Work, Gender, and Health Among Southern Italian Immigrants in Melbourne, Australia. (Volumes I and II).

This study examines how health care for immigrants in Australia is effected by their own ethnomedical systems and by the social changes they experience with immigration. Focusing on southern Italian and specifically on eastern Sicilian immigrants, the study examines the interrelationships between the organization of work, changes in gender roles, and health. The study is based on two and one-half years of field research and employs formal interviews as well as participant observation. Emphasis is placed on Sicilian ethnomedical beliefs about human growth, development, and sexuality and on definitions of health and strength. The study demonstrates how these beliefs support and conflict with the practicalities of Italian-Australian life. This work is intended as a foundation for planning. It addresses issues in immigration and ethnic affairs policy and in health care. As a case study, the problem of family planning service delivery to immigrants in Melbourne is discussed in some detail. Practical and theoretical questions in the design of culturally relevant health care and in the application of anthropology to medicine are discussed.PhDCultural anthropologyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/158660/1/8204679.pd