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In this chapter, we will be describing the situation of minority groups in the labour market and in organizations in Québec and Canada. We will be focussing mainly on the situation of women and ethnocultural minorities. First, we will present a statistical picture of their situation. Second, we will explore in more depth the situation of two ethnocultural groups – the Maghrebians and the French – in Québec, ¹ to demonstrate the complexity of the situation of minority groups that cannot be portrayed by statistics alone. Then, third, we will examine some tensions specific to Western societies that have an impact on the dynamics of culturally diverse enterprises. This assessment will show that even though much progress has been made, especially for women, there is still much to do to ensure full equality and greater fairness between minority and majority groups in Québec and Canada. Furthermore, by means of a more qualitative analysis of the situation of these two ethnocultural groups, we will see that statistics do not tell the whole story.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the salient barriers in the uptake and effective utilization of health promotion interventions among ethnocultural minority older adults (EMOA).

The paper opted for a literature review of 25 sources (peer-reviewed articles as well as documents from the grey literature). The search was primarily conducted in a database developed during a scoping review on the health and health care access and utilization of EMOA. Emphasis was placed on older ethnocultural minorities in Canada; however examples from the UK (which has a comparable health care system) and the USA and Australia (which have large, ethnically diverse populations) were also selected. The Candidacy framework was used as an analytical lens in the review.

Findings indicate that health promotion needs to be understood as comprehensive care, involving not only the provision of health care services, but also knowledge dissemination and the facilitation of access to these services. Limited health literacy, low levels of self-efficacy and autonomy, and diverse life course experiences, particularly in the case of immigrant older adults, give rise to issues around the identification of need and system navigation. Cultural beliefs on health and illness, particularly around diet and exercise, and a lack of trust in formal systems of health care, are barriers to the uptake of interventions. Similarly, service permeability is low when cultural competency is lacking.

The recommendations include the need for collaborative engagement with stakeholders, including family, peers, community partners and health practitioners, and the development of concise, culturally, and linguistically appropriate tools of health promotion that are targeted toward the intersecting needs of individuals in this diverse population of older adults.

Given the increasingly diverse nature of the older adult population in Canada over the past four decades, this paper makes an important contribution toward understanding the social, cultural, structural, biographical, and geographical factors that may optimize the effective dissemination and uptake of health promotion interventions among EMOA.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse two features of multicultural societies: diversity and equity. The author argues that both these features are necessary for multicultural societies and their institutions to be successful. Diversity is understood to include variations in culture, ethnicity, religion, age, gender and sexual orientation. Equity is understood to include inclusive participation and the removal of barriers to such participation. Diversity without the opportunity for equitable participation can lead to a form of separation; equity without diversity can lead to a form of assimilation; the absence of both can lead to marginalisation; and the presence of both can lead to a full integration.

This is a conceptual paper with a focus on better understanding of how to manage multicultural societies and institutions.

The author distinguishes between three meanings of multiculturalism; as demography; as policy; and as ideology. He proposes a conceptual framework to illustrate the various ways in which intercultural relations may take place at three levels (society, institutions and individual), and with two kinds of groups (dominant and non-dominant). An analysis of multiculturalism policy in Canada and internationally reveals three principles needed for success in such societies: the multiculturalism principle; the integration principle; and the contact principle.

The use of these concepts for better management of intercultural relations in multicultural societies and institutions through mutual adaptation is proposed.

With much debate and confusion about the meaning and value of multiculturalism, this paper has sought to clarify many of the concepts and distinctions.

Current and predicted continued dramatic increases in international migration and ethnocultural diversity of older adult cohorts pose challenges for health care services. Review studies on ethnoculturally diverse older adults and health care show a lack of focus on their service use experiences. This study aims to report a meta-ethnography that addresses this knowledge gap through answering the review question: How do ethnoculturally diverse older adults who are immigrants experience health careservices?

The authors applied a seven-phase method of meta-ethnography to guide the review. The authors conducted two literature searches (April 2018 and June 2020) in MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, Sociological Abstracts and Abstracts in Social Gerontology that yielded 17 papers eligible for review.

“There’s always something positive and something negative” is the overarching metaphor for answering the review question. Findings highlight positive and negative tensions within ethnoculturally diverse older adults’ health care use experiences of understanding and being understood, having trust in providers and the health care system, having needs, preferences and resources met and desire for self-care over dependency. The majority of experiences were negative. Tipping points towards negative experiences included language, fear, provider attitudes and behaviours, service flexibility, attitudes towards Western and traditional health care and having knowledge and resources.

The authors propose concrete actions to mitigate the tipping points. The authors discuss policy recommendations for health care system changes at the micro, meso and macro service levels to promote positive experiences and address mainstream service policy inequities.

To describe the process of building partnerships between a health professional group (university‐based researchers and organizations from within and outside the health sector) and the black communities, highlight the accomplishments and identify problems in the process.

