This article focuses on exploring the occurrence of unintentional injuries in immigrant and refugee children in Ontario, Canada. The authors clearly identify their purpose, claiming that they aim to compare the rates of unintentional injuries among the mentioned population based on their region of origin and visa class. This problem is considered important since 20% of people currently living in Canada are immigrants (Saunders et al., 2018). The research question is not formulated evidently, but the readers can understand that the authors pose the question about the differences in injury rates as related to the country and status of immigrants and refugee children.
The authors chose a cross-sectional and population-based study design to explore their topic of interest. The data was requested from Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). The total number of immigrants involved in the study was 999,951 persons, while the study period was between 2011 and 2012. The statistical analysis allowed the authors to properly analyze data, paying attention to the age, sex, neighborhood income, and source region variables. The use of descriptive statistics and regression helped in linking health information and administrative data regarding patient hospitalizations. In addition, the authors explain the differences between the immigrant groups by their internal approaches to environments.
The results of the article show that the rate of unintentional injuries among children was 20% higher among refugees. Namely, 8122.3 emergency and 6596.0 non-emergency visits were found in terms of the 100,000 population analyzed (Saunders et al., 2018). East and South Asians had the lowest trauma-related hospitalization rates compared to those from Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, as well as South and Central America. Among the factors that were associated with higher risks, there were male sex, young age, and high income. Another significant finding refers to the leading causes of traumas received by the target population, such as suffocation (39%), vehicle injuries (51%), and poisoning (40%) (Saunders et al., 2018). The key strength of the study is that it synthesized data from administrative and health databases, making the results comprehensive and generalizable to other countries, such as the US or Australia. Nevertheless, the limitations of this article include the fact that only documented immigrants were examined, while those without health insurance were not considered.
The first concept provided by this article is the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) that is offered as an alternative to the immigrants, who are admitted as permanent residents after three months in Canada. For the period of three months, they are eligible for the Interim Federal Health Program. Due to the existence of these programs, immigrants and refugees can timely receive health services. Since the cost of health care services remains one of the main obstacles to disease prevention and treatment, the plans are critical for the target population. The second concept is unintentional trauma that occurs as a result of accidental actions and inattentiveness. Considering that immigrants have their unique cultures and perceptions, the organization of safety cannot be disregarded. Therefore, this study contributes to both research and practice of safe living environments.
Questions
- How can the findings of this article be used in practice to make the lives of refugee and immigrant children safer?
- How can social workers contribute to safety through the work with these children and their families?
Reference
Saunders, N. R., Macpherson, A., Guan, J., & Guttmann, A. (2018). Unintentional injuries among refugee and immigrant children and youth in Ontario, Canada: A population-based cross-sectional study. Injury Prevention, 24(5), 337-343.