Refugees In Denmark Research Articles

Translation as a cultural tool for mediating conflict in queer and feminist grassroots democratic coalitions in Denmark, Germany and Sweden

In this article, I present the findings of a three-year qualitative research project studying feminist and queer activist groups that support refugees in Denmark, Germany and Sweden. My findings show how multilingual activists volunteered as linguistic interpreters to enable inclusive dialogue between refugees and host-country citizens in joint grassroots democratic coalition meetings. Based on interviews with different groups, I show that their linguistic-broker position gave these activists the leverage to challenge and bring to the attention of white-majority citizens the exclusionary dynamics of structural inequality and civic-status hierarchies that create tensions within supposedly open and inclusive joint meetings. By highlighting the critical, counter-hegemonic positionality of activist-translators in coalitions working on gender, the central contribution of my case study is to connect theories of translation and conflict mediation in transnational social movements with research that focuses on the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in intersectional coalitions.

Risk of unemployment and work disability among refugee and non-refugee migrants with incident psychotic disorders in Sweden and Denmark.

Unemployment and work disability are common among individuals with non-affective psychotic disorders (NAPDs) but it is unknown whether rates differ among migrants and native-born individuals. The present study aimed to compare the risk of these outcomes during the first 5 years of illness in non-refugee migrants, refugees and native-born individuals with NAPDs in Sweden and Denmark-two countries with different immigration policies and models of early psychosis care. Using national registers, we identified all individuals aged 18-35 years in Sweden and Denmark who received an incident NAPD diagnosis between 2006 and 2013 (N = 6750 and 8320, respectively). Cohorts were followed for 5 years to determine the days of unemployment and sickness absence (analyzed using zero-inflated negative binomial models) and the time to receipt of disability pension (analyzed using complementary log-log models). Relative to their native-born peers, refugees and non-refugee migrants in Sweden and non-refugee migrants in Denmark were significantly less likely to have zero unemployment days (OR range: 0.54-0.72) and all migrant groups experienced more unemployment days (IRR range: 1.26-1.37). Results were largely unchanged after adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical factors. In the adjusted model, both Swedish migrant groups and refugees in Denmark were more likely to experience zero sickness absence days than native-born individuals (OR range: 1.48-1.56). Only refugees in Denmark were at greater risk of disability pension. Non-refugee migrants and refugees with NAPDs in both Sweden and Denmark are particularly vulnerable to experiencing unemployment. Targeted interventions may help to reduce these disparities and promote long-term work ability among migrant groups.

From policy to practice: What factors influence GP's provision of health assessments to Ukrainian refugees in Denmark?

Abstract Denmark has received over 30,000 displaced people from Ukraine since February 2022 and has implemented certain accommodations specific for this population. Not bound by the EU Temporary Protection Directive, a special Act has been introduced, whereby Ukrainians have been offered streamlined access to temporary resident permits with faster access to health services than what is granted in the asylum-seeking population, for whom parallel systems often exist to provide care. While other refugee groups receive health screenings in the asylum centers during the asylum process, Ukrainian have received quick access to general practitioners (GP's) in the public system. Danish health authorities have recommended that GPs provide a detailed examination of chronic diseases, vaccination status, infectious diseases, and mental health for Ukrainian refugees. Provision of this recommendation is necessary to meet the health needs of Ukrainian refugees. However, how these recommendations have been received and implemented remains unknown. We will present results from a survey sent to 3000 general practitioners in Denmark (expected response rate 30%) investigating how GPs implement the health assessment recommendations and what factors influenced the provision (or not) of health assessment to newly arrived Ukrainian refugees. The survey, which has been developed after conducting a review of the guidelines and conducting interviews with GPs and refugees (n = 11), examines knowledge of the health recommendations; implementation of guidelines; structural (i.e. time, interpretation) and individual factors (i.e. experience with war exposed patients) affecting health assessments and care; and cooperation among different parts of the health system. This presentation will shed light on how, in the context of large numbers of refugees entering EU countries, health policies are translated to practice and what factors affect the provision of adequate care for Ukrainian refugees in Denmark.

Ukrainian refugees’ wellbeing and adaptation in Denmark

Abstract In Denmark - 28 765 individuals from Ukraine have been granted residency under the Danish Special Act. While Ukrainians share the war exposure with other groups of refugees in Denmark, they differ in many aspects. For example, the special act has allowed Ukrainians access to the welfare state benefits (including healthcare) relatively fast and they have been accommodated outside of asylum centers. In addition, the political climate in the reception of Ukrainians has been rather favorable compared to the last refugee crisis. Yet, we know very little about their health needs and access to care. The aim of our project is to identify and understand the health needs of Ukrainian refugees and how they access healthcare in Denmark in order to inform the development of strategies that help them cope with postmigration stress and improve their quality of life. We have developed a survey, in collaboration with a group of experts by experience (Ukrainian refugees). The survey combines validated tools and self-developed questions and includes several themes: i) factors influencing adaptation of Ukrainian refugees; ii) individual sociodemographic characteristics; iii) trauma/war exposure; iv) living and housing conditions in Denmark; v) experiences in access to Danish healthcare system; and vi) health needs and well-being including symptoms of trauma. The target population is Ukrainian refugees in Copenhagen aged 18 and above. Currently, there are 2916 refugees living across the city. The aim is to recruit at least half of them, located in three municipalities: Copenhagen Municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality and Gentofte Municipality. The survey has been launched May 2023, and by November 2023, we expect to have collected and analyzed all data, which we are going to present at workshop. Our participatory research methods involving Ukrainian refugees throughout the process include their engagement in intervention and policy suggestions based on the survey.

Scandinavian design. The continuous closet and queer refugees in Denmark

This article explores how queer refugees’ navigation of ‘the closet’, centre of the coming out metaphor, is subverting its Scandinavian Design. While many queer people in Denmark conceptualize coming out of the closet as a desirable process, allowing queer subjects to become who they truly are, this understanding is challenged by the experiences of queer refugees who are strategically (not) coming out of the closet in different spaces and at different times. Through interviews with queer refugees and volunteers of a support group in Copenhagen, the article shows how these individuals negotiate the continuous closet – (re)appearing in different spaces and at different times. In being cautious about where to come out (on dating apps, in support groups, at home), to whom (friends, family, potential lovers) and at what time(s), queer refugees balance the refugee regimes’ expectations of normative LGBT(IQ)+ identities with their own complex lived realities.

Taking control and reorienting future aspirations: how young refugees in Denmark navigate life between integration and repatriation

ABSTRACT This article offers important empirical insights into young refugees’ resettlement experiences, meanwhile, Danish integration policies underwent a radical turn from integration towards repatriation. Through a qualitative longitudinal study, I followed a group of young refugees (aged 18–24) from two Danish municipalities for a two-year period (2018–2020). Applying photovoice exercises and repeated in-depth interviews, I explored their experiences as they resettled in their new environment. In this article, I zoom in on young refugees’ capacities to aspire and their engagements in future-orientated activities, while trying to create a life for themselves during a policy-induced dilemma, which simultaneously incited their integration and repatriation. While young refugees demonstrated great capacity to act and find new pathways through difficult situations, these tended to be temporary. The political focus on repatriation kept the young refugees in prolonged uncertainty, which affected their capacities to aspire as well as their engagement in future-oriented activities.

The return to big-city experience: Evidence from refugees in Denmark

We offer causal evidence of higher returns to experience in big cities. Exploiting a natural experiment that settled refugees across labor markets in Denmark between 1986 and 1998, we find that refugees initially earned similar wages across locations. However, those placed in Copenhagen exhibited 35% faster wage growth with each additional year of experience. Faster sorting of workers toward the type of establishments, occupations, and industries typically found in cities accounts for the vast majority of this urban wage-growth premium.

