PONE-D-24-08291Service-Policy Gaps in the Settlement Journey of Arabic-speaking Immigrant Newcomer and Refugee Older Adults in CanadaPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Nisa,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. This is an interesting study that adds to the current literature. In your revision, please address "how trustworthiness of the data was assured, i.e., credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability" (per Reviewer 1). Also, please make additional clarifications and edits based on all feedback provided, including from Reviewer 2.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Magdalena Szaflarski, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: N/A

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Would liked to have seen how trustworthiness of the data was assured, i.e., credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Describing these methods will strengthen the paper. Overall and interesting paper highlighting important concerns of older Arabic speaking INRs in Canada. I was under the wrong impression that Canada had less resettlement challenges than the US.

Reviewer #2: This interesting paper presents an important qualitative study exploring the challenges experienced by Arabic-speaking immigrant/refugee older adults in Edmonton, Canada during settlement. The paper discusses policy and service implications. The topic of the study will be of value for public health specialists and health/social care providers. Congratulations to the authors. I am offering some suggestions for consideration before publication.

Title

1. Please specify the location; that the study was among Arabic-speaking immigrant/refugee older adults in Edmonton, Canada

Abstract

2. Like comment above, kindly specify location (i.e., Edmonton). This will help the reader gain insight into the exact location/province in Canada where the study was conducted.

3. Please briefly mention eligibility criteria.

Introduction

1. Minor typo: in sentence “…. to live within the past five years [3],” please replace comma with period before the following sentence.

2. For sentence “It resettled 30,087 refugees [4].” Do the author mean between 2018-2019? If so, please connect to the previous sentence.

3. The authors state “Just over 1.3 million new immigrants settled permanently in Canada from 2016 to 2021….”. Does this number include refugees?

4. Same question for “By 2036, immigrants will represent up to 30% of Canada's population (5)”. Does this number involve refugees?. Also, kindly change the reference from (5) to [5] to be consistent with reference style used.

5. For “Immigration accounts for almost 100% of Canada's labour force growth”, please add reference.

6. The authors state that “They share many beliefs, traditions, and values, particularly concerning the care and support of older persons”. Please give a few examples of these traditions, values.

7. It is thoughtful that the authors mention some of the challenges faced by INR older adults (e.g., language barriers, social isolation, distrust of social services and financial precocity). It would be insightful to please add some of the distinct barriers that Arabic speaking INR older adults may face to highlight the importance of conducting this study with this population.

Methods

8. By “the researcher team”, do the authors mean “the research team”? If so, please revise for clarity.

9. The authors state “The majority were women, younger than 75 years of age and self-identified as having low income and limited fluency in English. Most were receiving some form of financial support from the Canadian Government”. If possible, please briefly give specific numbers/percentage so the reader can gain some insight when reading the text.

10. Thank you for outlining the details about the interviews. As per methods section, I understand that 11 interviews (10 individual and 1 with couple) were conducted. Would you please check the abstract and clarify/address any typo in this regard?

11. Would you please give a brief insight into how many interviews were done in Arabic?

Discussion

12. Please briefly discuss findings on food insecurity and how this aligns with findings from other Canadian research, as this is a significant problem in Canada. You may find this recent study in Ontario, Canada helpful (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107226).

13. The authors state “Other major barriers reported by participants were scarcity of culturally appropriate services and limited understanding by service providers of the needs of older migrants.”. Please briefly discuss this important finding, as lack of culturally sensitive services is a significant problem for Arabic speaking immigrants/refugees. You may find this paper helpful

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-024-02668-4.

14. Please add a brief strengths/limitations section for your thoughtful paper.

15. Please add a brief conclusion section.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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PONE-D-24-08291R1Service-Policy Gaps in the Settlement Journey of Arabic-speaking Immigrant Newcomer and Refugee Older Adults in Edmonton, CanadaPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Nisa,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Most critiques have been addressed in this revised manuscript. However, it is not clear how the revision addresses the issue of trustworthiness of the data (credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability; per Reviewer 1). Please provide an explanation and point to specific part/s of the manuscript where this information is presented.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Oct 19 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Magdalena Szaflarski, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Service-Policy Gaps in the Settlement Journey of Arabic-speaking Immigrant Newcomer and Refugee Older Adults in Edmonton, Canada

PONE-D-24-08291R2

Dear Dr. Nisa,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Magdalena Szaflarski, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: