Immigrant Strategies Research Articles

Living on the “edge of the suburbs” of Vancouver: A case study of the housing experiences and coping strategies of recent immigrants in Surrey and Richmond

AbstractThis study examines the housing experiences and coping strategies of low‐income recent immigrants in Richmond and Surrey, two fast‐growing outer suburbs of Vancouver where the immigrant population has increased rapidly in the last two decades and where there is a limited supply of affordable rental housing, including public and social housing. The study draws on data from seven focus groups with 88 recent immigrant renters and interviews with 15 key stakeholders, conducted in Vancouver, Richmond, and Surrey in 2010. The evidence indicates that these newly arrived immigrants face numerous difficulties in the rental housing market, such as high rents, overcrowding, and poor‐quality housing. Most of these immigrants were spending more than half of their monthly household income on housing, putting them at risk of homelessness. The study's findings suggest that the housing crisis affecting Surrey and Richmond—due to a limited supply of affordable rental housing and high housing costs—makes these two cities challenging regions of Vancouver for newcomers to settle in.

Itineraries of immigrant women in São Paulo, Brazil

Purpose – This paper presents the results of a field research conducted with five immigrant women in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The aim of this paper is to show the itineraries they used in order to build a new life as foreigners in the city. Design/methodology/approach – An ethnography study was undertaken during one year (May/2010 to May/2011) mapping the itineraries made by them in the city and their correspondent narratives. Findings – Foreign women did not have difficulties to access health care structures in São Paulo, since the health care system is universal in Brazil; they found many more opportunities of social care and assistance in the multiplicity of the city, rather than in the self-proclaimed institutions that exists especially for foreigners. Their different juridical categories did not impact much in their routine activities in the city. Practical implications – This research may impact the activities of institutions that offer assistance to immigrants. Originality/value – This paper presents a unique map of itineraries of foreign undesirable immigrant women in São Paulo, in contrast with other researches that tend to focus either on the juridical status or mental health care strategies for immigrants.

Indicadores de gobernanza para el desarrollo de estrategias binacionales deprotección social en la salud de los migrantes

Este artículo presenta resultados de un estudio cuyo principal objetivo fue identificar los actores clave, sus roles, coaliciones y los espacios de interacción para el desarrollo de protección social en la salud de los migrantes. Se identificaron 10 categorías de actores clave para estrategias de salud para emigrantes, así como metas de política y estrategias binacionales de salud con diferentes niveles de factibilidad y efectividad. Un seguro público binacional de salud para emigrantes indocumentados es factible pero requiere una gran inversión y movilización de recursos públicos. Para ello se deberán desarrollar nuevas iniciativas dirigidas a resolver los problemas de equidad y acceso en la salud de los migrantes.

Dyspnea Coping Strategies in Korean Immigrants With Asthma or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Patients with lung disease develop coping strategies to relieve dyspnea. The coping strategies of Korean immigrants, however, are poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to describe the strategies that Korean immigrants with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) use to cope with dyspnea and to compare similarities and differences in coping strategies between the two conditions. Outpatients with asthma (n = 25) or COPD (n = 48) participated in a cross-sectional descriptive study. Open-ended questions and a structured instrument were used to describe coping strategies for dyspnea. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The most prevalent strategy was "I keep still or rest." Korean immigrants also used traditional therapies to manage dyspnea. Although the coping strategies of Korean immigrants were similar to those of other ethnic groups, they incorporated elements of Asian medical practice and herbs. This finding enables health care providers to better understand Korean immigrants' efforts to overcome dyspnea and to guide their patients' approach to coping.

The Evolutionary Dominance of Ethnocentric Cooperation

Recent agent-based computer simulations suggest that ethnocentrism, often thought to rely on complex social cognition and learning, may have arisen through biological evolution. From a random start, ethnocentric strategies dominate other possible strategies (selfish, traitorous, and humanitarian) based on cooperation or non-cooperation with in-group and out-group agents. Here we show that ethnocentrism eventually overcomes its closest competitor, humanitarianism, by exploiting humanitarian cooperation across group boundaries as world population saturates. Selfish and traitorous strategies are self-limiting because such agents do not cooperate with agents sharing the same genes. Traitorous strategies fare even worse than selfish ones because traitors are exploited by ethnocentrics across group boundaries in the same manner as humanitarians are, via unreciprocated cooperation. By tracking evolution across time, we find individual differences between evolving worlds in terms of early humanitarian competition with ethnocentrism, including early stages of humanitarian dominance. Our evidence indicates that such variation, in terms of differences between humanitarian and ethnocentric agents, is normally distributed and due to early, rather than later, stochastic differences in immigrant strategies.

