Table 2 Life themes with meaning units, codes and categories derived from the analysis
From: Somali women’s view of physical activity – a focus group study
Meaning units | Code | Category | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|
“Women cooked together, they spent time together and got along. Life was simple.” P13* | Household chores were done together | Extended family essential for everyday life | Life in Somalia |
“Migration has changed everything, stress, children and large family to care for.” L15* | Alone with a large family | ||
“When you come to a new country and you don’t have support or someone helping you, it’s easy to be affected by stress.” K7* | Stressful life without support | ||
“If you are sick here in Sweden, you still have to do everything yourself, whereas in Somalia you get help.” P15. | No help when needed | ||
“My situation is different because I wasn’t married off, I chose the person I wanted to get married to. So I didn’t have the support from my family.” P16 | Go against the will of the family | Traditional way of living | |
“The house work takes most of the time and energy. You have to go to the store and buy fresh things and then go home and cook the same thing every day, walk back and forth, buy the things and come back.” P12 | Household chores occupy the whole day | ||
“I’m tired and afraid. Life in Sweden is stressful! There is always something emerging.” P18–19 | Always having something to do is stressful | Life filled with chores and no spare time | Life in Sweden |
“And all this stress, the sugar levels start because we have not adapted to this country. As a result you get health issues.” K3 | Hard to adapt to a new life | ||
“The house work takes most of the time and energy.” P12 | Household chores takes all energy | ||
“It is difficult for a single mother and if maybe the kids’ father lives with her she might get some help”. L15 | Maybe help if the spouses are living together | ||
“I went to school this morning, and when I finish I will pick up the children from school. When my husband comes home I will leave again for an appointment at the school with the teacher, even though I have other things needing to be done.” K3 | A structured life with many appointments | ||
“The little time we have to ourselves we go for tea to somebody’s house and we take tea with a lot of sugar.” K7 | Spare time is spent drinking tea | Traditional culture prevails | |
“We cannot leave our cultural background with regard to food.” L7 | Traditional food is consumed | ||
“The household chores and the kids, where would I get time for physical activity? The walks and movements that I do are enough.” K8 | Physical activity doing household chores | No further need to move | |
“As a mother with full-time activity there is no spare time, my schedule is packed. I am very tired cooking, washing etc. I do not need any physical activity.” K7 | Full-time activity taking care of the house |