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1 – 10 of over 1000Emma Jean Campbell and Emily Jean Steel
This paper studies the experiences of asylum seekers in Australia. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between mental wellbeing, living conditions, and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper studies the experiences of asylum seekers in Australia. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between mental wellbeing, living conditions, and Australia’s detention policies in light of human rights.
Design/methodology/approach
Using grounded theory, data were collected via observations, semi-structured interviews, key-informant interviews, and document analysis. Participants included seven asylum seekers and three professionals working with them.
Findings
In light of a human rights framework, this paper reports on the mental distress suffered by asylum seekers in detention, the environments of constraint in which they live, and aspects of detention centre policy that contribute to these environments. The findings highlight a discrepancy between asylum seekers’ experiences under immigration detention policy and Australia’s human rights obligations.
Research limitations/implications
This research indicates human rights violations for asylum seekers in detention in Australia. This research project involved a small number of participants and recommends systemic review of the policy and practices that affect asylum seekers’ mental health including larger numbers of participants. Consideration is made of alternatives to detention as well as improving detention centre conditions. The World Health Organization’s Quality Rights Tool Kit might provide the basis for a framework to review Australia’s immigration detention system with particular focus on the poor mental wellbeing of asylum seekers in detention.
Originality/value
This study links international human rights law and Australian immigration detention policies and practices with daily life experiences of suffering mental distress within environments of constraint and isolation. It identifies asylum seekers as a vulnerable population with respect to human rights and mental wellbeing. Of particular value is the inclusion of asylum seekers themselves in interviews.
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Bengt Ginsburg and Sofie Bäärnhielm
Psychiatric care for adult asylum seekers has been an area of conflict and turbulence in Sweden over the last 20 years. Sweden has been criticised for being one of the most…
Abstract
Psychiatric care for adult asylum seekers has been an area of conflict and turbulence in Sweden over the last 20 years. Sweden has been criticised for being one of the most restrictive EU countries in providing health care for asylum seekers. Mental health care for asylum seekers is characterised by short‐term emergency measures and inequality. The complex regulatory framework tends to be interpreted in a rather arbitrary fashion, which in many cases may lead to unnecessary restrictions. In this paper we present guidelines for care givers and decision makers aiming to improve psychiatric care for adult asylum seekers in Stockholm, Sweden. In this context it is necessary to highlight and discuss the importance of understanding and implementing human rights among health professionals. The overall goal for these guidelines is mental health care for asylum seekers on the same terms, as far as possible, as for Swedish citizens.
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Thomas Korup Kjærgaard and Natasja Koitzsch Jensen
The purpose of this paper is to examine if the post-migrational risk factors, namely length of stay and number of relocations, are associated with asylum seekers’ mental health.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine if the post-migrational risk factors, namely length of stay and number of relocations, are associated with asylum seekers’ mental health.
Design/methodology/approach
The review includes seven main studies published later than 2006 examining the effect of the asylum procedure on the mental health of asylum seekers. The articles were identified through the search databases PubMed, Embase and PsycINFO. A systematic search strategy based on the concepts of Patient, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome has laid the groundwork for the findings of relevant articles.
Findings
Two out of three articles investigating the association between number of relocations and mental health among asylum seekers observed an effect on mental health. Three out of six studies found associations between length of stay in asylum centres and poor mental health. The overall assessment of the studies indicates an effect of the post-migrational risk factors.
Research limitations/implications
The included studies vary in study populations, outcome measures and methodical soundness.
Practical implications
The review suggests that length of stay in asylum centres and the number of relocations should be considered as risk factors for poor mental health of asylum seekers and, hence, considered in the organisational procedures in the asylum process.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first review to specifically examine the literature on the association between the post-migratory risk factors, number of relocations and length of stay, in asylum centres and mental health among non-detained asylum seekers in Europe.
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Philip Brown and Christine Horrocks
Reforms of the system for the accommodation and support needs of asylum seekers entering the United Kingdom (UK) during the twentieth and early twenty‐first centuries have meant…
Abstract
Reforms of the system for the accommodation and support needs of asylum seekers entering the United Kingdom (UK) during the twentieth and early twenty‐first centuries have meant that the support of asylum seekers has largely moved away from mainstream social work to dedicated asylum support teams. This article investigates how the workers engaged as ‘asylum support workers’ understand and make sense of their participation in the support of asylum seekers dispersed across the UK. By drawing on qualitative research with asylum support workers, this paper looks at how such workers make sense of their roles and how the ‘support’ of asylum seekers is conceived. The paper concludes that, by working in this political and controversial area of work, workers are constantly finding ways to negotiate their support role within a dominant framework of control.
