Health and Culture: Factors Influencing Immigrant Women’s Health Beliefs and Health Behaviour

Alla Kushniryk 1 *, Stan Orlov 1, Emma Wertz 2
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1 Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada
2 Kennesaw State University, U.S.A
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 7, Issue 1, pp. 104-125. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2582
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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of culture on immigrant women’s health beliefs and attitudes toward health and cancer. The survey of 247 women was conducted in Canada and the USA. We found that acculturation played an important role in how immigrant women viewed cancer, and that their attitudes toward Western medicine and medical examinations changed with the amount of time they spent in North America. The role of family in health decision making was also found to be an important factor in health-related decisions for immigrant women.
Keywords: acculturation, culture, immigrant women’s health, health beliefs, health behavior

CITATION

Kushniryk, A., Orlov, S., & Wertz, E. (2017). Health and Culture: Factors Influencing Immigrant Women’s Health Beliefs and Health Behaviour. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 7(1), 104-125. https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/2582

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