Sammendrag
Background
Migrating to a different country is a life-event that can affect negatively a person’s lifestyle and health. Immigrants often experience lower self-rated health and poorer mental health compared with the general population of the host country. Virtually nothing is known about the health of Italian immigrants in Norway, a group that over the past 15 years has tripled in size. Thus, the aim of this study was: i) examine the levels of self-rated health among Italian immigrants as compared with the Norwegian general population, and ii) explore the Italians’ perceptions regarding possible impact of migrating on different aspects of their health.
Methods
The data were retrieved from the study Mens Sana in Corpore Sano, which included a cross-sectional survey (n= 321) and a set of in-depth interviews (n= 14) conducted among Italian immigrants living in Norway (age ≥ 18 years). In order to enhance the sample’s representativeness, the original dataset was oversampled to match the proportion of key sociodemographic characteristics of the reference population using the ADASYN method. The participants’ self-rated health was compared with figures on the Norwegian population according to the Survey on Living Condition 2019. Descriptive statistics was performed to examine the extent to which the Italians perceived that migrating had a negative impact on different aspects of their health (general health, physical activity, dietary habits, and social relations). Qualitative data were analysed thematically to investigate more in depth the Italians’ perceptions in relation to these themes.
Results
Although most of responded (69%) rated their health as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, this proportion was significantly lower compared with figures for the Norwegian population (79%; χ2 = 31.28, p
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