Social Support Strategies for Immigrants: The Context of Social Work Practice in Lithuania

Intensification of migration flows makes Lithuania one of the immigrants host countries which, like other European Union countries, faces the challenge of integration of immigrants and in this process an important role has a social worker. The aim of research was to reveal the social support strategies used by social workers in solving social problems of immigrants during the process of their integration. The qualitative research using semi-structured interview method and content analysis method was done. The survey results suggest that immigrants during the process of integration face these social problems: the search for housing, employment, legal, financial, lack of access to relevant information. The results revealed that social workers, solving the social problems of immigrants, evaluate their nature and level and then apply the appropriate level of intervention. Social workers apply these micro level interventions: information and consultancy of immigrants, mediation and emotional support, which include individual social assistance. Social workers, solving the social problems of immigrants, apply these mezzo level interventions: development of social network of immigrants, organization of socio-cultural events, organization and coordination of volunteer activities. Social workers providing social assistance to immigrants' integration process, use the following macro level interventions: d issemination of information on immigrant issues , conduction and dissemination of researches based on immigrant integration issues, dissemination of best practice of social workers.

Self-management, health service use and information seeking for diabetes care among recent immigrants in Toronto

Our objective was to explore self-management practices, health services use and information-seeking for type 2 diabetes care among adult men and women from four recent immigrant communities in Toronto. A structured questionnaire was adapted for the Canadian context and translated into 4 languages. A total of 184 participants with type 2 diabetes-130 recent immigrants and 54 Canadian-born-were recruited in both community and hospital settings. Recent immigrants were significantly less likely than the Canadian-born group to perform regular blood glucose and foot checks and significantly more likely than the Canadian-born group to be non-smokers, participate in regular physical activity and reduce dietary fat. Recent immigrants were significantly less likely than the Canadian-born group to use a specialist, alternative provider and dietician and less likely to report using dieticians, nurses and diabetes organizations as sources of diabetes-related information. Important differences were observed by sex and country of origin. Findings suggest that diabetes prevention and management strategies for recent immigrants must address linguistic, financial, informational and systemic barriers to information and care.

Coping strategies of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel: Association with PTSD and dissociation

The aim of this study was to examine the relations between coping strategies, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and dissociation among Jewish Ethiopian refugees in Israel (following exposure to pre-, peri- and post-migration stressful events). A random sample (N = 478) of three waves of refugees took part in the research (N = 165; N = 169; N = 144). Religiosity, coping strategies, stressful and traumatic events, pre- and peri- migration, post-migration difficulties, posttraumatic symptoms, and dissociation were assessed. A significant relationship was found between PTSD symptoms and avoidance coping over and above immigration wave and traumatic events. Dissociation was positively associated with passivity and antisocial coping and negatively associated with social joining and level of religiosity, over and above immigration wave and traumatic events. The findings are discussed in the light of the coping strategies employed by Ethiopian refugees.

Culture for competitiveness: valuing diversity in EU-Europe and the ‘creative city’ of Berlin

The European Union (EU) has in recent years propagated an approach to ‘culture’ that pulls together support for the creative and cultural industries with diversity-sensitive immigration and integration strategies, drawing on popular policy visions of the ‘creative’ and ‘intercultural’ city. This approach emphasizes the role that the diversity of culture, as personal resource, can play in enhancing economic competitiveness. The article examines its logic and possible effects through an analysis of EU documents and policy in Berlin. Berlin intersects with the EU’s agenda, using EU structural funds and participating in the European program ‘Intercultural Cities’. It is shown that the attempt to use ‘culture for competitiveness’ equates support-worthy ‘diversity’ with forms of culture that conform to (neo)liberal values and priorities. The attempt to shape a cosmopolitan place attractive for investment and the high-skilled feeds into gentrification processes that create ‘diverse’ neighborhoods where ‘difference’ has no place.

Evaluation of Immigrant Tuberculosis Screening in Industrialized Countries

In industrialized countries, tuberculosis (TB) cases are concentrated among immigrants and driven by reactivation of imported latent TB infection (LTBI). We examined mechanisms used to screen immigrants for TB and LTBI by sending an anonymous, 18-point questionnaire to 31 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Twenty-nine (93.5%) of 31 responded; 25 (86.2%) screened immigrants for active TB. Fewer countries (16/29, 55.2%) screened for LTBI. Marked variations were observed in targeted populations for age (range <5 years of age to all age groups) and TB incidence in countries of origin of immigrants (>20 cases/100,000 population to >500 cases/100,000). LTBI screening was conducted in 11/16 countries by using the tuberculin skin test. Six countries used interferon-γ release assays, primarily to confirm positive tuberculin skin test results. Industrialized countries performed LTBI screening infrequently and policies varied widely. There is an urgent need to define the cost-effectiveness of LTBI screening strategies for immigrants.

