Refugee Health Education: Evaluating a Community-Based Approach to Empowering Refugee Women in Houston, Texas
Although resettlement agencies in the United States assist refugees by offering a variety of local social and health services, refugees are still less likely to access these services. Few studies have evaluated refugee health education interventions focusing on barriers to accessing healthcare and o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Indiana University School of Social Work
2018-09-01
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| Series: | Advances in Social Work |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/21622 |
| _version_ | 1828961969517887488 |
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| author | Elizabeth Leah Frost Christine Markham Andrew Springer |
| author_facet | Elizabeth Leah Frost Christine Markham Andrew Springer |
| author_sort | Elizabeth Leah Frost |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Although resettlement agencies in the United States assist refugees by offering a variety of local social and health services, refugees are still less likely to access these services. Few studies have evaluated refugee health education interventions focusing on barriers to accessing healthcare and overcoming negative social determinants of health. This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived impact of a yearlong health education intervention to empower Burmese refugee women living in Houston, Texas. The intervention included workshops, community excursions, question and answer (Q&A) sessions, and home visits. The evaluation was a formative qualitative study including interviews with Burmese refugee women who participated in the intervention and local resettlement agency caseworkers. Qualitative content analysis guided the data analysis and was conducted to identify categories and emergent themes. Key findings indicated that motivation to participate in the intervention was impacted by the women’s perceived relevance of health education material to Burmese cultural values and opportunities for hands-on learning to promote self-efficacy. Recommendations for future interventions include the use of community health workers to train refugee health educators, pairing English lessons with health education material to promote development of English language skills, developing teaching materials for refugees with low literacy, establishing bottom-up support from refugee resettlement agencies, and incorporating the social work ecological model to tailor health-focused interventions to the specific needs of the refugee community. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T09:55:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9087f27aeee54cc79eb845d5ab969e99 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1527-8565 2331-4125 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T09:55:23Z |
| publishDate | 2018-09-01 |
| publisher | Indiana University School of Social Work |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advances in Social Work |
| spelling | doaj.art-9087f27aeee54cc79eb845d5ab969e992022-12-21T23:07:24ZengIndiana University School of Social WorkAdvances in Social Work1527-85652331-41252018-09-0118394996410.18060/2162221622Refugee Health Education: Evaluating a Community-Based Approach to Empowering Refugee Women in Houston, TexasElizabeth Leah Frost0Christine Markham1Andrew Springer2University of Texas School of Public HealthUniversity of Texas School of Public HealthUniversity of Texas School of Public HealthAlthough resettlement agencies in the United States assist refugees by offering a variety of local social and health services, refugees are still less likely to access these services. Few studies have evaluated refugee health education interventions focusing on barriers to accessing healthcare and overcoming negative social determinants of health. This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived impact of a yearlong health education intervention to empower Burmese refugee women living in Houston, Texas. The intervention included workshops, community excursions, question and answer (Q&A) sessions, and home visits. The evaluation was a formative qualitative study including interviews with Burmese refugee women who participated in the intervention and local resettlement agency caseworkers. Qualitative content analysis guided the data analysis and was conducted to identify categories and emergent themes. Key findings indicated that motivation to participate in the intervention was impacted by the women’s perceived relevance of health education material to Burmese cultural values and opportunities for hands-on learning to promote self-efficacy. Recommendations for future interventions include the use of community health workers to train refugee health educators, pairing English lessons with health education material to promote development of English language skills, developing teaching materials for refugees with low literacy, establishing bottom-up support from refugee resettlement agencies, and incorporating the social work ecological model to tailor health-focused interventions to the specific needs of the refugee community.http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/21622Refugee healthwomen’s healthhealth educationprogram evaluation |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth Leah Frost Christine Markham Andrew Springer Refugee Health Education: Evaluating a Community-Based Approach to Empowering Refugee Women in Houston, Texas Advances in Social Work Refugee health women’s health health education program evaluation |
| title | Refugee Health Education: Evaluating a Community-Based Approach to Empowering Refugee Women in Houston, Texas |
| title_full | Refugee Health Education: Evaluating a Community-Based Approach to Empowering Refugee Women in Houston, Texas |
| title_fullStr | Refugee Health Education: Evaluating a Community-Based Approach to Empowering Refugee Women in Houston, Texas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Refugee Health Education: Evaluating a Community-Based Approach to Empowering Refugee Women in Houston, Texas |
| title_short | Refugee Health Education: Evaluating a Community-Based Approach to Empowering Refugee Women in Houston, Texas |
| title_sort | refugee health education evaluating a community based approach to empowering refugee women in houston texas |
| topic | Refugee health women’s health health education program evaluation |
| url | http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/21622 |
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