Exploring Participation and Interaction in a Bottom-Up Health Promotion Program for Migrant Women in Norway

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Sociology
• Community Health Programs

Background:

• Migrant women face significant cultural and language barriers in accessing healthcare.
• Health authorities find it challenging to reach this demographic effectively.
• Existing healthcare models may not adequately address the needs of diverse migrant populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the participation and interactions of migrant women and health experts at health parties.
• To evaluate health parties as an innovative, bottom-up community health program.
• To understand how health parties influence migrant women's health focus, learning, and healthcare interactions.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of data from participation observations.
• Semi-structured interviews with health party participants.
• Examination of different organizational structures and expert roles within health parties.

Main Results:

• Health parties demonstrate potential for active participation and health learning among migrant women.
• Two distinct organizational models for health parties were identified, impacting social dynamics.
• Varied approaches to the health expert role influenced interactions and the social setting.
• Health parties can serve as a bridge across cultural and language barriers.

Conclusions:

• Health parties represent a promising, innovative community program for enhancing migrant women's health engagement.
• This model facilitates improved health literacy and interaction with healthcare systems for hard-to-reach populations.
• The flexibility in organizing health parties and defining expert roles is key to their success.