Where we come from can impact how we experience health care in Canada.
Paying closer attention to the backgrounds of medical patients can advance their health care experiences.
My work looks at how medical clinics and health-care environments can better acknowledge cultural context to the benefit of patients and their clinicians.
In practice, I examine cross-national differences in depression and anxiety, the mental health of immigrants and how we can improve psychological treatments for migrants and minorities.
Being able to attain quality health care is something we all hope for. But the experiences of recent immigrants often fall behind those of established residents. By considering cultural factors in health-care settings, caregivers can help improve patient outcomes.
By making it less difficult to interface with medical facilities and other major institutions, we can improve the acculturation and integration experiences of newcomers — resulting in dividends for both immigrants and society.
My name is Andrew Ryder and I’m an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology.