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Transcultural Intergenerational Empowerment and Solidarity (TIES): A Pilot Intervention with Canadian-born and International Educated Health Care Providers (IE-HCP)

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Project Leads

Josephine Wong, Priscilla Boakye, Kenneth Fung, Nadia Prendergast

Team Members

Yamini Bhatt (external link) , Egbe Etowa, Esther Olukayode (external link) , Rade Zinaic (external link) , Lathania Lewis, Hala Sukhon, Abigail Apalit, Victoria Ranieri, Anoushka Anoushka

As more internationally educated health care providers immigrate to Canada, they are at the crossroads of successful integration socially and professionally, or becoming deskilled, marginalized and excluded.

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Objective

As Canada faces an ongoing and increasingly severe shortage of health care providers, internationally educated health care providers (IE-HCPs) are being recruited to fill the gaps. While studies on the mental health and experiences of racism among HCPs in Canada are scarce, studies from other countries have shown that IE-HCPs experience many stressors associated with integration barriers and discrimination. Even rarer is research exploring how IE-HCPs contribute to dismantling and/or perpetuating racism against Indigenous, Black, racialized peoples, and other forms of discrimination within the health care systems in Canada.

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Research Questions

  1. How do Canadian born health discipline students and IE-HCPs conceptualize and experience “culture” and “being” in the context of living and working in a White settler nation such as Canada?
  2. How do non-Indigenous Canadian born health discipline students and IE-HCPs understand their relationships with Indigenous peoples and different racialized groups in Canada, and their roles in reconciliation, collective emancipation and social justice?
  3. How effective is the Transcultural Intergenerational Empowerment and Solidarity (TIES) intervention in promoting psychological flexibility, collective resilience, transculturation, and committed action to practice cultural humility in the context of anti-racism and collective emancipation?
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Methodology

This study is underpinned by the principles of knowledge democracy/epistemic justice and collective emancipation. It will apply the Mi’kmaw Etuaptmumk (two-eyed seeing) approach and draw on philosophies of interconnection in developing and implementing the multi-prong TIES Model. Using a waitlist experimental design, the study will engage a total of 80 Canadian born health discipline students and IE-HCPs.

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Status

The project is currently in progress. Multiple outputs are in the work, with 4 clusters working on different aspects of the research projects.

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Outcomes

Past events and presentations:

  • "Collective Flourishing: Ubuntu and Afrocentric Perspectives for Health Equity," presented by E. Etowa, BD Retreat, October 9, 2025.
  • "Decolonizing Assumptions: Reflections on Unlearning and Relearning through Writing up a Scoping Review," presented by Y. Bhatt, oral presentation, Rapid Fire Plenary, Shaping the Future of Nursing Symposium, Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing, May 23, 2025.
  • "Social justice training: Can VR help?," presented by J. Wong, TMU Bridging Divides Retreat Spring 2024, March 24, 2025.
  • "Grassroots strategies to advance health equity in immigrant communities," presented by J. Wong, 27th Metropolis Canada Conference, March 15, 2025.
  • "East & Southeast Asian communities: Enhancing healthcare experiences and overcoming barriers," presented by J. Wong, 13th Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA) Annual Health Equity Summit, November 26, 2024.
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Key words

Healthcare providers; healthcare systems; integration barriers; internationally educated health care providers