Using Narrative Inquiry to Understand Anti-Muslim Racism in Canadian Nursing.

BACKGROUND: Islamophobia or, anti-Muslim racism, and more specifically, gendered islamophobia targeting Muslim women who wear a hijab is rising globally and is aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, anti-Muslim racism is not well understood in Canadian nursing. PURPOSE: This study utilized narrative inquiry to understand anti-Muslim racism through the experiences of nurses who wear a hijab with the goal of putting forward their counter-narrative that disrupts anti-Muslim racism in Canadian nursing. METHODS: Narrative inquiry informed by Critical Race Feminism, care ethics, and intersectionality were used to analyze the factors shaping anti-Muslim racism and composite narratives were used to present the results. RESULTS: The three composite narratives are: 'This is Who I Am: A Muslim Nurse with a Hijab and an Accent'; 'I Know What is at Play: Unveiling Operating Power Structures and Power Relations'; and 'Rewriting the Narrative: Navigating Power Structures and Power Relations'. These composite narratives constituted the nurses' counter-narrative. They revealed intersections of gendered, racial divisions of labour and religious narratives that shape anti-Muslim racism, as operating power relations in nursing, and how Muslim nurses reclaimed control to resist their racialized stereotypes. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that anti-Muslim racism in nursing operates through multiple intersecting power relations. Using stories can mobilize transformational change so that anti-racist practices, policies, and pedagogy can be embraced.

Towards health equity for people experiencing chronic pain and social marginalization.

OBJECTIVE: For people who experience social inequities and structural violence, pain and related care are inexorably linked to experiences of injustice and stigma. The purpose of this study was to examine in greater depth the experiences of pain and discrimination and stigma across diverse marginalized communities in order to recommend equity-oriented healthcare approaches. METHODS: This community-based qualitative study reports on four focus groups that included 36 people living with pain. All participants identified with one of three groups known to experience high levels of inequities and structural violence including an Indigenous group, a LGBTQ2S group, and two newcomer and refugee groups. RESULTS: Pain was entangled with and shaped by: social locations and identities, experiences of violence, trauma and related mental health issues, experiences of discrimination, stigma and dismissal, experiences of inadequate and ineffective health care, and the impacts of these intersecting experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Equity-oriented responses to chronic pain would recognize pain not only as a biomedical issue but as a social justice issue. The EQUIP Framework is an approach to integrating trauma- and violence-informed care; culturally-safe care; and harm reduction in health care that may hold promise for being tailored to people experiencing pain and social marginalization.