Advocacy as a means to an end: Assisting refugee women to take ontrol of their reproductive health needs

Pauline B. Guerin, Pascale Allotey, Fatuma Hussein Elmi, Samio Baho

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Negotiating reproductive rights is particularly complex for resettling migrant women from refugee backgrounds. In our ongoing work with women who have fled from countries in Africa and the Middle East, and have resettled in Australia and New Zealand, subtleties of discrimination and perceptions of human rights discriminations were revealed through the complex interplay between research and advocacy. Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) has therefore been critical in assisting women to identify their needs and negotiate acceptable solutions with health services. This paper presents qualitative and quantitative findings of research with women from refugee backgrounds in Australia (n = 255) and New Zealand (n = 64). The research questions were a combination of community-driven and researcher initiated issues and the projects developed through a continuous iterative process involving feedback from women in the community. We highlight the essential role of advocacy in CBPR and how that can enhance research quality. We argue for the justification of this approach as not only valid and credible but essential in research with these and other communities.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7-25
Number of pages19
JournalWomen and Health
Volume43
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Medicine(all)

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