“Will there be music for us?” Mapping the health and well-being potential of participatory music practice with asylum seekers and refugees across contexts of conflict and refuge

Arts & Health ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Lenette ◽  
Naomi Sunderland
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Music Practice ◽  
Participatory Music ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

scholarly journals A Systematic Review of Factors Affecting Mental Health and Well-Being of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Germany

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivien L. Hajak ◽  
Srishti Sardana ◽  
Helen Verdeli ◽  
Simone Grimm
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
German Studies ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

Background: Since the onset of the 2015 European refugee crisis, ~4. 46 million people have sought asylum in the European Union, with Germany logging the largest share of all asylum applications. In addition to the severe adversities before and during flight, the process of settling into a new environment involves stressors that affect psychological well-being and mental health. The aim of this systematic review was to examine contextual factors during post-migration that influence the mental health and well-being of asylum seekers and refugees (ASRs) in Germany.Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review was conducted across multiple databases for English and German studies published between 2015 and 2020 with index keywords.Results: From a total of 303 articles, 156 duplicates were removed and, after title review, another 87 were excluded for not meeting the inclusion criteria. After assessing the abstracts of the remaining 60 articles, 39 were excluded. Full texts of 21 articles were assessed for eligibility and after excluding 8 articles, 13 articles were included in the review. The results demonstrate high rates of psychological distress among ASRs in Germany and the significant influence of contextual factors on their mental health and psychological well-being. The risk factors for poor mental health include an uncertain asylum status, living in shared asylum accommodations, separation from the nuclear family, lack of German language skills, integration issues and discrimination, while employment is a protective factor.Conclusion: Asylum seekers and refugees have high prevalence rates of psychological distress directly influenced by contextual factors in Germany. Based on these findings, policy makers are strongly recommended to apply preventive strategies to reduce mental health problems of ASRs in Germany.

Towards culturally inclusive mental health: learning from focus groups with those with refugee and asylum seeker status in Plymouth

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Fish ◽  
Olivia Fakoussa
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

Purpose Pre- and post-immigration trauma and stress make refugees a particularly vulnerable group in terms of mental health and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to describe a listening project undertaken in Plymouth, UK, which sought the views of 17 service users (n=12) and staff (n=5) from four local support organisations, for people with refugee and asylum seeker status and those with diverse cultural backgrounds. Aims of the project were to expand Western-centric understandings regarding beneficial support and the promotion of good mental health and well-being in this population. Design/methodology/approach Responses were subjected to thematic analysis, co-conducted with a service user. Participants were asked about their personal understandings of mental health and well-being and what supports or hinders well-being. Findings The findings enabled the development of a model incorporating 10 threads which support and 9 holes that can hinder well-being. Research limitations/implications The relatively small numbers of participants compared with the numbers of asylum seekers and refugees in Plymouth may not be fully representative of the general population in Plymouth and the UK. Originality/value Despite increasing cultural diversity within the UK population, available mental health services exist mainly as developed from a Western psychological model of mental distress and treatment. This research provides services with a more informed understanding of mental health for asylum seekers and refugees. As such it is of value towards future service design in Plymouth and the UK. Findings also contributed to a successful funding bid to set up a peer-led support project in the city.

Ambiguous Encounters: Revisiting Foucault and Goffman at an Activation Programme for Asylum-seekers

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrine Syppli Kohl
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Strategic Interactions ◽  
Cyclical Process ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Roll Out