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Gloria Nkhoma, Chiao Xin Lim, Gerard Kennedy and Ieva Stupans
This paper aims to identify health-care entitlements that exist for asylum seekers with chronic non-communicable disease (CNCD) that promote their health and self-care, and to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify health-care entitlements that exist for asylum seekers with chronic non-communicable disease (CNCD) that promote their health and self-care, and to explore health policies, initiatives and programmes with the potential to foster self-care in this populace.
Design/methodology/approach
Narrative review of literature conducted by searching EMBASE, CINAHL, WEB OF SCIENCE and PSYCINFO databases for articles published from 2010 to 2021. Included articles focussed on policies, programmes or initiatives with the potential to promote health in adult asylum seekers residing in high-income countries. Studies inclusive of other migrant groups such as undocumented migrants and those with mental health conditions were excluded. Eleven studies fitting the inclusion criteria were assessed against the study objectives.
Findings
Free access to health-care services and pharmaceutical products, free access to food banks and supermarket model food banks, English and cooking lessons, community integration training sessions and culturally competent health-care workers were found to promote health and self-care. There is little research on self-care and health promotion in adult asylum seekers with CNCD. CNCDs represent high burden of disease in asylum seekers but have a low priority in reported research.
Originality/value
This narrative review is the first to explicitly focus on asylum seekers in high-income countries with CNCD, excluding mental health conditions, and to explore initiatives, programmes and policies that enhance health promotion to facilitate self-care in this populace.
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This paper examines the strategies that volunteers use when supporting asylum seekers with their information challenges to be able to develop services for asylum seekers and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the strategies that volunteers use when supporting asylum seekers with their information challenges to be able to develop services for asylum seekers and promote their access to reliable information in the most suitable way.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven volunteers who help asylum seekers with their asylum cases in two cities in Finland. The interview data was thematically coded and analysed.
Findings
Six types of information-related strategies were identified: information mediatory, language adjustment, spatial and non-verbal communicative, inclusive, and supervisory strategies, as well as strategies with shifting roles. These strategies holistically support asylum seekers' information practices, considering the challenges of their situation and emotional needs.
Originality/value
This study creates new knowledge about volunteers' role in the information practices of asylum seekers, highlighting their unique position both in and outside the asylum system. Information-related strategies are a novel way of examining the ways to holistically support other people's information practices, by understanding that information is intertwined in all kinds of everyday actions and interactions.
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According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the world is experiencing the greatest refugee crisis in recorded history alongside increasingly restrictive limits…
Abstract
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the world is experiencing the greatest refugee crisis in recorded history alongside increasingly restrictive limits on asylum seekers and refugees. In 2020, the US administration established a ceiling for refugees of 18,000 people, the lowest number on record, and only 11,814 refugees were admitted to the United States. The Biden administration has expressed commitments to building a coherent asylum and refugee system and quickly reversing recent detrimental policies. But the administration has cautioned how quickly change might occur, given how “agencies and processes…have been so gutted.”1
2016 to 2020 included an overwhelming series of changes to laws and policies affecting asylum seekers, often with little documented planning or communication, wreaking severe effects on conditions for asylum seekers at the US–Mexico border. These changes had significant consequences for human rights, most notably the linchpin right of access to information. At the US–Mexico border, must the right “to seek, receive and impart information” be fulfilled in order to fulfill the right to asylum?
While information professionals are not expected to be experts in law, they are experts in understanding the link between access to information and the realization of justice and human rights. This chapter investigates the role of the information professional in the fulfillment of the right to asylum, particularly in the context of contemporary asylum seekers at the US–Mexico border, volatile information landscapes, and the legal and historical framework in the United States for seeking asylum.
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Paul Kariuki, Maria Lauda Goyayi and Lizzy Oluwatoyin Ofusori
This paper aims to examine the role of electronic governance (e-governance) in enabling asylum seekers’ access to public services in the city of Durban, South Africa. Because of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the role of electronic governance (e-governance) in enabling asylum seekers’ access to public services in the city of Durban, South Africa. Because of COVID-19, the government scaled down its operations, limiting access to public services, including among migrants.
