Migration, health, and physical activity : perspectives of skilled immigrant women

The Healthy Immigrant Effect refers to the phenomenon of declining health among immigrants after relocating to Western countries, including Canada (Newbold, 2006). Health can be defined in holistic terms as physical, mental and social well-being, and the role of publicly-delivered physical activity opportunities is often overlooked when considering the health of recent immigrant women. Instead of conceptualizing health as a result of individual choices, this study drew on an intersectional approach to understanding how three social determinants of health (SDH), migration, socioeconomic status, and gender, are interrelated and mutually reinforcing (Hankivsky & Christoffersen, 2008). The purpose was to better understand how these three SDH influence the health of women who recently immigrated to Canada, and how their participation in community-based physical activity may (or may not) be affected. Qualitative interviews were conducted with women who recently immigrated to Canada as skilled workers (n = 18,