Abstract This qualitative study combined the approaches of Foucault and Goffman to investigate the consequences of a “roll-out” neoliberal “activation” programme on Denmark’s reception of asylum-seekers. The analysis found that the activation programme is an ambiguous technology of power intended to shape asylum-seekers into productive citizens by simultaneously disciplining them and improving their health and well-being, while using their labour to reduce costs. The strategic interactions in the job centre reflected the ambiguities created by these oft-incongruent aims, and activation caused conflicts as it amplified activities experienced as meaningless and humiliating. I argue that these consequences stem from the ambiguity, uncertainty, and trouble produced at the intersection of competing projects of rule in a “sensitive space”, and that the individualisation of responsibility for their own marginalisation, simultaneously serve to exclude asylum-seekers and to confine them to categories that license continued institutional discipline. Thereby, the intervention feeds cyclical process of failed integration and ill-fated interventions. Indeed, by individualising the responsibility for integration, such interventions depoliticise the marginalisation of citizens of immigrant decent and legitimise efforts to reduce immigration by fuelling problematisations of immigrants as expensive, deviant, and less employable.

Migration

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-92
Author(s):  
Ronald Labonté ◽  
Arne Ruckert
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Irregular Migrants ◽  
Migratory Path ◽  
Health And Well Being

Migration, the movement of people from birthplace to other-place, whether within their own borders or internationally, is one of globalization’s leitmotifs. The scale of migration has risen rapidly in recent decades, some of it the ‘pull’ of opportunities in other countries, but much of it the ‘push’ of poverty, unemployment, conflicts, and environmental degradations that make life unlivable for many. Migration can improve the health and well-being of migrants, and the remittances sent home by overseas émigrés can contribute to domestic poverty reduction in the countries they leave. But forced migration, migrant exploitation, and increasing barriers to the lesser-skilled irregular migrants or asylum-seekers most able to benefit by moving abroad have given rise to new global imperatives to ‘manage migration’ ethically and effectively. Both men and women may be vulnerable to exploitation along the migratory path, but women face additional gendered discriminations in the risk of assault and trafficking.

scholarly journals The expected well-being of urban refugees and asylum-seekers in Johannesburg

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talita Greyling
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Urban Refugees ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Forced Migrants ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

The influx of asylum-seekers and refugees from across Africa into democratic South Africa has increased significantly. The aim of this paper is to determine the factors that influences the expect well-being of this unique group. Expected well-being is an important determinant of both the decision to migrate and the choice of a country of destination. Knowledge about this determinant therefore informs refugee policies. The results show that only a few of the factors found in the literature explaining the expected well-being of voluntary migrants also explain the expected well-being of forced migrants. However, a number of factors found in the literature that explain the subjective well-being and well-being in general of refugees and asylum-seekers also went towards explaining the expected well-being of this group. These factors include: government assistance, culture, the time spent in South Africa, economic factors, crime, refugee status, reasons for leaving the home countries and the number of people staying in a house in the receiving country. The findings of this study emphasise the differences between forced and voluntary migrants and highlight the factors that influence the expected well-being of forced migrants. These in turn shed light on migration decisions and the choice of destination countries.

scholarly journals Social Relationships and Trust in Asylum Seeking Families in Sweden

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulla Björnberg
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Recognition ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
The Family ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research Project ◽  
Legal Contexts ◽  
Health And Well Being

Research has suggested that social networks are important resources for children as well as for adults to resist health problems. For asylum seeking children social networking might be hard to accomplish due to constraints linked to social and legal contexts in the host country. Constraints can also be linked to the family situation and the circumstances they have to cope with in everyday life. The situation of parents, in particular mothers, is important for the coping of children. The over arching research objective is to identify factors that are important for well being of children seeking asylum and to study how they cope with their experiences as asylum seekers. The tension between excluding experiences and expectations regarding how the situation of the child and it's family should improve or deteriorate after the flight is for a child a constitutive reference for how coping strategies are developed. In the analysis I draw on theoretical concepts of resilience, social capital, trust and social recognition. This paper draws on results from an interdisciplinary research project Asylum-seeking children's welfare, health and well-being. Gothenburg Research on Asylum seeking Children in Europe (GRACE), Goteborg University and Nordic School of Public Health, Gothenburg. The study was financed by the European Refugee Fund. The empirical data are based on qualitative interviews with parents and children who have waited for decisions regarding permanent residence for several months and sometimes more than a year.

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