Health Status and Health Care Access for the Arab Community in Toronto: a Pilot Study to Assess Health Needs

The Arab community in Toronto is rapidly growing with increasing numbers of Arab immigrants to Canada over the past three decades. By the early 1990's, there were an estimated quarter million Arabs in this country. However, the Arab Canadian community’s health and social issues are poorly understood. During 1997-8, this study collected and analysed data from the 1991 census to produce a sociodemographic profile of Arabs in Canada; it also conducted seven focus groups with members of the Toronto Arab community to determine their health needs. The focus groups included a) boys 13-19 years, b) girls 13-19 years, c) two groups of men, aged 20-64 years, d) two groups of women, aged 20-64 years, e) Arab leaders representing community organizations and religious leaders.

Research Team:
Dr. Lilian Yuan
University of Toronto
Department of Public Health Sciences

Dr. Irving Rootman
University of Toronto
The Centre for Health Promotion and Department of Public Health Sciences

Dr. Ahmed Tayeh
Project Coordinator

Students: Munaza Chaudhry, Mary Roufail, Samah El Rifai

Collaborating Agencies:
Arab Community Centre of Toronto (ACCT)
Canadian Arab Federation (CAF)

Advisory Research Committee:
Hossain Musa
Ibrahim Hayani
Jamal Chebaro
Jehad Al-Iweiwi
Kamal Elguindi
Maha Abu Ghaida
Nimr Alkishawi
Rand Asskalan
Reem Abdul Qadir
Sanaa Lamooza

The project consisted of two components. The first involved the compilation of the 1991 Canadian Census Public Use Micro data File (PUMF) about Arabs in Canada by one of our students (MC). The PUMF is based on the 20% sample of the population who answered the long form (Form 2B) on Census Day, 1991. Limited data from the 1996 were included when available. For this part of the study, an Arab Canadian was defined as anyone who identified him/herself as being of Arab origin, who had knowledge of Arabic or whose mother tongue was Arabic.

The second component involved the seven focus groups described above in the preamble. List of individuals selected by different Arab community agencies were prepared. In addition, advertisements were placed in one journal and three Arab newspapers to recruit additional participants. Advertisements were also sent to Arab community centres for placement on notice boards. Potential participants were stratified into the seven groups and then 6-8 persons were randomly selected from each group. As a token of appreciation, participants were paid $50.00 at the end of each session. Each session was facilitated by Dr. Tayeh and two students (MR, SER), and was conducted in Arabic and/or English. Participants were required to sign consent forms prior to the start of the session. All sessions were audio taped and transcribed. Questions covered a variety of areas including health service access, health and social concerns.

Based on the 1991 census, approximately 194,000 Arabs lived in Canada. The majority reside in Ontario (42%) and Quebec (42%). The Arab population is highly urban with 91% living in metropolitan areas. They tend to be younger than the Canadian population with 42% under 25 years compared with 34% of the general population, and 5% are over 65 compared with 12% of the general population. Sixty-seven percent of Arabs in Canada are immigrants. The majority of Arab households are single family households (84%); only 6% are lone parent families.

The following issues were most frequently identified by focus group participants:

Few health care providers speak Arabic. Lack of interpreter services in Arabic

Lack of Arabic speaking female physicians for Arabic women

Greater need for culturally sensitive mental health services

Generational and cultural gap between young people and their parents

Unemployment is a significant problem

 

 

1) A Profile of Arabs in Canada - report enclosed

2) An article which summarizes the research findings is being written. It will be submitted to a peer- reviewed journal.

Copies of the report, A Profile of Arabs in Canada, will be sent to government and community agencies who are involved with the Arab community across Canada. We will be meeting with the Research Advisory Committee to develop additional venues for dissemination of results.

The sociodemographic profile characterizes the Arab population in Canada, and highlights differences among subgroups in the Arab community - Christians vs. Muslim, immigrants vs. Canadian-born. It along with the focus group information has identified issues for government and community agencies of concern to the Arab community. This pilot study also prepares the way for a broader study to investigate the health status of the Arab community and their access to health services.

Key members of the Arab community and representatives of CAF and ACCT served as members of a research advisory committee for the study. This group met on several occasions before the start of study and offered invaluable advise and assistance on many aspects of the study including identification of data sources about the Arab community, recruitment of participants, advertisement to the community about the study, and dissemination of results . Agencies such as CAF also kindly offered the use of their premises for meetings. As well, they identified potential participants whom we could contact for focus groups.

Three students were hired for this project and attended training sessions conducted by the research team. They were briefed about the history of Arab immigration, their countries of origin, their religions, and their traditions. Relevant papers and reports about the Arab community were also distributed. Two students (MR and SER) who were Arab speaking were trained by the research team in leading focus groups. They were then trained to arrange focus group meetings, act as co-facilitators with Dr. Tayeh, and assist in audio-tape transcription under supervision. A third student (MC) who compiled data from the 1991 Census was supervised to conduct the epidemiologic analysis. All three students participated fully in meetings with the research advisory committee.

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