Abstract
PurposeIn general, newly resettled refugees have poorer physical and mental health than native-born Swedes. This indicates that the society must make special efforts to enable refugees to attain health that is on a par with the rest of the population. The challenges rest primarily with employees in the public sector. But what resources do professionals need to meet the refugees’ health needs? This paper is about the need to develop strategies for professionals working with diversity and health, with a focus on the establishment of newly resettled refugees in Sweden. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify the needs and obstacles in working with diversity and health for the newly resettled.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on focus group interviews with 40 professionals working in three large municipalities and one County Administrative Board, all of whom work with challenges related to migration and health on a daily basis.FindingsThe needs expressed by the interviewees are primarily about developing and improving communications. Three important areas of communication were expressed: how information can be transferred from sender to receiver, institutionalization and interactions at different levels.Originality/valueThis paper identifies important needs and obstacles when working with diversity and health in Sweden, with a focus on the establishment of newly resettled refugees. It is an important contribution because refugees in general have poorer physical and mental health than native-born Swedes and strategies to improve their health, therefore, need to be further developed.
Highlights
It is well known that health is influenced by differences in people’s living conditions
Despite a prevailing focus on pre-migratory traumatic events as primary causes of ill health amongst forced migrants (Sigvardsdotter et al, 2016), the health of refugee populations can be seen as a case in point regarding the impact of social conditions on health (Miller and Rasmussen, 2017)
It is easy to imagine that needs for developing work with diversity and health in Sweden, with a focus on newly resettled refugees, are about increased budgets, more staff or more resources
Summary
It is well known that health is influenced by differences in people’s living conditions. Despite a prevailing focus on pre-migratory traumatic events as primary causes of ill health amongst forced migrants (Sigvardsdotter et al, 2016), the health of refugee populations can be seen as a case in point regarding the impact of social conditions on health (Miller and Rasmussen, 2017). Refugees display poorer physical (Jervelund et al, 2017) and mental health (Bogic et al, 2015) than native-born inhabitants. Refugees resettled in Western countries are ten times more likely to have post-traumatic stress disorders than age-matched general populations in those countries (Fazel et al, 2005). Resettled refugees can experience social exclusion because of not being able to speak the host society’s language, not having a job or by experiencing discrimination and a lack of access to important social resources, which in turn imply an increased risk of mental ill-health and distress. Refugees’ health, is affected by and affects the process of social establishment and integration in the host
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