Voices Unheard; Well-being of Southeast Asian Ageing Immigrants Living in Finland

The increase in human migration across the years and the increase in the older population in developing and developed countries have posted the present and foreseeable challenge and opportunity to invest efforts to the study of immigrants who are ageing in foreign countries and collect these efforts for concerted actions to improve their well-being. This study explored the experiences of ageing Southeast Asian immigrants, ages 50 years old and above living in Finland as a minority using a culture-centered approach (CCA) as theoretical underpinning and to foreground these contextual narratives to understand their needs and capacities to inspire change in health policies and service implementation under social and health care organizations in Finland. This study provides an opportunity for the ageing immigrants’ participation in a dialogue, to have their voices heard and inclusion in Finnish society. The study is a narrative research, using a categorical-content analysis. In the study, the life stories of ageing Southeast Asian immigrants were treated as narrative materials to provide an analysis of the small units of content on the well-being of ageing Southeast Asian immigrants in Finland using a culture-centered approach (CCA). The data gathering method employed semi-structured interview of participants, chosen purposively. The narrative materials obtained through interview was used to identify subtexts that categorized according to content and discussed using the culture-centered approach (CCA). The study was conducted in Finland primarily in the region of Uusimaa. There were nine 50 years old and above Filipino and Thai immigrants who are members of the Finnish Philippine Association and Finnish Thai Association. This study was conducted in collaboration with the Jade Activity Center. The Filipino and Thai ageing immigrants have a relatively good subjective well-being which is associated by the informants to numerous factors like a support system, government support, spirituality, economic, self-care and lifestyle, environment, resiliency and adaptation to Finland. The findings also exposed the needs of the ageing immigrants on social protection, elderly care, work, productive and recreational activities, support network and needs in Finnish social and health care services usage such as knowledge in seeking social support, improvement of communication and aids in well-being service fees and dental care and culturally centered social services. The significant cultural trait of the Filipino and Thai immigrants is focused on self-care and resiliency and spirituality at an individual level and culture of cohesiveness at the collective level. These add agency to the informants, while the challenges in migration, Finnish social and health care service utilization and ageing constraint their agency. The societal change and Finnish social and health care support system are structural resources for the ageing immigrants. The study posits that cultural understanding and listening to the voices of the minority on how they construct their concept of well-being and their needs while living in Finland is imperative in Finnish social and health care settings