The effect of culture on the experience of immigrant women's health and illness: A relational sociological research

When considered from a relational perspective, it can be stated that the phenomenon of health and illness has a content that exceeds the boundaries of universal substance definitions. Health and illness experiences are surrounded not only by the rules of the medical field but by a dynamic network of relationships determined by the social space of the actor. Relationships between, migration, femininity, culture, health and illness phenomena are the focus of the study. The aim of the research is to examine how migrant women experience, health and illness phenomena as actors and the effect of culture on this experience with a relational sociological approach. The research was conducted with female immigrant participants who were selected from the intensively migrant populated neighborhoods of Onder and Battalgazi which are the part of capital city of Turkey, Ankara. A total of 314 Syrian migrants were interviewed. It was developed through a literature review and a focus group interviews which conducted before the research. After that the data were collected by using the structured questionnaire. The analysis of the research data was carried out by using the SPSS 25.0 programme with the multiple correspondence analysis technique. Outcome of the research, it has been observed that the social space of Syrian migrant women do not constitute a distinction in health and illness practices. It was concluded that the health and illness experiences of immigrant women have a homogeneous distribution in terms of their cultural, economic and social capital. This is considered as an indicator of integration in the field of health for the participants in the sample of the research. Keywords: Cultural Effect on Health, Immigrant Syrian Women, Health and Illness Experiences, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, Relational Sociology.