A Mental Health Profile of 900 Newly Arrived Refugees in Denmark Using ICD-10 Diagnoses

(1) Background: Recognizing mental health problems in newly arrived refugees poses a challenge. Little is known of the mental health profile of refugees currently arriving in Northern Europe. (2) Method: In total, we included 900 adult (≥18 years old) refugees arriving in Aarhus, Denmark, between 1 January 2014 and 1 January 2020. All participants accepted an offer of a voluntary systematic health assessment from the municipality in Aarhus, including a mental health screening. (3) Results: Within this cohort, 26% (237/900) of the participants were referred to the Department of Psychiatry, Aarhus University Hospital, 24% (212/900) were in contact with the department and 21% (185/900) received ≥1 psychiatric diagnosis. Within the subpopulation referred (n = 237), 64% (152/237) were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (DF431), 14% (34/237) with neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders (F40–F48) and 13% (30/237) with major mood disorders (F30–F39). Among the participants referred to the Department of Psychiatry and participants receiving a diagnosis, we found an overrepresentation of participants originating from the Southern Asian region (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) and with an age above 44 years. (4) Conclusion: We found a high prevalence of both referrals and psychiatric diagnoses in newly arrived refugees. Attention to psychiatric conditions in refugees and systematic health assessments during resettlement are needed.

Health outcomes in young adulthood among former child refugees in Denmark, Norway and Sweden: A cross-country comparative study.

This study aimed at comparing several health outcomes in young adulthood among child refugees who settled in the different immigration and integration policy contexts of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The study population included refugees born between 1972 and 1997 who immigrated before the age of 18 and settled in the three Nordic countries during 1986-2005. This population was followed up in national registers during 2006-2015 at ages 18-43 years and was compared with native-born majority populations in the same birth cohorts using sex-stratified and age-adjusted regression analyses. Refugee men in Denmark stood out with a consistent pattern of higher risks for mortality, disability/illness pension, psychiatric care and substance misuse relative to native-born majority Danish men, with risk estimates being higher than comparable estimates observed among refugee men in Norway and Sweden. Refugee men in Sweden and Norway also demonstrated increased risks relative to native-born majority population men for inpatient psychiatric care, and in Sweden also for disability/illness pension. With the exception of increased risk for psychotic disorders, outcomes among refugee women were largely similar to or better than those of native-born majority women in all countries. The observed cross-country differences in health indicators among refugees, and the poorer health outcomes of refugee men in Denmark in particular, may be understood in terms of marked differences in Nordic integration policies. However, female refugees in all three countries had better relative health outcomes than refugee men did, suggesting possible sex differentials that warrant further investigation.

Interpreter-mediated psychotherapy – a qualitative analysis of the interprofessional collaboration between psychologists and interpreters

In psychotherapeutic treatment of trauma-affected refugees, it is common that psychologists and language interpreters work together. In this qualitative study, the experiences of interpreters and psychologists are examined to gain insight into factors that enhance and challenge the interaction between the two groups of professionals. Three interpreters and three psychologists working with trauma-affected refugees in Denmark were interviewed about their perceptions of conducting interpreter-mediated psychotherapy (IMP) and their experiences of the interaction between interpreters and psychologists. The interviews followed a semi-structured format and were analyzed according to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). In the analysis, we found that the role of the interpreter is ambiguous. A neutral and objective interpreter was described as ideal, yet interpreters found it difficult to adhere to strict neutrality and psychologists sometimes also requested a more active engagement of the interpreters. Further, we found that conflicts in the interaction between psychologists and interpreters emerged when the two professionals intervened with each other’s areas of expertise. These findings are discussed by including theory concerning therapeutic alliance and interprofessional collaboration.

