Sociological and Public Health Based Help in Refugees Camps

Introduction:

Refugees are highly stressed, e.g. because their personal and social identity, their inclusion, coherence, and resilience are constantly threatened. They are at risk becoming a vulnerable group. Mental health is a major factor for overall health and integration. Thus, promoting health is a sociological and public health priority. The WHO² developed a public health strategy for refugees help. An important basic approach is offering psychosocial support in refugees camps. The main question is „How should social and health management be organized?“ To find answers, in the early 1980 s the German government i.a. funded a public health evaluation project to support and evaluate refugees help in camps.

Materials & Methods:

In a camp with 500 refugees (majority men) in Bavaria, Germany a social and psychological support programme was established¹. Its evaluation comprised qualitative as well as cost-effectiveness analyses. After three decades, qualitative interviews are conducted with selected camp members of the erstwhile programme. The interviews address the course and the experiences since the first evaluation. Further, recent examples of psychosocial refugees care are presented.

Results:

In the first evaluation, for supporting the identity of refugees the following aspects were found to be important: 1) offering the chance for communication enhancing refugees communicative abilities, 2) having safe rooms for consulting and gaining trust, 3) the consultant should be well informed about the psychosocial situation of the refugees, be able to moderate social conflicts, have comprehensive knowledge on the organizational structures of the camp and the administration in view of social medicine, be empathic, tolerant, creative, discrete, analytical, provide learning readiness, and be able to organize many complex situations.

Conclusion:

The results of the first evaluation, the current interviews as well as other recent examples of psychosocial refugee care emphasize the importance of the environmental framework, social skills, and attitude building information.

Literature:

[1] Mann, B. (2007): Politische Flüchtlinge. Public Health Ansätze und soziologische Beratung in Sammelunterkünften. München.

[2] Word Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (2016): Strategy and action plan for refugee and migrant health in the WHO European Region. On the regional level Committee for Europe, 66th session, Copenhagen, Demark.