Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Liberal Studies

Department

Liberal Studies

Committee Chair

Colin Chapell

Committee Member

Jennifer Turchi

Committee Member

Courtnee Melton-Fant

Committee Member

Beverly Tsacoyianis

Abstract

Refugee women face a myriad of barriers to health after resettlement, including access to family planning services. They often have little knowledge of available family planning or contraception options, or where to obtain them after resettlement. As a result, refugee women in Tennessee suffer from high rates of unintended pregnancies, stemming from limited access to family planning services, and unmet family planning needs after resettlement. This dissertation combines the disciplines of history, public health, and public administration/policy to better understand why refugee women in Tennessee have had limited access to family planning services. To achieve this, it was necessary to illuminate the barriers to sexual and reproductive health they face in order to better support their family planning needs and desires. A secondary purpose of this study was to examine the role male partners play in supporting or limiting refugee women’s access to family planning services after resettlement, by attempting to determine if male partners in Tennessee exert the same impact on refugee women’s family planning decision-making that is shown in the literature. This study found that the barriers resettled refugee women in Tennessee face are similar to those faced by other refugee women. Cultural and linguistic barriers were found to be the greatest barriers faced by refugee women when trying to access and utilize family planning and contraception services. Political and policy barriers also created numerous challenges for reproductive healthcare access and utilization. Additionally, this study found that the role of male partners was not as influential in the reproductive decision-making process. Finally, the most significant finding from this research shows that organizations that are specifically in place to help refugees end up constructing more barriers than they eliminated, due to religious affiliation among them.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open Access

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