Between integration and repatriation – frontline experiences of how conflicting immigrant integration policies hamper the integration of young refugees in Denmark

ABSTRACT Confronted with global migration pressures, European countries face the dual challenges of border control and the incorporation of immigrants into society. Danish immigration and integration policies aim to restrict the influx of refugees and to develop newcomers’ sense of civic responsibility. We analyse 2017 policy problematisations and local integration policy workers’ experiences with integrating young, newly arrived refugees under the mandatory municipal integration programme. We find that these policies lead to paradoxical effects when integration goals interact with immigration laws that create precarious temporary living conditions. Moreover, when integration is problematised as an exclusive problem of refugees’ employability and prompt economic self-sufficiency. The policy problematisations neglect the needs of young refugees by overlooking critical aspects of social and cultural integration and obscuring the possibilities for individually tailored services, which, from frontline integration workers’ perspective, are necessary to realise young refugees’ integration.

Therapeutic Nature Activities: A Step Toward the Labor Market for Traumatized Refugees.

Background: Globally, the number of refugees is growing. For many refugees, entering the labor market in their new country of residence is challenging. Some remain forever dependent on welfare services, and this not only weakens their chances of integration, but also harms their health and well-being. Methods: This qualitative single case study focused on a group of war-stricken refugees in Denmark. The study investigated the impact of an eight-month horticultural vocational program aimed at improving their ability to complete an education program or to work. A total of 29 interviews were conducted and analyzed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) method. Results: The natural environment in the eco-village evoked a feeling of safety as well as positive memories in the participants, in contrast to the traumatic memories they had of their flight. Horticultural activities and the positive and respectful attitude from staff initiated a recovery process. New skills were achieved at an individual pace, and feelings of isolation decreased. These findings can be implicated in future interventions.

Educational trends, patterns of employment and selected health indicators among young refugees

Abstract Background Although the health and integration of young refugees is a top policy priority within the Nordic region, refugees continue to experience health and social inequalities relative to other immigrants and native-origin majority populations. This project explores how such inequities develop during the formative years among refugees who migrated as children, and how they relate to migration and welfare policies in different Nordic contexts, which vary considerably in terms of their generosity. Methods National administrative registers were used to compare key indicators of education, labor market participation, and health among young refugees living Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The primary study population consisted of refugee children who were granted residency in the Nordic region as children (0-17 years) between 1986 and 2005, and were followed up through 2015. Results Overall, refugees in Denmark and Finland had the poorest primary and secondary educational outcomes, even when country of origin and age of arrival were considered. In all countries, the gap in secondary educational attainment between refugees and the native-born majority population was of a much greater magnitude than the corresponding achievement gaps in higher education. Refugees in Denmark had the lowest proportion of labor market participation and the highest proportion of NEET (not in employment or education) at age 30 relative to refugees in the other Nordic countries; yet this difference was greatly diminished when secondary educational attainment was considered. Results also showed higher rates of early retirement pension receipt at age 30 among refugees in Denmark than those observed among refugees in other Nordic contexts. Conclusions Policies that facilitate introduction into the educational system and secondary education attainment among refugees should be given greater priority in order to promote labor market integration and health in young adulthood.

Labour market marginalisation in young refugees with and without common mental disorders

Abstract Background This study explored how inequality in labour market marginalisation (LMM) between refugees and their peers developed during early adulthood in Denmark and Sweden (DK/SE), and the role of common mental disorders (CMD) in these trends. Methods Using registry data, all refugees living in DK/SE in 2009-2012 who were born 1986-1993 and who immigrated as children (aged 0-17) were included (N = 13,390/45,687) and 1:5 matched on age, sex and municipality size to individuals born in DK/SE with at least one parent also born in DK/SE (N = 69,650/227,287). Information on psychiatric care (hospital and medicine) during 2009-2011 indicated CMD, while LMM was measured during 2012-2015 using income-based indicators. Probabilities of LMM were standardized by multiplying the estimated parameters of linear probability models in SE (adjusted for age, sex, municipality size, age of arrival, origin country, and accompanying family) onto the mean of the covariates in DK. Results The risk of LMM was 2-2.5 times higher for refugees across ages 20-29 in DK/SE. The risk tended to decrease in SE but increased in DK for refugees. The increase was accentuated for youth with CMD. However, CMD did not explain the inequality between refugee and majority youth. The increase in DK was driven by birth-cohort differences, while the trend in SE was consistent across birth cohorts. Conclusions CMD did not capture the vulnerability that sets refugees apart from their peers. While immigration and integration policy differences between DK and SE increased, the integration outcomes diminished, suggesting the importance of factors other than national level policies. Key messages Young refugees in DK/SE were more at risk of labour market marginalization than their majority peers. Healthcare contact for common mental disorders raised levels, but did not reduce inequalities. Labour market marginalisation decreased with age in Sweden but increased for refugees in Denmark, driven by birth cohort difference.