The description of the process of building partnerships with four black communities in Nova Scotia is organized in the following sections: the impetus for launching a Diabetes Primary Prevention for the Black Communities Project, its preparation, implementation, and evaluation. The accomplishments and the problems associated with the Project are analysed.

Recruitment of participants for the focus groups was challenging. Response rate to survey questionnaire was moderate. Presentation of the Project results by one of the black Project assistants to the participant communities was well received. The Project was quite successful in encouraging community involvement by engaging community groups in several small‐scale activities. Three issues related to project implementation were identified: recruitment of focus groups, participant disappointment, and survey return rates. Strategies incorporating the principles of involving a target audience, providing a service, empowering people and respecting cultural diversity with the aim to ensure successful partnership building with the black communities were proposed.

This paper describes the process of forging partnership with the black communities. The results of the Project could serve as a paradigm for developing culturally sensitive and responsive strategies to lessen the burden of type 2 diabetes in other racial minority communities.

In the state of Hawaii, it has been shown that certain ethnic minority groups, such as Filipinos and Pacific Islanders, suffer disproportionally high rates of cardiovascular disease, evidence that local health-care systems and governing bodies fail to equally extend the human right to health to all. This study aims to examine whether these ethnic health disparities in cardiovascular disease persist even within an already globally disadvantaged group, the houseless population of Hawaii.

A retrospective chart review of records from Hawaii Houseless Outreach and Medical Education Project clinic sites from 2016 to 2020 was performed to gather patient demographics and reported histories of type II diabetes, obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and other cardiovascular disease diagnoses. Reported disease prevalence rates were compared between larger ethnic categories as well as ethnic subgroups.

Unexpectedly, the data revealed lower reported prevalence rates of most cardiometabolic diseases among the houseless compared to the general population. However, multiple ethnic health disparities were identified, including higher rates of diabetes and obesity among Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders and higher rates of hypertension among Filipinos and Asians overall. The findings suggest that even within a generally disadvantaged houseless population, disparities in health outcomes persist between ethnic groups and that ethnocultural considerations are just as important in caring for this vulnerable population.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study focusing on ethnic health disparities in cardiovascular disease and the structural processes that contribute to them, among a houseless population in the ethnically diverse state of Hawaii.

This is the second of a two‐part article on cultural aspects of alcohol use. Part I introduced the primary and secondary characteristics of culture and the current information on drinking patterns of selected ethnocultural groups. Part 2 includes other selected primary and secondary characteristics of culture such as age, gender, religious affiliation, education, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. The article concludes with measures whose effectiveness has been questionable in promoting responsible alcohol use and includes some proven and new recommendations.

Psychology, both as science and practice, has been largely developed in one cultural area of the world: Europe and North America. As a result, the discipline is culture-bound, limited in its origins, concepts, and empirical findings to only this small portion of the world. The discipline is also culture-blind, largely ignoring the influence of the role of culture in shaping the development and display of human behaviour. These limitations have resulted in the dominant position of a Western Academic Scientific Psychology (WASP) in relation to other cultural perspectives on human behaviour. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper draws on concepts and strategies in psychology (particularly cross-cultural and intercultural psychology) to propose some remedies to problems arising from the dominant WASP position. For example, of what relevance is such a limited perspective to understanding human activity in other cultures; and how can such a limited understanding serve the purpose of effective intercultural interactions?

The eventual goal is to achieve a global psychology that incorporates concepts and findings from societies and cultures from all parts of the world, one that will permit a valid understanding of people within their cultures, and permit effective intercultural across cultures.

The paper presents some criticisms of the dominant western psychology (WASP), and proposes that the achievement of a more global psychology may be within reach if some concepts and methods now available in psychology from both the dominant western sources and from those working in the rest of the world are used.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of mental health among Angolan migrants living in Portugal. Three research questions guided this work: What is the influence of demographic factors on the mental health of Angolan migrants? What is the influence of acculturation factors on their mental health? What is the influence of adaptation factors on their mental health?

The sample consisted of 252 Angolan migrants living in Portugal (50.8 percent females) with a mean age of 36 years. The mean duration of stay in Portugal was 21 years.

The predictive factors – demographic, acculturation and adaptation factors – were significantly associated with Angolan migrants’ mental health. However, acculturation and adaptation factors accounted for a larger proportion of the explained variance in mental health problems than demographic factors. The major predictors of mental health problems were sociocultural adaptation, perceived discrimination and loneliness. Implications of the findings for future research and psychosocial interventions are discussed.

This study shed some light on the predictive factors of mental health problems among adult Angolan immigrants in Portugal, a previously neglected group of migrants in the research literature. Adding to existing knowledge on the mental health outcomes of migration, the findings suggest that, for this group, sociocultural adaptation, perceived discrimination and loneliness were the main predictors of psychological problems, rather than demographic factors. This evidence may be useful in the development of psychosocial interventions and policy to support Angolan migrants in their adaptation to Portuguese culture.