept of diaspora provides a framework for understanding the contradictory aspects of Lebanese immigrant experiences, as some immigrants may undergo a process of assimilation while others continue to hold on to their ethnic identities. Investigating Lebanese immigrant communities as a diaspora leads to the understanding of the ways immigrants construct solidarities that include their homeland, host societies, and the larger diaspora community in various parts of the world. As an analytical framework, “diaspora” incorporates multiple loyalties and attachments that are integral to processes of international migration. Thus, the framework of diaspora promises significant contributions to the understanding of the complex dynamics involved in migration and globalization.

Understanding Immigrants' Reluctance to Use Mental Health Services: A Qualitative Study from Montreal

Studies suggest that non-European immigrants to Canada tend to under use mental health services, compared with Canadian-born people. Social, cultural, religious, linguistic, geographic, and economic variables may contribute to this underuse. This paper explores the reasons for underuse of conventional mental health services in a community sample of immigrants with identified emotional and somatic symptoms. Fifteen West Indian immigrants in Montreal with somatic symptoms and (or) emotional distress, not currently using mental health services, participated in a face-to-face in-depth interview exploring health care use. Interviews were analyzed thematically to discern common factors explaining reluctance to use services. Across participants' narratives, we identified 3 significant factors explaining their reluctance to use mental health services. First, there was a perceived overwillingness of doctors to rely on pharmaceutical medications as interventions. Second, participants perceived a dismissive attitude and lack of time from physicians in previous encounters that deterred their use of current health service. Third, many participants reported a belief in the curative power of nonmedical interventions, most notably God and to a lesser extent, traditional folk medicine. The above factors may highlight important areas for intervention to reduce disparities in immigrant use of mental health care. We present our framework as a model, grounded in empirical data, that further research can explore.

Culture and Social Distance: A Case Study of Methodological Cautions

The authors presented, as a case study of methodological challenges in cross-cultural research, E. S. Bogardus's (1925) Social Distance Scale, which requires respondents to indicate the social distance between themselves and others. The meaningfulness of the scale depends on the assumption that respondents believe that the magnitude of social distance increases as one moves through the social categories of family member, friend, neighbor, coworker, and citizen. The authors tested this assumption for English Canadian, French Canadian, Jewish, Indian, Algerian, and Greek participants, all 1st-generation immigrants in Montreal. The participants rated their willingness to associate with members of each of the other ethnic groups in 5 social categories. The percentage of respondents in each sample whose data conformed to the prediction ranged from 63.7% to 98.0%, with English Canadian, French Canadian, and Jewish respondents providing responses most consistent with the predicted pattern. The Indian and Algerian respondents' data were the least consistent with the predicted pattern, especially when rating members of their own ethnic groups.

The Social Integration and Adjustment of Post‐War Immigrants in Montreal and Toronto*

C'est en grande partie à cause de la dualité culturelle au Canada que la politique de I'immigration et le caractére des populations immigrantes y différènt du modèle americain. Un examen des différences d'opinion entre Canadiens francais et Canadiens anglais suggere des hypothèses pour étudier l'intégration des immigrants d'aprés‐guerre établis à Montréal et à Toronto. Celles‐ci peuvent aussi éclairer deux images de la société, au sujet desquelles persiste une controverse: le creuset, où se fondent les elements nouveaux, et la mosaîque, où les groupes culturels continuent de se distinguer. Les hypothèses tirées laissaient prÉvoir une assimilation plus rapide des immigrants établis à Toronto. Mais les données recueillies lors d'une enquête, faite par la division des recherches éeonomiques et sociales du Ministère de la Citoyenneté et de I'immigration grâce a un questionnaire, indiquent une assimilation plus rapide des immigrants à Montréal. Afin d'expliquer ce résultat l'auteur traite, parmi d'autres facteurs, de la similitude entre les immigrants d'après‐guerre et les Canadiens francais au plan culturel.