Immigrant nurses' experience of racism.

PURPOSE: To document and describe the experiences of immigrant nurses of colour who have filed grievances concerning their employers' discriminatory practices; and to solicit their views of existing policies and recommendations for equity in professional life. DESIGN AND METHODS: In this descriptive, exploratory study nine immigrant nurses of colour in Ontario, Canada, were interviewed between 1997 and 1998. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and in focus groups. The discourse theory and methods of van Dijk and Essed were used to analyse the qualitative data. FINDINGS: Recurring themes were: (a) being marginalized and acknowledging and naming the racist experiences; (b) experiencing physical stress and emotional pain; (c) strategizing to cope and survive; (d) recommending policy changes. CONCLUSIONS: All nurses interviewed had experienced reprisals as a result of complaining or filing grievances and unfairness was encountered in the redress process itself. Participants recommended policy initiatives to ensure equity and fair practices in the nursing profession.

Qualitative research to identify racialist discourse: towards equity in nursing curricula.

Professional curriculum planning is beginning to address issues of equity. The authors report on findings from a research initiative to begin to integrate antiracism into an undergraduate curriculum. Theory and methods of Essed, Fanon, Frankenberg, Hall, van Dijk and Woodward are synthesized for interpreting racialist discourse. The findings support the principle of normalizing accountability for discourse practices which construct whiteness and otherness in their representations. Essentialist discourse practices are implicated in the perpetuation of racism, ableism, heterosexism, ageism, etc. Hence, the ideal of equity is expanded to include the enactment of non-essentialist discourse. The logic is revealed as either/or; either equity or dominance through normalized perpetuation of essential categories assigning negative value to others constructing difference, marginalization, problematization, exclusion and containment. The confused, middle or neutral position is one of condoning racism and other forms of dominance.

The use and abuse of participatory action research.

This paper outlines the characteristics of PAR, participatory action research, so that interested investigators can determine if their project fits the criteria. The author introduces some key concepts in critical theory that drive the political analysis dimension of PAR and lay to rest concerns about validity and legitimacy. Types of PAR are reviewed according to the brand of knowledge focused on in the research, and some examples are given. An emerging critique of PAR is offered and some abuses of PAR are described. The major ethical principles of social justice that guide PAR are outlined. References to epistemology and specific methodological demonstration projects are included. Suggestions for future use in chronic disease research are offered.

The phenomenon, the explanations and the responses: metaphors surrounding diabetes in urban Canadian Indians.

Type II Diabetes is a growing problem among Indian people in Canada. Ojibway and Cree leaders in Toronto collaborated with the University of Toronto, Faculty of Nursing, to develop the Native Diabetes Program. A key to the success of the program was seen by Natives to be the story 'Nanabush and the Pale Stranger', which seemed to put into perspective the nature of diabetes as a phenomenon. It provided explanations for it and answered numerous questions (non-biological) associated with the disease and indicated appropriate coping strategies. Yet formal methods of analyzing the story would not reveal its benefit as there is no explicit reference to many of the questions it implicitly answers. Metaphoric relationships are illuminated which may provide an underlying rationality to the narrative. Cultural expression is advocated as a source of making meaningful and tolerable that which is feared and avoided; of generating metaphors which make health information understandable and useful, by providing resolution to conflicting systems of belief. Information does not come in discreet ingestible particles of fact. All information is a sort of propaganda in that it is tied to deeper meaning structures. Clinicians are architects of meaning construction. Clinical research and practice requires a knowledge of the folk and professional construction of meaning around so-called factual information.