Modern health worries in Pakistani immigrant women in Oslo, Norway

Abstract

Background: The main study objective was to investigate modern health worries (MHW) in a group of Pakistani immigrant women in Norway, and to compare it with a group of ethnic Norwegian women. A further aim was to examine differences in MHW with level of education and acculturation in this immigrant group.

Methods: The Pakistani women (N = 101) completed a questionnaire to assess MHW and sociodemographic variables. MHW data were obtained via telephone interviews for the subsample of Norwegian women (N = 344).

Results: The Pakistani women generally showed lower levels of MHW than did the ethnic Norwegian women. However, when stratified on education, the difference was mainly apparent in the low and middle educational groups. The Pakistani women with high levels of education tended to report higher levels of MHW than those with lower education levels. They reported significantly higher levels of worries about avian flu, radiation from computer screens, and vaccination programmes than did the ethnic Norwegian women on the same high educational level. Their different degrees of acculturation in the Norwegian society appeared to influence their levels of MHW, as the assimilated women showed the highest levels of MHW, whereas the separated women showed the lowest levels.

Conclusions: The group of Pakistani immigrant women was very heterogeneous in terms of MHW, and health authorities and health care workers should therefor adapt health and risk information according to different levels of integration and education.