Projects per year
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the differences in acculturation experiences between
parent and adolescent refugees from the Horn of Africa in Melbourne, Australia
and to explore food beliefs and perceived health risks from an intergenerational
perspective.
Design: Qualitative cross-sectional study involving a combination of semi-structured
one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions.
Setting: North-West suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.
Subjects: Eritrean, Ethiopian, Somali and Sudanese refugees.
Results: Using a purposeful sampling technique, twelve semi-structured face-to-face
interviews (nine adults and three adolescents) and four in-depth focus groups
(two with adolescents each containing six participants and two with adults one
containing six participants and the other ten participants) were carried out. Thus
overall data were obtained on fifteen adolescents and twenty-five parents. Qualitative
analysis identified differences between parents and adolescents in relation to
lifestyle, diet and physical activity. Views regarding health consequences of their
changed diets also differed. Parental feeding practices encompassed a variety of
methods and were enforced in an attempt by parents to control their children?s
dietary behaviours and prevent their drift away from traditional eating habits.
Conclusions: These findings call for more research to contextualise dietary acculturation
among refugee youth and the impact of migration on parenting styles and feeding
practices in communities from the Horn of Africa. Preventive health programmes with
Horn of Africa refugees need to acknowledge the effect of acculturation on diet and
physical activity levels and a socio-cultural framework needs to be developed with
respect to the importance and influence of the family environment.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 176 - 188 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Public Health Nutrition |
Volume | 18 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Projects
- 1 Finished
-
Reducing the social, economic and health burden associated with obesity-related chronic diseases among socio-economically disadvantaged populations
Renzaho, A.
Australian Research Council (ARC)
1/01/12 → 31/12/15
Project: Research