Association of Neighborhood Disadvantage With Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Events Among Refugees in Denmark

Refugees are among the most disadvantaged individuals in society, and they often have elevated risks of cardiovascular risk factors and events. Evidence is limited regarding factors that may worsen cardiovascular health among this vulnerable group. To test the hypothesis that refugee placement in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. The study population of this quasi-experimental, registry-based cohort study included 49 305 adults 18 years and older who came to Denmark as refugees from other countries during the years of Denmark's refugee dispersal policy from 1986 to 1998. Refugees were dispersed to neighborhoods with varying degrees of socioeconomic disadvantage in an arbitrary manner conditional on observed characteristics. The association of neighborhood disadvantage on arrival with several cardiovascular outcomes in subsequent decades was evaluated using regression models that adjusted for individual, family, and municipal characteristics. Health outcomes were abstracted from the inpatient register, outpatient specialty clinic register, and prescription drug register through 2016. Data analysis was conducted from May 2018 to July 2019. A composite index of neighborhood disadvantage was constructed using 8 neighborhood-level socioeconomic characteristics derived from Danish population register data. Primary study outcomes included hypertension, hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Before data analysis commenced, it was hypothesized that higher levels of neighborhood disadvantage were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular risk factors and events. A total of 49 305 participants were included (median [interquartile range] age, 30.5 [24.9-39.8] years; 43.3% women). Participant region of origin included 6318 from Africa (12.8%), 7253 from Asia (14.7%), 3446 from Eastern Europe (7.0%), 5416 from Iraq (11.0%), 6206 from Iran (12.6%), 5558 from Palestine (via Lebanon, Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territories; 11.3%), and 15 108 from Yugoslavia (30.6%). Adjusted models revealed an association between placement in disadvantaged neighborhoods and increased risk of hypertension (0.71 [95% CI, 0.30-1.13] percentage points per unit of disadvantage index; P < .01), hyperlipidemia (0.44 [95% CI, 0.06-0.83] percentage points; P = .01), diabetes (0.45 [95% CI, 0.09-0.81] percentage points; P = .01), and myocardial infarction (0.14 [95% CI, 0.03-0.25] percentage points; P = .01). No association was found for stroke. Individuals who arrived in Denmark before age 35 years had an increased risk of hyperlipidemia (1.16 [95% CI, 0.41-1.92] percentage points; P < .01), and there were no differences by sex. In this quasi-experimental cohort study, neighborhood disadvantage was associated with increased cardiovascular risk in a relatively young population of refugees. Neighborhood characteristics may be an important consideration when refugees are placed by resettlement agencies and host countries. Future work should examine additional health outcomes as well as potential mediating pathways to target future interventions (eg, neighborhood ease of walking, employment opportunities).

Language, employability and positioning in a Danish integration programme

Abstract In many European countries, integration policies focus on getting refugees quickly into the labour market. In order to accomplish this, refugees in Denmark are placed in work internships. Based on fieldwork in an integration programme that combines mandatory Danish language classes with so-called “language internships”, where refugees do work internships for the purpose of learning Danish at work, the present study takes a critical look at discourses and positionings related to refugee access to the Danish labour market. The study finds clear evidence of an employability discourse which emphasises individual responsibility for employment while downplaying structural factors. Paradoxically, the employability discourse positions the refugees on the one hand as unemployable because of their lack of Danish language competence and hence as marginalised and relatively powerless. On the other hand, in this same discourse, they are repeatedly positioned as agents responsible for creating their own opportunities, including employment opportunities, while the language internships are constructed as a means of gaining employment and being able to leave the unemployment system. By investigating acts of positioning by participants in the integration programme and comparing them with discourses on language, work and integration in Denmark, the study concludes that despite intentions about the internships leading to employment and thus empowerment, the language internships lead to decapitalisation and marginalisation for the refugee participants.

Denied, but effective – stock stories in Danish welfare work with refugees

ABSTRACT This article explores the Nordic denial of colonial involvement and complicity and the way it operates in welfare work with refugees in Denmark. Deploying a postcolonial welfare analytics that puts welfare work in a context of colonially social, economic, and cultural relations, the article develops a methodology of composing narratives, based on readings of four professional journals published by the labour unions of schoolteachers, social educators, nurses, and social workers. Ultimately, the article excavates three stock stories in welfare work, that is, the stock stories of compassion, potentializing, and colour-blindness. The stock stories are shown to hide race and racism in the shapes of social inequality, market exploitability, and dehumanization of the refugee, and the article thus exhibits how universalistic welfare work denies the existence of race and racism, and acts complicitly in reproducing the status quo of the modern welfare state’s racialized practices.

Asylum seekers’ and Refugees’ Changing Health (ARCH) study protocol: an observational study in Lebanon and Denmark to assess health implications of long-distance migration on communicable and non-communicable diseases and mental health

IntroductionBy end of 2018, the European Union countries hosted approximately 2.5 million refugees and Lebanon alone hosted more than 1 million. The majority of refugees worldwide came from Syria. The...

The Right to a Family Life and the Biometric ‘Truth’ of Family Reunification: Somali Refugees in Denmark

ABSTRACT Biometric assessment of refugees’ applications for family reunification has become standard practice in many countries when ‘credible’ legal documentation of kin relations is lacking. Studies have criticised biometrics for objectifying families as bio-genetic units as part of a ‘new regime of truth’ that regards bodies as sources of truth about individuals ‘real’ identity. This article argues that, while biometric verification poses severe limitations on the right to reunification, it does not undo refugees’ agency. Ethnographic analysis of Somali refugees’ family unification in Denmark since the 1990s demonstrates how they have actively negotiated shifting legislation, initially applying their own interpretation of the family and attempting to circumvent biometric control, eventually appropriating the biometrically defined nuclear family as a practical tool to rework family life under new social conditions. This points to the importance of recognising the agency of those exposed to the truth regime.

High coverage of polio immunization program in refugees resettling in Denmark. A cross-sectional study of polio serology in newly arrived refugees

ABSTRACTObjectives: Wild poliovirus (WPV) infection has been eliminated in Europe through mass immunization. Resettling refugees may lack immunity and importing WPV through refugees continues to cause concerns.Method: We performed a cross-sectional study to establish the prevalence of poliovirus immunity in children and adult refugees resettling in Aarhus, Denmark. Immunity was evaluated by antibody response for serotypes 1, 2, and 3.Results: The participants in this study counted a total of 475 children and adult refugees aged between 6 months and 76 years and 59% were males. The survey was conducted between 2014 and 2016. Among the refugees, 72% were from Syria, and the rest from Eritrea, Congo, Lebanon, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Ethiopia, and Columbia. In the cohort, 27 lacked antibodies against a least one serotype. None of the participants lacked antibodies against all three polio types. Originating from The Horn of Africa, age between 20 and 30 and male gender was associated with lack of immunity.Conclusion: The study found a complete WPV immunity in 94% of recently resettled refugees in Denmark. This study demonstrates a high coverage of the polio immunization program. However, ensuring poliovirus immunity among refugees remains a priority until polio has been eradicated worldwide.