Health issues and needs of unsponsored refugee women in Canada: a qualitative study

Little is known about the unsponsored refugee women in Canada and about their health in particular. Through interviews with 11 unsponsored refugee women living in greater Vancouver area, this research project focuses on their health issues and needs. In order to better understand how their health is grounded in the varied historical and current contexts of their lives, through powerful narratives and stories of women, I document their own perspectives on health, the multiple factors that affect their health outcomes, and the pathways to care. I use qualitative methodology and a critical theoretical framework informed by intersectionality to study these aspects of health. Through intersectional analysis I illustrate how their experiences of health, health outcomes, determinants of health and pathways to care are shaped by intersecting circumstances of lived experiences, multiple identities and the larger social, political and economic processes and contexts within which they live.