Liberté, Egalité, Islamité: Coping strategies of female immigrants from the Maghreb in France

Synopsis Immigration and social integration are gendered issues. In this article, we concentrate on women's immigration from the Maghreb to France, and explore what we term “Maghrebi Feminism”. We discuss the specific historical context of three waves of Maghrebi migration to France after WWII, analyze the women's positioning within French/European Islamization trends, and elaborate the different experiences of male and female migrants in France. The Maghrebi female migrants' dilemmas are then presented as the outcome of these circumstances. In the second part, we review the political and welfare issues that Maghrebi female migrants face. Through their struggles regarding education, occupation, health services and political representation, we conclude that Maghrebi female migrants are social agents who gain more and fare better than their male counterparts when migrating to France, but pay a crucial price to traditional family and community life. Methodologically, we employ quantitative tools of analysis as developed within micro political research.

Akulturace imigrantů v České Republice

The paper offers a framework for an acculturation strategy for the Czech Republic. The survey aims to detect the situation of the three biggest immigrant groups in the Czech Republic (Slovaks, Ukrainians and Vietnamese) and their strategies of acculturation. Berry´s theoretical concept of acculturation proposes four different acculturation strategies termed assimilation, integration, separation and marginalization. The model is based on the assumption that the way in which individuals acculturate depends on how they simultaneously deal with two fundamental issues. The first is the extent to which acculturating individuals regard maintenance of their cultural heritage as important or not. The other issue is concerned with the extent to which individuals regard contact with other cultural groups and participation in the new society as important or not. The paper reveals what effect prejudice, cultural differences, activities of expatriate organizations and other phenomena have on acculturation strategies of immigrants that are applied in the Czech Republic.

Ethical evaluation of immigration screening policy for latent tuberculosis infection

Objective: In Australia and New Zealand, immigration screening policy relating to tuberculosis is targeted towards identifying potential new arrivals with active infectious pulmonary disease. Recently, extensions of immigration policies to include latent tuberculosis infections have been proposed, which raise a new spectrum of ethical issues. Methods: Existing Australian and New Zealand immigration policy was reviewed. A principle-based analytic framework was adopted for consideration of the ethical implications of proposed public health policy. Potential extensions of current policy in relation to latent tuberculosis infection are evaluated using this approach. Results: Current immigration policies related to tuberculosis focus on identification of immigrants with active infection. A principle-based analytic framework allows evaluation of potential extensions of public health policy to incorporate screening and treatment for latent tuberculosis. Conclusions: Our paper explores the dynamic ethical tensions related to burdens and benefits of immigration screening for latent tuberculosis, and suggests that such policies could be justified under certain circumstances, including non-arbitrary screening and post-arrival management. The results of testing should not influence immigration outcome, but be used to mandate medical review and consideration of voluntary preventative treatment. Implications: Immigration strategies targeting latent tuberculosis could be ethically justified within appropriate guidelines. Proposed changes to policy should be evaluated on ethical grounds prior to introduction.

Anonymous Aliens? Questions of Identification in the Detention and Deportation of Failed Asylum Seekers

ABSTRACTImmigration detention and deportation are central tenets of the British government's immigration strategy. Although in theory immigration detainees face imminent deportation, in practice many obstacles frustrate removal, prolonging the limbo of detention. Drawing on two years' anthropological research with failed asylum seekers in one such Immigration Removal Centre, I argue that the concepts of identity and identification are useful in understanding these situations of impasse. Many detainees struggle to meet official expectations and requirements regarding the nature of identities and how they can be proved. They frequently have no identity documents (or those they have are considered false), come from countries with minimal registration systems, or are generally assumed to be lying. Many also have their identities ‘disproved’ by UK Border Agency caseworkers as part of having their asylum claims refused. The combination results in some individuals lacking a bureaucratically recognised identity or alternatively being saddled with multiple identities. This hinders their removal as a ‘genuine’ identity must be re‐established in order for the embassies to issue travel documents. I examine what happens when people fall between having one identity disputed and another officially confirmed, arguing that when stuck in this way people become vulnerable to criminalisation and exceptional treatment such as indefinite incarceration. My premise is that as identity databases and verification techniques infiltrate British society, from high‐level security debates to daily banality, those people beyond identification techniques become increasingly bureaucratically problematic, making them simultaneously threatening to and vulnerable to state apparatus. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

An effective model of multiple multi-objective evolutionary algorithms with the assistance of regional multi-objective evolutionary algorithms: VIPMOEAs

