Physical activity, meaning and migrant women : understanding leisure and health experiences

Within the relevant research literature, the concept of ‘the healthy migrant effect’ is well documented (Renzaho et al., 2016). This refers to the higher levels of health experienced by migrant groups, compared with the Australian born population (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). This pattern is often explained by the rigorous screening procedures associated with the migration process as well as the higher levels of health and wealth among individuals who are physically and financially able to migrate to another country (Kennedy et al., 2014). While health levels are generally higher for immigrants at the time of migration, there is evidence to suggest that health declines over time, and eventually becomes poorer than the Australian born population (Jatrana et al., 2018). This pattern is seen predominantly among migrant groups from non-English speaking backgrounds (Jatrana et al., 2018). A particular area of concern for the health of Australia’s migrant communities is leisure inequity, specifically, physical activity inequity. Over the past 15 years, individuals from non-English speaking countries have reported low physical activity participation rates (Joshi et al., 2017). Within this subgroup, Middle Eastern and North African born women living in Australia report particularly low levels of physical activity (Dassanayake et al., 2011; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). While recent data does not provide information relating to the specific country or region of birth of migrant communities, there is a trend in the evidence that highlights the consistent gap between physical activity participation among women from non-English speaking countries, and all other population subgroups (Gallegos et al., 2020; New South Wales Government, 2020).