Migration, Settlement, and Acculturation on Diverse Health

¶ … migration, settlement, and acculturation on diverse health behaviors and health outcomes influence sexual health, particularly HIV / AIDS, has remained unstudied as well as the West Indian group. Greater understanding is needed in how migration and acculturation may shape sexual risk and protection among the West Indian immigrants.

Hoffman, S. et al., (2011), Contexts of risk and networks of protection: NYC West Indian immigrants' perceptions of migration and vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases, Culture, Health, and Sexuality: An International Journal for Research, Intervention, and Cure, 13(5): 513-528, retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407273/pdf/nihms-290674.pdf.

Kind of Research

Descriptive data structured from open ended interviews with mixed quantitative and qualitative methods.

Purpose

To contribute to building a testable theory of sexual risks among West Indian immigrants and, more generally, to development of theory around migration and sexual health.

Design

Case study, naturalistic observation, survey in a mixed method.

Participants

Participants were 20 men and 36 women, ages 18-40 years, born in English-speaking Caribbean, self-identified African-American, diagnosed with one of several STDs within the past year. Referred by physician or nurse practitioner that made examination.

Procedure

Audio taped interviews for quantitative quality assurance and qualitative for subsequent transcription. Quantitative data and analysis: migration characteristics of travel to countries of interviews measuring sexual norms and contexts as well as participant perception of normative shifts to influence sexual behavior and risk for HIV.

Validity was measured by audio tapes transcribed and cleaned of participant identifiers and development of major and sub-codes and code rules, where text was read by two investigators.

Variables

Independent variable -- West Indian immigrants. Dependent variables -- perception of circumstances and sexual risk, ethnicity of partners, and cultural expectations of safe sex.

Level of Measurement

Nominal measuring numerical values of the group.

Instrumentation

None mentioned.

Sample

Dependent (same group).

Sampling Technique

Selected sampling.

Statistical Tests

None mentioned, but did show ratio and percentages.

Results and Findings

Quantitative: 12.5% had traveled to a Caribbean country with 2 of that group having sexual intercourse during the trip. 54 (all but 2) had main partners of the same origin and multiple non-main partners of different origin. Qualitative: size and anonymity of NYC promoted greater risk with ease of hiding one's sexual past compared to close-knit communities of countries of origin. There was greater exposure to STD information, treatment, and safer sex that increased opportunity for protection. Differences in sexual behavior between locales were greater in women than men. More openness in U.S. about sex leads to more disease awareness and openness about safe sex. Condom use attributed to U.S. cultural expectations of safer sex.