Division of the evolutionary search among multiple multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) is a recent advantage in MOEAs design, particularly in effective parallel and distributed MOEAs. However, most these algorithms rely on such a central (re) division that affects the algorithms’ efficiency. This paper first proposes a local MOEA that searches on a particular region of objective space with its novel evolutionary selections. It effectively searches for Pareto Fronts (PFs) inside the given polar-based region, while nearby the region is also explored, intelligently. The algorithm is deliberately designed to adjust its search direction to outside the region – but nearby – in the case of a region with no Pareto Front. With this contribution, a novel island model is proposed to run multiple forms of the local MOEA to improve a conventional MOEA (e.g. NSGA-II or MOEA/D) running along – in another island. To dividing the search, a new division technique is designed to give particular regions of objective space to the local MOEAs, frequently and effectively. Meanwhile, the islands benefit from a sophisticated immigration strategy without any central (re) collection, (re) division and (re) distribution acts. Results of three experiments have confirmed that the proposed island model mostly outperforms to the clustering MOEAs with similar division technique and similar island models on DTLZs. The model is also used and evaluated on a real-world combinational problem, flexible logistic network design problem. The model definitely outperforms to a similar island model with conventional MOEA (NSGA-II) used in each island.

AS31-01 - Innovative health care services for immigrants in Berlin

Innovative concepts for outpatient consultation and mental health care service for immigrants work in cooperation with other services to guarantee an adequate cultural competent assessment and treatment plan. Special attention is given to key factors of influence on diagnostics in and therapeutic strategies for immigrants. In many health care services immigrants fall outside the existing health and social services, particularly asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants. Clinicians, policy makers and service providers should be aware of specific needs of immigrants. Cultural competence training should be everyone's business and every institution should be intercultural open. Culture broker should be employed where indicated. The WPA guidance on mental health and mental health care in immigrants should be taken into consideration. Concerning this guidance in this talk best clinical practice of innovative health care services for immigrants from Berlin, Germany, will be presented and discussed.

Moral bricolage and immigrant identification: The case of Romanian Americans

Immigration historians have illuminated the institutional forces that made possible Eastern and southern European immigrants' inclusion in the white racial category in the early twentieth century, initiating their ascent into mainstream America. Sociologists have shown that their descendants assimilated into American society while maintaining symbolic attachments to their ethnic roots. But, whereas current studies of immigrant racialization have focused on the strategies of immigrants of colour for asserting a higher position in the American social hierarchy, scholars have generally overlooked such processes for phenotypically white immigrants. This paper highlights first and 1.5 generation Romanian immigrants' strategies for navigating their ambivalent relationship to Americanness. While they assumed their whiteness unproblematically, Romanian Americans sought to distinguish themselves from whites and non-whites on the basis of their ethnicity. Furthermore, they used American values to distance themselves from their former compatriots. Through moral bricolage, Romanians made strategic use of desirable traits they associated with being Romanian and American, melding them into a particularly worthy ethnic identity.

PAPR reduction of OFDM signals using PTS: a real-valued genetic approach

The partial transmit sequences (PTS) scheme achieves an excellent peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction performance of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals at the cost of exhaustively searching all possible rotation phase combinations, resulting in high computational complexity. Several researchers have proposed using binary-coded genetic algorithms (BGA) PTS to reduce both the PAPR and computational load. To improve the PAPR statistics of OFDM signals further while still reducing the computational complexity, this paper proposes a new PTS using the real-valued genetic algorithm (RVGA). By defining a cost function based on the amount of PAPR, PTS can be formulated as an optimization problem over a multidimensional real space and solved by implementing the RVGA method. The simulation results show that the performance of the proposed RVGA PTS, along with an extinction and immigration strategy, provides approximately the same PAPR statistic as the exhaustive PTS scheme, while maintaining a low computational load.

The making of a transnational marketplace. Naples and the impact of Mediterranean cross-border trade on regional economies

This paper aims to discuss the relationship between migration, transnational entrepreneurship and regional development by analyzing the case of Naples. In recent years, Naples has emerged as an important destination for North African traders. The transformation of this city into a transnational marketplace urges us to rethink some of the assumptions made in the literature dealing with local development in Italy and immigrant entrepreneurship and the extent to which these studies have paid scant attention to the impact of transnational networks on the evolution of spaces of localized production and consumption. I propose a modified framework for studying immigrant transnational economic activities by taking into account both the multilocal embeddedness of immigrant strategies and the cosmopolitanization of Mediterranean marketplaces.

Health Status, Use of Health Care Resources, and Treatment Strategies of Ethiopian and Nigerian Immigrants in the United States

Although different health risks and behaviors displayed by contemporary U.S. immigrants create challenges for health care providers, knowledge on the health of and variations among African immigrant groups in the United States lags behind. This study compared health status, use of health care resources, and treatment strategies of 362 Ethiopian and Nigerian immigrants. The results indicated that mental health and English-speaking ability varied by country of birth. Furthermore, the study sample reported a low use of health care resources. These results suggest the existence of potential health issues among subsections of the African immigrant population that may threaten the maintenance of good health.