Ahonen et al. Respond

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ahonen EQ ; Cunningham T ; Flynn M ; Fujishiro K
• Description:
  We would like to respond to Rosemberg and Tsai's letter titled "Population Health Is Immigrant Health Is Worker Health."In their letter, Rosemberg and Tsai point out that immigrant groups are at the core of the experiences of both occupational and population-level health disparities, as well as at the forefront of the national sociopolitical conversation. This suggests that integrated approaches are needed to advance a health equity agenda. We could not agree more. Recognizing that the health of immigrants, workers, and population in general are entwined, we must redouble our efforts to investigate work and immigrant experiences as drivers of population health. Work and immigrant experiences are intricately related to social identity and lived experience, as highlighted by Rosemberg and Tsai's examples of the financial hardship and social support that low-wage immigrant workers may experience. Such broadened perspectives would benefit our conceptualizations of both work and immigration, and could lead to innovative health promotion initiatives to inform agendas of international organizations that address labor, health, and development. For instance, a life course perspective would recognize that work, the process of migration, and their interactions with health are embedded into lives and communities across time and place in both sending and receiving countries. In studies of migration and health, however, the premigration phase, continued contact with countries of origin, and return migration are often overlooked. Major challenges to such broadened approaches stem from the conceptual difficulty in separating and yet preserving the interconnectedness among relevant structural domains, such as immigration policies, local and national economies, employment practices, and individual and family needs. Separating such domains is necessary, at least initially, for scientific inquiries, but it diffuses both responsibility and the visibility of outcomes. The time and effort involved in developing synergistic views of the problem of health disparities across multiple, diversely focused stakeholders are not insignificant. Despite these challenges, we believe that the very intertwinement of the concerns of immigrant health, occupational health, and population health is the way forward. As we argued, work is a potentially unifying experience to whichmany people can relate; the same is true for health. In fact, value differences can be narrowed if specific policies are framed by their health impact. A renewed focus on what unifies us - as researchers, practitioners, and community members - may help us to move through divisions toward improved health status for all. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Demography Education Emigration And Immigration Healthcare Disparities Health Promotion Occupational Health Public Health Race Factors Safety Sex Characteristics
• Keywords:
  Demographic Characteristics Global Health Health Disparities Health Promotion Immigrant Workers Job Analysis Job Design Medical Research Occupational Health Public Health Racial Factors Sex Factors Socioeconomics Sociological Factors Worker Health Workers Work Experience

  More +
• ISSN:
  0090-0036
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Interagency Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Indiana ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; EID - Education and Information Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  108
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051745
• Citation:
  Am J Public Health 2018 Jul; 108(7):e22-e23
• Contact Point Address:
  Emily Q. Ahonen, Department of Environmental Health Science and Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, 1050 Wishard Blvd (RG), Indianapolis, IN 46202
• Email:
  eqahonen@iu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Public Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8c33702cbf8ca3f46b26168867f7337baac72611e297a46e63cc42c360468ebc2d71ad2e005822c4329046afc9ce33a982db0c1ddca64c5ac369dd0afe309f68
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/211535/cdc_211535_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 513.61 KB ]