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Objectives. This paper will explore the social history of the transnational migration of foreign-trained doctors to western countries in the post-WWII era, by examining, as a case study, South Asian-trained doctors who were first licensed in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia between 1961 and 1971.Design. This article draws on both quantitative and qualitative primary sources. First, we analyzed the 1966 and 1971 copies of the Canadian Medical Directories (CMD), the annual compendium of all licensed practitioners in the country (over 20,000 practitioners). These CMD entries were supplemented by the annual returns of ‘intended occupation’ (those designated as ‘physician’ or ‘surgeon’) of landed immigrants to Canada, as compiled by the federal Department of Manpower and Immigration. Secondly, we analyzed testimony of 26 oral histories and narrative accounts of foreign-trained doctors being compiled as part of an ongoing multiyear program of research on the immigration of foreign-trained doctors to Canada. We have interviewed 14 doctors who, at one point in their career, practiced in Nova Scotia, 8 of whom were South Asian-trained medical practitioners. These oral interviews provide personal reflections on the process of professional and social acculturation that occurred as these foreign doctors settled in Canada.Results.The results of this paper indicate that the social history of the immigration of South Asian-trained doctors to Canada in the 1960s must be seen within a larger and more complicated pattern of the international migration of health care professionals. Indeed, the demand for foreign-trained doctors in Britain was in part a reflection of the out-migration of British-born doctors who were leaving the National Health Service for Canada, the USA, and Australia. And the demand in Canada for doctors was itself a reaction to the drift of a certain number of Canadian-trained doctors for advanced training in the USA.Conclusions. In this way, this article sheds important historical perspectives on the globalization of health human resources and the complicated, multiple migrations that continue to animate international health human resources today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationships between self-reported loneliness and living arrangements. A structured questionnaire with some open-ended questions was administered face-to-face in English, Hindi or Punjabi to a sample of 161 elderly South Asian immigrants 60 or more years of age living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 2003. The majority of respondents said that they never felt lonely. More than one in three (37.3%) respondents indicated that they felt lonely occasionally, frequently or all of the time. Those living alone were significantly more likely to report feeling lonely at least occasionally than were those living with others, especially those living with their spouse in an extended family. The fact that South Asian immigrant seniors typically lived with others, often in an extended family with or without their spouse, and rarely lived alone protected them to some extent from loneliness. However, our findings showed that among those living with others, it was the amount of waking time spent alone at home and the quality of family relationships rather than living arrangement per se that significantly predicted self-reported loneliness. Nevertheless, living in a larger household was associated with spending less time alone. We discuss plausible influences of culture on expectations regarding family and social relationships and on the meaning of being alone, as well as practical implications for addressing loneliness in a multi-cultural society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ethno-racial minority families who come in contact with child protection services face unique challenges that include different ideas about appropriate child rearing practices, possibly different definitions of child maltreatment, the possibility of racial biases and service provision that does not address their particular needs. Ethno-racial minority immigrants encounter additional barriers to services associated with the challenges of settlement in a new cultural environment. Although considerable research has explored these issues, knowledge of the experiences of ethno-racial families who have been in contact with child protection is limited. The current paper provides insights from a qualitative study that explored the experiences of one ethno-racial group (South Asians) in Canada. Findings suggest a variety of reasons that families come into contact with the child protection system, and the characteristics of the sample highlight their difficult financial and employment circumstances. Themes include participants' desire to be better informed about the reasons for child protection involvement and about what they can expect from the worker and the agency. They also identified a wish for services that not only recognize their cultural diversity but also respond to the needs of the whole family. In-home services were especially appreciated. The findings reveal the resilience and personal agency among participants that can be enhanced through strength-based approaches to practice. Helping others, establishing community networks and developing needed services were avenues of resilience identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To facilitate intercultural understanding by centralizing forced immigrant youths' voices in the knowledge development phase of a community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) project. The aim of this paper is to reveal the role of sport in forced immigrant youths' acculturative journeys in different communities. We utilized 'get-to-know-you' arts-based conversational interviews (m time = 38 min) held at the onset of a community-based participatory action research project. A polyphonic (i.e., multi-voiced) vignette is used to portray an interpretive account of the stories told by 22 refugee and asylum seeking (i.e., forced immigrant) youth (m age – 13.4 years) developed through a reflexive thematic analysis. The three-scene polyphonic vignette stories the role sport has played, and continues to play, in forced immigrant youths' life journeys. The opening scene brings to light stories related to home country sport involvement. The second scene depicts how sport was engaged in during their journey to their current host community. The third scene completes the story focusing on how youth engage in sport during resettlement in their host Canadian community. The meaning of sport, and what it means to be safe in sport, changes over the course of forced immigrant youths' acculturative journeys. Feeling safe in sport offers a unique opportunity for youth to feel a sense of sharing their acculturative journey with those around them. • We examined the role of sport during forced immigrant youths' acculturative journeys. • We (re-)present sport-related stories from pre--, during, and post-resettlement.. • The benefits of E−, ethno-centric, informal, and formal sport contexts are examined.. • We discuss how meaning attributed to safety and engagement in sport changes. • The sharing of cultural values through storytelling approaches is proposed.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]