Mobile Futures researcher Khadijah Kainat has successfully defended her thesis entitled “Navigating New Horizons of Socio-Cultural Transition – Information Seeking Behaviour of Migrant Women in the Context of Integration” from Åbo Akademi University.

The doctoral study explores migrant women’s integration through an information-seeking lens, examining how socio-cultural factors like gender, communication style, language, and socialization patterns shape their interactions with information in a new country. The research focuses on South-Asian immigrant women in Finland and Middle-Eastern refugee women in Sweden, groups often facing isolation due to domestic responsibilities, limiting their work and educational opportunities. This restriction further hinders language learning and social engagement, creating complex barriers to integration and negatively impacting their well-being.

Using a mixed-methods approach, the study incorporates qualitative and quantitative research methods within a social constructionist framework. The findings reveal that migrant women’s primary information needs are related to employment, health, and language learning. Socio-cultural factors pose challenges like information overload and restricted access to reliable sources but also offer advantages such as multilingual skill development.

The study contributes to Library and Information Science (LIS) and integration literature from a socio-cultural perspective. It emphasizes the necessity of gender-sensitive integration policies, advocating for tailored support services and specific programs to enhance the well-being of migrant women in host societies.

The thesis can be accessed here >>