Exploring Young African Migrant Women Conceptualisation of Their Health, Healthcare Experiences, and Improvement of Services in Aotearoa, New Zealand
type: CreativeWork
description: The increasing diversity of the Aotearoa New Zealand population has noticeably impacted on healthcare service provision, access, and utilisation, with health service underutilisation more prevalent among young immigrants. The research presented in this thesis explored the shared experiences and insights of young African migrant women between the ages of 16 and 35 years regarding Aotearoa New Zealand youth healthcare services. This objective was pursued by creating a platform for an open and creative dialogue for the participants to rewrite their narratives and reposition their knowledge to interact or negotiate with mainstream knowledge on equal terms; as well as challenge the shapes and forms of discrimination and segregation, barriers to access and engagement with services, and the prospect of what must be the betterment of their wellbeing. I applied a decolonising theoretical framework in line with African epistemology. The philosophical teachings of these theories are vast; in this study, I focused on the key tenets that reflect the research context, the participants’ life worlds and my positionality. The decolonising process involved asking how my research would: 1) challenge dominant ideologies; 2) ensure collective community validity of knowledge; 3) reflect the significance of race and racism and their interconnectedness with gender; and 4) empowered the participants for social change which suited the population being studied, whose culture and traditions are passed down orally. Data were collected by using storytelling sharing circles – a focus group method common in Africa contexts and practiced in research amongst Indigenous people for generations in various parts of the world. Findings were thematically analysed with a decolonising lens to ensure minimal misinterpretation of findings or loss of meaning. A triangulation approach was employed which used field notes involving observation and in-depth reflection to evidence meaning and aid in the understandi…
abstract: The increasing diversity of the Aotearoa New Zealand population has noticeably impacted on healthcare service provision, access, and utilisation, with health service underutilisation more prevalent among young immigrants. The research presented in this thesis explored the shared experiences and insights of young African migrant women between the ages of 16 and 35 years regarding Aotearoa New Zealand youth healthcare services. This objective was pursued by creating a platform for an open and creative dialogue for the participants to rewrite their narratives and reposition their knowledge to interact or negotiate with mainstream knowledge on equal terms; as well as challenge the shapes and forms of discrimination and segregation, barriers to access and engagement with services, and the prospect of what must be the betterment of their wellbeing. I applied a decolonising theoretical framework in line with African epistemology. The philosophical teachings of these theories are vast; in this study, I focused on the key tenets that reflect the research context, the participants’ life worlds and my positionality. The decolonising process involved asking how my research would: 1) challenge dominant ideologies; 2) ensure collective community validity of knowledge; 3) reflect the significance of race and racism and their interconnectedness with gender; and 4) empowered the participants for social change which suited the population being studied, whose culture and traditions are passed down orally. Data were collected by using storytelling sharing circles – a focus group method common in Africa contexts and practiced in research amongst Indigenous people for generations in various parts of the world. Findings were thematically analysed with a decolonising lens to ensure minimal misinterpretation of findings or loss of meaning. A triangulation approach was employed which used field notes involving observation and in-depth reflection to evidence meaning and aid in the understandi…
author: Kanengoni, Blessing
keywords: Young African migrant women, Health and wellbeing, Healthcare services, African epistemology, Decolonising methodology, Embodiment, Aotearoa New Zealand
date published: 2022
date modified: 2026-07-27T18:46:03Z
provider: AUT University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: AUT University