Moving from China to Canada: Occupational Transitions of Immigrant Mothers of Children with Special Needs

Abstract

Introduction: Chinese immigrants to Canada bring a set of values and beliefs that influence the way they experience the world. Some are mothers with children with special needs. These women face the difficult process of transitioning into a new culture and society along with caring for a child with special needs. Objectives: To gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences and occupations of Chinese mothers of children with special needs who have immigrated to Canada. Methods: This descriptive phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews as the principal means of collecting data from three immigrant mothers with children with special needs who were born in China or Hong Kong. Results: Three themes were identified: 1) Change in types of caregiving occupations and stressors with immigration, 2) Parenting responsibilities shape personal and family life and occupations, and 3) Occupational changes associated with caregiving and immigration influence personal and family well-being. Conclusion: Occupational choices and engagement were based on the sense of duty and responsibility to their children. Chinese immigrant mothers made significant life changes regardless of their own and their family's well-being in the interest of their children's development and quality of life.

Keywords:

• Occupational engagement
• Chinese immigrant mothers
• Phenomenology
• Transition
• Occupational change
• Culture

Notes

1. Wikipedia clarifies that:

A visible minority is a person who is visibly not one of the majority race in a given population. The term is used as a demographic category by Statistics Canada in connection with that country's Employment Equity policies. The qualifier ‘visible’ is important in the Canadian context where political divisions were traditionally determined by language (English vs. French) and religion (Catholics vs. Protestants), ‘invisible’ traits. Since the reform of Canada's immigration laws in the 1960s, immigration has been heaviest from areas other than Europe, thus creating visible minorities. Members of visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as ‘persons, other than Aboriginal people, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.’ The term is used to address the labor market disadvantage of this group. Retrieved 13 October, 2011 from www.wikipedia.org