Attending to Immigrants' Everyday Activities: A New Perspective on Ensuring Asian Immigrants' Quality of Life

Date
2016-11-17
Authors
Kim, H
Hocking, C
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW)
Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The quality of Asian immigrants’ lives is significant to the harmony of New Zealand society where, at the 2013 Census, 11.8% of its residents identified as Asian. However, settlement can be stressful for new Asian immigrants because moving to a country with a different culture can disrupt most of their familiar routines, and it is strongly associated with marginalisation and isolation from society. Recognising these challenges, social workers have positioned themselves at the forefront of efforts to improve Asian immigrants’ quality of life. METHOD: An occupational perspective is applied to underpin an examination of Asian immigrants’ participation in Aotearoa New Zealand society. Occupational science is a basic social science grounded in the notion that people engage in occupations for their existence and that the drive to be occupied has evolutionary, psychological, social, and symbolic roots. CONCLUSIONS: This article suggests an occupational perspective as a new analytic framework which has the potential to give social workers clearer insight into the realities which Asian immigrants encounter; consequently, increasing their ability to support Asian immigrants’ full participation into a new society.

Description
Keywords
Asian immigrants; Occupation; Occupational perspective; Settlement
Source
Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work. 28(3), 57–66.
Publisher's version
Rights statement
Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work is an international, open access, peer-reviewed journal that provides a platform for research, analysis and scholarly debate on social work theory, policy and practice. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.