Exercise! Yay or Nay?
Exercise has both physical and mental benefits, as it decreases the risk of disease while elevating our moods. In comparison to non-immigrants, newcomers to Canada are less likely to exercise. In fact, their physical health worsens as they continue to live in Canada. In order to understand why, the Social Ecological Method (SEM) was used in this study. This encompassed the influence of internal (attitudes, knowledge) and external factors (social networks, institutions, environment, and public policy). This study’s purpose was to explore how physical activity and opportunities impact newcomers to Canada.
This study carried out one hour interviews with participants who were born outside of Canada but spoke English as their second language. Inquiries made about participants’ understanding of exercise, engagement in exercise, and factors limiting or aiding their physical activity were noted. Several researchers used this information by coding and identifying patterns to interpret with SEM to uncover themes. These three themes consisted of becoming accustomed to a new Canadian lifestyle, priorities, commitments and accessibility.
Results through the interview process indicated that participants were aware of the mental physical benefits of exercise. One concern which was repeatedly brought up was the lifestyle change between their homeland and Canada. In contrast to Canada, they stated daily physical activity was much more prominent in their homeland as they would constantly stay active around the house and in everyday life. In Canada, there was a cultural difference that stressed that exercise only came from intentionally incorporating physical activities such as walking. Another problem that arose was language barriers and feelings of disconnect from the community when looking for recreational activities in Canada. This feeling of disconnect also led to decreased social support and neighborhood connectedness, as the resources were there but none of the other community members would access them. Environmental factors such cold Canadian weather and extended hours of night played a role in newcomers’ lack of physical activity.
For many immigrant families, priorities and commitments were the center of their life which left little motivation or time to exercise. From taking working hours and family obligations into account, there was not much time for parents to spare on physical activity. A strategy to combat this is by offering programs on weekends as well to provide more time and opportunity to exercise. Although the parents weren’t too invested in exercise themselves, they still provided their children with opportunities to get physically active in sports teams. By playing with their children and offering them transportation, parents were able to engage in some physical exercise.
Despite Canada already having systems in place to engage lower income families in exercise, these families do not deem them accessible. There is a lot of expense that goes into wanting to be physically active such as gym memberships and transportation. Although there are fee assistance programs, newcomers often do not meet the requirements to receive aid from the program. For example, both parents may work full time to sustain their family, but this puts them above the cut off to get the fee assistance program. Now they work extra but still cannot afford to spend money supporting physical activity. Even though these families need the aid, they get neglected from the system too due to strict qualification guidelines.
In order to better accommodate newcomers, social connectedness and family care must first be met before pushing for the engagement of physical activity. Factors such as different experiences when it comes to moving to Canada must be considered. From this, the health and awareness of newcomers can be supported by incorporating different strategies that facilitate opportunities to get physically active.
Source:
Curtin, K. D., Loitz, C. C., Spencer-Cavaliere, N., & Khalema, E. N. (2018). Challenges of being new to canada: Considerations for physical activity. Global Health Promotion, 25(2), 25-33. doi:10.1177/1757975916656347
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