Salway et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:514 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/514 scrutiny. Our conceptual framework therefore needed to incorporate attention to these processes of policy inter- pretation and translation. Third, the significant inter- play between public opinion, the media and government action must be appreciated. Wider societal discourses, frequently (mis)informed and fuelled by the media, impact importantly upon the wellbeing of migrant/min- ority groups via: (i) the daily stress of living with a racia- lised identity (which often involves direct experience of discriminatory behaviour), (ii) the influence they have on government responses in the form of policy and ser- vices, and (iii) the attitudes and behaviours of health professionals who operate within this wider societal con- text. Our review work suggested that, even where there are very positive strands within government policy, migrant/minority experiences are frequently charac- terised by social and economic barriers to achieving wellbeing. These observations suggested that rather than adopting the tendency to classify our countries accord- ing to some explicit or implicit hierarchy related to how well they served the maternity needs of migrant/minor- ity women, it would be more fruitful to explore the qua- litative variation across the countries. Looking for what is positive and negative in the different settings and understanding why this is so might then enable us to synthesise elements of good practice and to translate lessons across contexts [15]. The significance of migration histories and local factors A more specific insight that emerged prominently dur- ing our cross-national comparative work was the parti- cular significance of migration histories for both individuals and collectives. The migration experiences of particular immigrant groups at particular points in time are shaped by both historical antecedents and prevailing social and economic circumstances, with important implications for their subsequent entitlements and opportunities within the receiving country. For instance, Staniewicz [55] highlighted the way in which the reluc- tant reception of Polish immigrants to the UK in recent years has contrasted sharply with their more positive post-war experiences. While a focus on migrant status and its implications for health experiences and out- comes has been quite prominent in past research in Germany and Canada [56-58], this is less apparent in UK health research [59]. Indeed, the cross-national com- parative work alerted the UK research team to the evi- dent gulf between health research that foregrounds migration (and which tends to focus on recent immi- grants, refugees and asylum seekers) and that which foregrounds ethnicity (which tends to focus on estab- lished post-colonial communities) and the potential ben- efits of integrating these strands of work. Closely related to this insight, was the observation that there can be Page 7 of 13 significant within-country variation in patterns of migra- tion and the associated experiences of migrant groups, shaped by local economic, social and historical specifici- ties, as well as the particular responses of local and regional state institutions and other actors. Again, the importance of considering diversity within the nation- state was immediately apparent to the researchers in Canada and Germany, where federal political systems result in very obvious policy divergence between regions. These observations encouraged the UK researchers to reflect on patterns and causes of internal diversity in migrant/minority identifications, experiences and out- comes, and how these might be considered within the research design. Furthermore, the comparative approach raises the more fundamental question of whether the nation-state is the most useful and meaningful unit of analysis [15,20]. A focus on migrant/minority groups suggests the importance of exploring flows and net- works rather than constructing imaginary communities that are geographically bounded and stable. Nonetheless, there is clearly a need to recognise the nation-state as a meaningful policy and legal environment as well as to balance the demand for country-relevant research find- ings with broader knowledge that can contribute to our understanding of global issues. The place of indigenous minorities A further issue raised related to whether and how the experience of indigenous populations should be incorpo- rated into research focused on migrant/minority women. While the Canadian researchers argued that indigenous peoples were neither migrants nor likely to self-identify as ‘minorities’, they stressed that academic, policy and public discourse in relation to migration and diversity is shaped by the legacy of colonialism and attempted cul- tural genocide. While this Canadian historical context was clearly distinct from that of the UK or Germany, it nevertheless prompted important questions regarding whether and how our research should engage with the UK’s traveller and gypsy communities (and the failure to-date of most official sources to identify and enumer- ate these people - though the 2011 census will include a category) and Germany’s differential treatment of Aus- länder and Aussiedler migrant populations. Again, this suggested the importance of constructing a study that was not bound by a focus on particular migrant or eth- nic categories, but that could explore broader issues of identification, categorisation, inclusion, and exclusion in a more flexible way. 2. Designing a viable and appropriate methodological approach Turning to the design of a methodology that would be feasible and appropriate to the three settings, the cross-