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    Navigating asthma—the immigrant child in a tug-of-war : a constructivist grounded theory : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing, School of Nursing, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Sudarsan, Indu
    Indians constitute the second-largest immigrant group in New Zealand. Asthma symptoms are often underestimated among Indian immigrants in New Zealand and other Western countries, resulting in increased morbidity and avoidable hospitalisations. Indian immigrant children's asthma has received little attention in the literature. Furthermore, research rarely includes children's voices, despite Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which guarantees their freedom of expression. The current study addresses these gaps by exploring the asthma experiences of Indian immigrant children and their family caregivers. The researcher adopted a constructivist grounded theory design, with social constructionism as its theoretical framework. Children (8–17 years of age) and their family carers were recruited through general practices, schools, and various Indian cultural associations in the Greater Wellington region. Intensive, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants in a setting of their choice. The interviewing of children under 14 years of age was facilitated by drawing and photography. Concurrent data collection and analysis took place, accompanied by memoing. “Navigating asthma—The immigrant child in a tug-of-war” was the resultant grounded theory, in which the tug-of-war was the basic social process. Two types of tug-of-war were observed: one between the Indian and New Zealand cultures, and another between children’s and their family carers’ preferences. The three major categories in this theory, which corresponded to the three phases of the child's asthma journey, included being fearful, seeking support, and clashing cultures. These phases followed a cyclic pattern. During their asthma battle, participants often reflected on their own experiences and modified their plans as they learnt more from their own lives and social networks. This helped them cope with varying levels of fear in different situations. The theory explains the complex interaction of multiple influences, such as sociocultural factors and acculturation, which may determine the participants’ shared values, beliefs, and priorities. Importantly, the study reveals numerous tensions regarding children's participation in their asthma-care decision-making. The study results add to scholarly knowledge by providing a comprehensive picture of Indian immigrant children's asthma and highlighting the barriers and facilitators for providing culturally safe healthcare to this group.  
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    Acculturation, social dominance, and systemic discrimination at each degree of employment : exploring their roles at different steps towards decent work for skilled Indian migrants in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Hariswamy, Sumedha
    Access to decent work is a major obstacle for skilled Indian migrants e.g., to New Zealand, but little is known about the key steps through unemployment, under-employment, and full employment. Unlike previous research which has conglomerated all steps into one, this thesis explores the roles of acculturation, social dominance, and systemic discrimination in skilled Indian migrants' career trajectory at each step of employment separately, and then combined them into an overall but graded model. Taking an exploratory approach, an online questionnaire based on Flanagan's (1954) Critical Incident Technique focused on positive and negative critical incidents of job-hunting at each step of employment (unemployment, entry-level, intermediate-level, and full employment). Forty-four skilled Indian migrants completed the survey by providing direct experience of the positive and negative critical incidents encountered throughout their job-hunting journey. Eight content analyses were conducted for positive and negative critical incidents in the four stages of employment. The themes of networking, work experience, and skills and qualifications were crucial at all four steps of employment as depicted in Figure 1. However, as skilled Indian migrants stepped closer to full employment, the themes of work experience and skills and qualifications emerged more frequently in successful job hunting, rather than being a consistent barrier from progressing towards full employment in a skilled Indian migrant's job-hunting journey. This is perhaps to be expected since the work experience and skills and qualifications would be increasingly relevant, as skilled Indian migrants got closer to full employment. Networking was a consistent theme across all stages of employment. This thesis identified whom the respondents networked with which informed which acculturation style was used by skilled Indian migrants. When skilled Indian migrants networked with Indian community members, they adopted the separation acculturation style. When the respondents networked at an organisational level with recruitment agencies and ex-employers, they adopted the integration acculturation style. Systemic discrimination theory was not well supported, as the themes of work experience and skills and qualifications which were predicted to be systemic barriers, were found to be more relevant to human capital theory in conjunction with social dominance theory. Discussion recommends that future studies compare the responses between both skilled Indian migrants and New Zealand employers. Finally, the findings of the present research have the potential to be a blueprint for newcomer skilled Indian migrants to form strategic pathways to attain full employment in New Zealand. The results of this study can be tailored to the particular stage of employment a newcomer skilled Indian migrant is currently in, and it can inform them of which job-seeking behaviours best worked at the same stage of employment for other skilled Indian migrants in New Zealand.
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    A study of Fiji Indian migrants in New Zealand : their migration and settlement management and experiences : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Khan, Robert L
    Fiji's two military coups in 1987 prompted an exodus of Fiji Indian migrants to New Zealand and presented challenges for the migrants themselves and for this country's policies and settlement programmes. A few studies have looked at New Zealand's Fiji Indian migrants. However, the challenge of this thesis was to embark on a study of a wider scope, investigating the core framework of the management of migration, entry and settlement of this distinctive and highly skilled "Pacific" migrant group. The research questions, developed from the literature, were based on four themes: migration policies and management of entry; background of migrants and their management of decisions to emigrate; management of settlement and migrants' experiences of settlement; and the adaption and integration of migrants and their contributions to New Zealand. Using a qualitative in-depth interview approach, the study explored the perceptions of fifty Fiji Indian migrants who had arrived and settled in a number of New Zealand locations between 1987 and early 2000. In addition to eliciting demographic information which identified the unique characteristics of this migrant group, the interviews allowed the participants to reflect on their decision to migrate, their encounters with New Zealand officials in both Fiji and New Zealand, their various experiences of culture shock and discrimination, and their path to settlement and integration. The interviewees also spoke about their contributions to New Zealand and offered suggestions for improving the management of migrant settlement drawn from the perspective of their own struggles. There were a number of key findings from the research questions. Few participants were aware of migration policies and their negative experience of New Zealand immigration officials in Fiji indicated the government service was unable to respond and to manage the influx of requests. The interviews revealed the personal emotions and family strains involved in leaving one's country, finding new homes and jobs, and adjusting to a different place and culture. Participants also discussed discrimination and other barriers they met and their experience of government and non-government migrant support systems. The study provided interesting date on participants' decision to migrate, which can be applied to a number of global instances where groups migrate following political and economic crisis. The 1987 coups were the catalyst, but the migration decision was based on a culmination of factors. These included growing physical fear, the loss of hope occasioned by the second coup, the loss of career prospects, and the pull factors of participants' familiarity with New Zealand and the potential it offered. Crucially, the findings demonstrated that New Zealand government policies focus on the management of entry and not on settlement management. The migrant profile of the Fiji Indians in the years after the coup differed from the usual migrant characteristics. The participants (typical of the Fiji Indian migrants of the time) were married with families, skilled and professional, with a high standard of English, and relative familiarity with New Zealand systems. They therefore had high expectations. However, those who had not already secured a job found it difficult to obtain employment, for what often appeared to be reasons of prejudice. They also experienced lack of cultural sensitivity on the part of New Zealand business and organisational managers. The interviews revealed the lack of management planning, organisation and display of leadership from government bodies set up to assist and support the Fiji Indian migrants. Most help and support came from the church and community organisations that were not funded by government. These findings are examined from the perspective of two relevant management theories. First, Maslow’s hierarchical needs theory, which served as the foundation for Reichlova’s (2007) theory of migration decision and Adler’s (1977) theory of migrants’ adjustment, provided a framework for understanding the reported experiences of my participants. Systems theory provided an insight into issues and processes and formed the basis for the model of immigration and settlement developed in the conclusion. The study shows that New Zealand lagged behind other countries such as Australia and Canada in managing settlement of migrants. The consequent hardships resulted in mental depression for a number and for some a return to Fiji. The lack of planning and support on the part of the government not only showed the successful settlement of migrants but left support provision to an ad hoc volunteer sector. On the plus side, the encounter with pleasant, efficient border control officials had a significant positive impact on a group of migrants who had been harassed in their country and a resulting halo effect on how they regarded their new home during the first crucial hours of entry. The study also highlights the contributions of skilled and professional migrants to New Zealand’s economy and productivity, while the insensitivity of some employers and managers demonstrate the need for training on cultural diversity management as conducted in most migrant receiving countries. Participants provided some recommendations for New Zealand government. This included examining the feasibility of an organisation specifically dedicated to migrant help and support. This would combine responsibilities currently scattered among a variety of organisations to provide all information and advice services, help migrants to find jobs, and to identify and support any training and development. A further suggestion was to establish and fund positions for special school teachers tasked with preventing bullying and racial harassment of migrant and other children. The study is the first that examine in depth the diverse range of migration and settlement issues of this migrant population and the first that examines these migration processes from the perspective of management. It therefore provides a useful foundation for any future research of Fiji Indians in New Zealand and a perspective that may provide and model for investigations of other migrant or refugee populations.