Engaging Turkish immigrants in psychotherapy: Development and proof-of-concept study of a culture-tailored, web-based intervention

Background Culturally tailored interventions can increase the engagement and the success rate of psychotherapy in immigrant and ethnic minority patients. In this regard, the integration of the patients’ illness beliefs is a key element. Applying principles of Motivational and Ethnographic Interviewing, we developed a culture-tailored, web-based intervention to facilitate engagement of Turkish immigrant inpatients in psychotherapy. Method The different aspects of the engagement intervention development are described and its acceptance and usefulness were tested in a proof-of-concept trial with an experimental control group design (active control condition: progressive muscle relaxation) in a sample of Turkish immigrant inpatients in Germany (N = 26). Illness perception, illness-related locus of control, and self-efficacy were assessed pre and post intervention. Results The engagement intervention was rated better than the control condition (p = .002) and in particular, participants felt better prepared for therapy after working with it (p = .013). By working with the engagement intervention, self-efficacy increased (p = .034) and external-fatalistic control beliefs diminished (p = .021). However, half of the participants needed assistance in using the computer and web-based interventions. Conclusion The developed intervention provides a first step towards feasible culture-tailored psychotherapeutic elements that can be integrated into routine clinical care. The first results regarding acceptance and usefulness are promising.

The Turkish version of the SPPIC validated among informal caregivers with a Turkish immigrant background

Background This study assesses the internal consistency and known group validity of the Turkish version of the SPPIC, a measurement instrument to assess the self perceived pressure from informal care in family caregivers of people with dementia that was originally in Dutch. Methods The feasibility, comprehensibility and appropriateness of the Turkish SPPIC were assessed during a pilot test. Internal consistency was examined based on data from 117 family caregivers with a Turkish immigrant background by calculating Cronbach’s alpha and by conducting a single-factor Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Known group validity was determined to obtain an understanding of the validity of the translated instrument, testing differences in the self-perceived pressure from informal care, depending on frequency of caregiving, living with a person with dementia and level of education. Results The pilot test showed that the translated SPPIC was considered to be feasible, comprehensible and appropriate. The internal consistency appeared to be strong (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.94). The CFA indicated that the factor ‘Self-perceived Pressure from Informal Care’ explained varying levels of variance in the items of the SPPIC (ranging from .52 to .87). Family caregivers who provided care at least once a week and who shared a home with a person with dementia perceived a greater pressure from informal care (p = 0.007, p = 0.001). Conclusions The Turkish translation of the SPPIC can be used in future research and practice to obtain insight into self-perceived pressure from informal care of family caregivers with Turkish immigrant backgrounds. At the same time it is recommended to conduct more research on how the measurement of self-perceived pressure from informal care in this group can be further improved.

Experiences and perceptions of body weight among Turkish immigrant women in Norway

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore beliefs and experiences of Turkish immigrant women in Norway related to body weight, nutrition and exercise practices. Design/methodology/approach This study has a qualitative research design. Ten semi-structured interviews and a focus group were conducted with a purposive sample of Turkish immigrant women residing in Oslo, Norway. Themes were identified in the transcripts using systematic text condensation. Findings Participants viewed Turkish women as more commonly overweight or obese compared to Norwegian women. Weight was discussed openly among Turkish women and a preference to lose weight, both as individuals and among community members more broadly, also emerged. For participants, this represented a generational shift. Participants identified their barriers to weight loss, including norms around socialization and food in their community and exercise and eating practices during the long Nordic winter. Practical implications Participants expressed a tension between concern about health impacts of overweight and obesity and the desire to uphold cultural practices around food. Weight-related health-care initiatives for Turkish immigrant women can take into account such experiences shaped by their interaction with multiple cultures. Originality/value Participants emphasized that perspectives about weight in their Turkish immigrant community were influenced by the transition toward thin weight ideals in Turkey. Self-image regarding weight was also situated within the context of being immigrants in Norway.

Toward an interdisciplinary understanding of heritage language anxiety

This paper summarizes recent research on heritage language anxiety (HLA) that three generations of the Turkish immigrant community in the Netherlands experience in their daily lives. Through an interdisciplinary perspective, it integrates an extended questionnaire (n=113), semi-structured interviews (n=30), and an experiment (n=30) in which physiological responses (i.e. electrodermal activity) are measured during a video-retelling task conducted in monolingual and bilingual modes. Findings illustrate the complex interplay of daily sociolinguistic and socio-emotional challenges, HLA and physiological reactions. In its application of interdisciplinary research, the paper provides a more integrative glimpse into the multifaceted dimensions that underpin heritage language anxiety, particularly in the immigrant context.

Emerging Challenges

The purpose of this study is to examine the post-migration experiences of Turkish women in Saudi Arabia. The author explores the reasons Turkish women immigrate to Saudi Arabia and identifies the challenges they encounter while living there. The author recruited 115 Turkish immigrant women through snowball sampling and conducted semi-structured interviews. The research data reveal the sociodemographic attributes of Turkish women immigrants and their narratives of the adaptation process. The interview data was analyzed using thematic analysis which suggested three salient categories: factors facilitating the adaptation process, including language proficiency and religion; barriers in the adaptation process, including environmental problems and challenges related to social and political structures of Saudi Arabian society; and coping mechanisms to navigate or overcome such challenges, including residing near a partners' workplace and other Turkish immigrants. The findings demonstrate the significance of gender identity for Turkish immigrant women's experiences in Saudi Arabian society.

Rethinking Institutional Habitus in Education: A Relational Approach for Studying Its Sources and Impacts

Institutional habitus is a useful concept for analysing how schools adopt certain dispositions and influence students’ educational trajectories. The literature, however, reduces its source to collective social class mediated by an institution and only employs it to explain the reproduction of inequalities. Instead, I offer a relational framework that ties the concepts of institutional habitus, field and capital, and investigate how a secondary school improves the educational engagement of working-class, second-generation Turkish immigrant youth in Germany. The findings reveal that the school’s institutional habitus combines the communal values of the immigrant community and the middle-class academic practices; the former narrows the gap between home and school, and the latter modifies the classed feelings of students. The relational framework discloses that schools’ educational status in the educational field constitutes the source of institutional habitus, and that the institutional habitus can also explain the reduction of inequalities by schools.

Empowering a Fragmented Diaspora: Turkish Immigrant Organizations’ Perceptions of and Responses to Turkey’s Diaspora Engagement Policy (Forthcoming)

The existing literature on state-diaspora relations, primarily in the MENA, has mostly focused on how and why home states engage their diasporas, rather than with what consequences. This article investigates how different groups within the diaspora community are affected by the homeland’s multi-tiered diaspora engagement policy. I argue that sending states influence select immigrant organizations’ mobilization by empowering them in two key ways: They instill self-confidence and collective identity in organization leaders and provide them with capacity-development and know-how support. Yet such differential treatment may become a source of suspicion in host states and cause resentment among the disregarded diaspora groups. The findings draw from extensive fieldwork conducted in France, Germany, and Turkey between 2013 and 2019 and original data derived from interviews, official documents, and news sources.