Facts

Contact person:
Nada Amroussia
Financer:
  • Swedish Research Council
Responsible at MaU:
Aje Carlbom
Project members:
Collaborators and other project members:
  • Birgitta Essén – Uppsala University
  • Soorej Jose Puthoopparambil – Uppsala University
Time frame:
01 November 2019 - 01 November 2023
Faculty/department:
Research environment :
Research subject:

Background

The Swedish law guarantees all residents the right to health and healthcare on equal terms. However, previous studies have shown that migrant women face structural and institutional barriers that often prevent them from accessing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. The little research on migrant youth sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) has pointed out that youth access to SRH information and services is hampered by cultural barriers. This suggests that culture has an important role in determining the ability of migrant youth to enjoy their sexual and reproductive rights. In the past few decades, “cultural humility” has emerged as one of the main paradigms addressing the issues of diversity and equality in healthcare settings as it can enhance cultural understanding between health care providers and services users.

Aims

The overarching aim of this study is to understand the facilitators and barriers of providing culturally appropriate youth SRH services in Sweden and explore the role that can be ascribed to cultural humility in addressing these barriers.

The project has four specific aims:

  1. Examine how the concepts of cultural relativism, cultural competency, and cultural humility have been negotiated and incorporated in the public health policy in Sweden (Study I).
  2. Explore health care providers’ and counsellors’ experiences of providing SRH services to migrant youth and their understandings of the complexity of engaging migrant youth with related services (Study II).
  3. a) Explore how middle eastern migrant youth construct their sexual embodiment and how they understand and negotiate the cultural meanings associated with the process of sexual embodiment, b) explore youth experiences when using SRH services and their understandings of factors that affect their use of these services (Study III).
  4. Identify strategies and interventions to ensure the provision of culturally appropriate SRH services from a multi-stakeholder perspective, with focusing on the role of cultural humility (Study IV).

Methods

Four qualitative studies will be conducted as part of this project.

  • In study I, policy documents will be examined to explore how the concepts of cultural relativism, cultural competency, and cultural humility were incorporated in the SRHR public health policy in Sweden.
  • In study II, focus groups and interviews will be used to explore health care providers' and counsellors' experiences when providing SRH services to migrant youth.
  • In study III, in-depth interviews will be conducted with a sample of middle eastern migrant youth.
  • The study IV will consist of concept mapping workshops to identify strategies ensuring the provision of culturally appropriate SRH services.
     
     

Would you like to participate?

We are interested in learning more about your experiences and opinions about sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in Sweden and your views on sexuality and sexual experiences and we will conduct individual interviews. Our goal is to improve SRH services in Sweden.

If you are aged between 16 and 26 and self-identify as a Middle Eastern migrant you are eligible to participate in.

The interviews

Our interviews will last between 60 minutes and 90 minutes and will be conducted in English, Arabic and Swedish. An interpreter will be present if the interviews will be conducted in another language (e.g. Dari).

Ethical considerations

We have obtained ethical approval from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority “Etikprövningsmyndigheten”. Before conducting the interview, we will ask you whether you agree to participate in the study or not, which we call informed consent. We will use verbal or oral consent, which means that you will not sign any document. We will also ask for your permission to record the interview. Your participation is completely voluntary, and you can stop your participation at any time.

Contact information 

Register your interest in participating in the interview study no later than 31 May 2022.

Contact Nada Amroussia to register interest and get more information