Design/methodology/approach
Because of COVID-19-related restrictions, a systematic review was conducted of the relevant academic literature as well as the information portals of relevant government departments, municipalities and research reports on migration and refugees in South Africa. A total of 320 peer-reviewed research articles were identified. These were filtered and 68 relevant articles were selected.
Findings
The study found that asylum seekers have limited access to public services via information communication technology-enabled mechanisms. Whilst the city government has embraced e-governance, it is still in its nascent stages.
Research limitations/implications
This study was limited to a desktop one because of COVID-19 restrictions and it focused exclusively on asylum seekers. Therefore, its findings can only be generalised to this category of people.
Practical implications
Future studies on this subject should gather data from all categories of migrants to gain in-depth perspectives.
Social implications
All spheres of governance in South Africa should recognise asylum seekers as a constituency that deserves access to public services. E-governance can facilitate easier access to these services, and policies need to be aligned with this reality.
Originality/value
This study examined the efficacy of e-governance in enabling access to government services by asylum seekers during COVID-19. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study on this subject was conducted during this period.
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Salma El-Gamal and Johanna Hanefeld
The influx of refugees and asylum-seekers over the past decade into the European Union creates challenges to the health systems of receiving countries in the preparedness and…
Abstract
Purpose
The influx of refugees and asylum-seekers over the past decade into the European Union creates challenges to the health systems of receiving countries in the preparedness and requisite adjustments to policy addressing the new needs of the migrant population. This study aims to examine and compare policies for access to health care and the related health outcomes for refugees and asylum-seekers settling both in the UK and Germany as host countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper conducted a scoping review of academic databases and grey literature for studies within the period 2010-2017, seeking to identify evidence from current policies and service provision for refugees and asylum-seekers in Germany and the UK, distilling the best practice and clarifying gaps in knowledge, to determine implications for policy.
Findings
Analysis reveals that legal entitlements for refugees and asylum-seekers allow access to primary and secondary health care free of charge in the UK versus a more restrictive policy of access limited to acute and emergency care during the first 15 months of resettlements in Germany. In both countries, many factors hinder the access of this group to normal health care from legal status, procedural hurdles and lingual and cultural barriers. Refugees and asylum-seeker populations were reported with poor general health condition, lower rates of utilization of health services and noticeable reliance on non-governmental organizations.
Originality/value
This paper helps to fulfill the need for an extensive research required to help decision makers in host countries to adjust health systems towards reducing health disparities and inequalities among refugees and asylum-seekers.
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Dora Bernardes, John Wright, Celia Edwards, Helen Tomkins, Darias Dlfoz and Andrew Livingstone
The literature tends to use ‘asylum seeker’ and ‘refugee’ interchangeably, creating uncertainty about the mental health of asylum seekers. However, asylum seekers occupy a unique…
Abstract
The literature tends to use ‘asylum seeker’ and ‘refugee’ interchangeably, creating uncertainty about the mental health of asylum seekers. However, asylum seekers occupy a unique position in British society which differentiates them from people with refugee status and which may have implications for their mental health. For example, ‘asylum seekers’ are supported and accommodated in dispersal areas under the National Asylum Support Service and they are not entitled to work. This mixed‐methods study investigated asylum seekers' symptoms of psychological distress, using mental health screening questionnaires (N = 29) and asylum seekers' subjective experiences of the asylum process, its potential impacts on their mental health, and participants' suggestions for tackling mental health needs, using in‐depth interviews (N = 8). Asylum seekers, refugees and practitioners working with asylum seekers were consulted from the outset regarding the cultural sensitivity of the measures used. Given the potential limitations of using ‘idioms of distress’ across cultures, interview data provided rich descriptive accounts which helped locate the mental health needs that the asylum seekers experienced in the specificities of each participant's social context. Asylum seekers originated from 13 countries. The results revealed that psychological distress is common among asylum seekers (for example anxiety and post‐traumatic stress), but so are post‐migratory living difficulties (for example accommodation, discrimination, worry about family back home, not being allowed to work). They also report mixed experiences of health and social care services. These results suggest that asylum seekers' unique social position may affect their mental health. Implications for practice are presented and potential limitations highlighted.
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