Population Health Promotion Model Analysis

Application of Population Health Promotion Model to Reduce the Impact of Healthy Immigrant effect amongst the Visible Minority Immigrant Women Population Living in Ontario

The immigrant population makes up 20.6% of the total Canadian population and this number is predicted to increase to 25% and 28% by 2031 (Statistics Canada, 2013). As noted in the statistical report by Chui (2011), every one in five women in Canada, is born outside of Canada, and 73% of this population is from the visible minority. When these immigrants arrive Canada, their health status is higher than their Canadian born counterparts, but this declines to meet that of their Canadian counterpart within 5 - 20 years upon arrival This is called the Healthy immigrant effect

According to Syme and Balfour (1998) though important, “these strategies are unlikely to be achieved and sustained unless they are embedded in a supportive physical and social environment” (as cited in (Hanson et al., 2015). Empowering people is a key strategy to creating a supportive social environment; people can be empowered when they are able to identify their own issues and are given the option to be a part of the solution. To empower the VMIW, a survey can be administered in high density same-ethnicity-communities and the VMIW asked to identify what their most pressing health concerns are. Once identified, the next step will be to mobilize available resources in the community; the greatest resource in any community is the people. The people can be mobilized via (1) creating interest groups for mothers and wives in the community and (2) Mobilizing community and opinion leaders. This will serve two purposes; (a) a target audience for education and information dissemination. According to WHO (1996), effective education requires learning and for learning to occur, education must be meaningful and culturally relevant. These leaders are the cultural experts of their communities; thus can collaborate with the local health authority to identify culturally sensitive and relevant health information that can be learned and disseminated in their communities. Relevant education targeting the impact of HIE on their community as it relates to their previously identified health concerns will serve to inspire the VMIW interest groups to advocate for changes within their communities that will promote health and also empower them to make decisions about the priority health concerns they identified. (b) A foci group to influence lifestyle at grassroots, according to Puska et. al., (2009) informal opinion