Chinese and Indian Migrant Mothers’ Perceptions and Experiences of Utilising Maternal and Early Childhood Healthcare Services in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Qualitative Descriptive Study
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Authors
Bhatia, Anjali
Qi, Hongxia
Charania, Nadia A
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
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Volume Title
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Abstract
Although the health system in Aotearoa New Zealand is based on universalism and equity, disparities exist in the uptake and quality of health care for ethnic-migrant mothers and their children. This qualitative descriptive study explored the perceptions and experiences of Chinese and Indian migrant mothers (N = 24) accessing maternal and early childhood healthcare services. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted and data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes were generated. Migrant mothers displayed limited awareness of services available for themselves and their children, and experienced difficulties navigating the complex and fragmented health system. Transnational ties influenced mothers’ expectations of care and health seeking practices for themselves and their children. Mothers shared suggestions for a system that is inclusive of migrants’ needs, such as offering orientation sessions to raise awareness and ease navigation challenges, having interpreters available and translated resources to support language challenges, and improve postpartum support as mothers adapt to motherhood. To improve health equity, it is important that national policy supports improvements to the health system to address the challenges faced by ethnic-migrant families when navigating health services.Description
Keywords
4203 Health Services and Systems, 4206 Public Health, 42 Health Sciences, 44 Human Society, Behavioral and Social Science, Health Services, Pediatric, Clinical Research, 8.1 Organisation and delivery of services, Generic health relevance, 3 Good Health and Well Being
Source
Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, ISSN: 1177-083X (Print); 1177-083X (Online), Informa UK Limited, 20(4), 464-483. doi: 10.1080/1177083x.2024.2370415
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© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.