scholarly journals 2.11-P6What is the effect of health service experiences on the health and well-being of adult asylum seekers and refugees in Wales?

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Ellis ◽  
G Richardson ◽  
M Dyakova ◽  
A Stielke
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivien L. Hajak ◽  
Srishti Sardana ◽  
Helen Verdeli ◽  
Simone Grimm

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Fish ◽  
Olivia Fakoussa

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrine Syppli Kohl

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-14
Author(s):  
David J. Hunter

AbstractAmidst the NHS’s (National Health Service) success lies its major weakness, although one that Klein overlooks in his reflections on the NHS as it approaches 70. The focus on, and investment in, curing ill-health has been at the expense of attending to the public’s overall health and well-being. This preoccupation poses a greater threat to the NHS’s future than privatisation. Despite the weakness having been diagnosed decades ago, redressing the imbalance has proved stubbornly hard to achieve. Rhetoric has not been translated into reality. Yet, we may be on the cusp of a tipping point where in order to ensure a sustainable NHS, and one that is capable of meeting the 21st century challenges facing it, there is a renewed and overdue interest in promoting health and well-being in communities. But for this to succeed, the NHS will need to embrace its bete noire, local government.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. e027917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Skogberg ◽  
Päivikki Koponen ◽  
Paula Tiittala ◽  
Katri-Leena Mustonen ◽  
Eero Lilja ◽  
...  

IntroductionHealth, well-being and health service needs of asylum seekers have emerged as urgent topics following the arrival of 2.5 million asylum seekers to the European Union (EU) between 2015 and 2016. However, representative information on the health, well-being and service needs of asylum seekers is scarce. The Asylum Seekers Health and Wellbeing (TERTTU) Survey aims to: (1) gather population-based representative information; (2) identify key indicators for systematic monitoring; (3) produce the evidence base for development of systematic screening of asylum seekers’ health, well-being and health service needs.Methods and analysisTERTTU Survey is a population-based prospective study with a total population sample of newly arrived asylum seekers to Finland, including adults and children. Baseline data collection is carried out in reception centres in 2018 and consists of a face-to-face interview, self-administered questionnaire and a health examination following a standardised protocol. Altogether 1000 asylum seekers will be included into the study. Baseline data will be followed up with national electronic health record data encompassing the entire asylum process and later with national register data among persons who receive residency permits.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been granted by the Coordinating Ethics Committee of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District. Participation is voluntary and based on written informed consent. Results will be widely disseminated on a national and international level to inform health and welfare policy as well as development of services for asylum seekers. Results of the study will constitute the evidence base for development and implementation of the initial health assessment for asylum seekers on a national level.


Author(s):  
Ronald Labonté ◽  
Arne Ruckert

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.


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