"Coming to a Strange Land": The West African Migrant Women's Establishment of Home and Family in a New Culture Within Australia.
Migrating and establishing a new life in another culture can have diverse health effects especially for women. This article explores the struggles and social adjustment issues that might constitute negatively to the health of West African migrant women living in Australia.



Qualitative storytelling. Audiotaped voluntary stories from 20 West African migrant women living in Sydney, Australia were transcribed and analyzed.



Three themes are presented for discussion: (1) But it is different here: life in a new country; (2) I have to do it all by myself: communal versus individual living; and (3) They don't listen to parents: perceived threats to the family unit.



The demand for and the importance of nurses and midwives in supporting migrant families is demonstrated by findings suggesting that social adjustment into the Australian culture has a significant impact on both the nuclear and extended family unit of women.
University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, New South Wales, Australia olutoyin.o.sowole@student.uts.edu.au.
Olutoyin O
OO
Babatunde-Sowole
Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK University of New England, NSW, Australia.
Debra
D
Jackson
University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, New South Wales, Australia Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Patricia M
PM
Davidson
University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, New South Wales, Australia.
Tamara
T
Power
D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D000354:Africa, Western / Q000208:ethnology; D001315:Australia; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D036301:Qualitative Research
African migrants; Australian migrants; West African migrants; discrimination/racism; intergenerational conflicts; migrant women; minority women; social adjustment; storytelling design; women’s health