WorldWideScience

Sample records for public lunatic asylums

  1. The regulation of British colonial lunatic asylums and the origins of colonial psychiatry, 1860-1864.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swartz, Sally

    2010-05-01

    In this paper I outline a brief period in the history of the British Empire, during which colonial lunatic asylum policy began to be formulated. I begin with a scandal that erupted in Jamaica and suggest that this set in motion processes that led to critical changes in asylum administration. The first of these processes was an audit of hospitals and asylums in the colonies. The results of the audit and the policy that emerged from it marked the beginning of systematic regulation of lunatic asylum practice across the British Empire. It revealed a formulation of policy that was intended to cut across the self-governing regimes that had up to this point been allowed to evolve. Drawing on the work of Michel Foucault and Nikolas Rose, I argue that the policy and the practices associated with it contribute to an understanding of the emergence of the psy-sciences in colonial settings. They illustrate the establishment of a panoptic gaze on previously neglected insane spaces. Systematic surveillance constituted government at a distance and made colonial lunacy administration a governable discursive space. The regulation of the medical officers, lunatic attendants, and hospital boards began the process of creating a professional psychiatric workforce. I conclude with a discussion of the implications and the mixed impact of this policy change for the mentally ill across the empire, over the ensuing decades.

  2. Lessons from history: asylum patients' Christmas experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carpenter, Diane

    This article outlines the asylum building programme of the mid-to-late nineteenth century and focuses on case studies of the two Hampshire asylums built during this period, the subject of the author's doctoral thesis. It demonstrates the plight of 'pauper lunatic' before asylum reform and contrasts this with the improved quality of life provided by the Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum and the Borough of Portsmouth Lunatic Asylum respectively. Asylum care during this period followed the moral treatment regime which became the Victorian blueprint for mental health, components of which are illustrated. Criticism of this regime is addressed briefly and arguments are made against anachronistic analysis. Comparison with contemporary in-patient care and treatment is made concluding with a call to reconsider some of the better aspects of earlier care delivery. The particular experience of patients in Hampshire asylums at Christmas is used to exemplify the points raised.

  3. 'At variance with the most elementary principles': the state of British colonial lunatic asylums in 1863.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brunton, Warwick

    2015-06-01

    In 1863 the Colonial Office reviewed colonial hospitals and lunatic asylums in those parts of the British Empire it administered - probably the first and widest international comparative study up to that date. This article outlines the background, process and scope of the review of asylums, and considers its significance. The resulting 'digest' is an important source to explain how, why, when and by whom metropolitan ideas acquired official endorsement and spread throughout the British world. Using the review's general findings and suggestions, a tool is provided for comparing inter-colonial achievements. With New Zealand as a case study, the article concludes that, relative to other influences, the digest played a limited and largely indirect part in shaping New Zealand's mental health policy before 1876. © The Author(s) 2015.

  4. [Jonathan Swift's asylum in Dublin--Ireland's introduction to institutional psychiatry 250 years ago].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reuber, M

    1995-09-01

    250 years ago, the satirical writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift from Dublin (1667-1745) founded the first Irish lunatic asylum. Rejecting the theories put forward by the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes and the doctor Thomas Willis, he was influenced by the ideas of the Scottish doctor and the "enlightened" thinker John Locke. Swift's St. Patrick's Hospital did not, however, realise a new philosophical concept: architecture and therapeutic approach of the new institution were clearly modelled on the much older Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem ( = Bedlam). Despite its conservative conceptual basis, the first institution dedicated to the mentally ill and intellectually subnormal in Ireland became a starting point for the apparantly unstoppable expansion of the, at one time, most comprehensive asylum system in the world. After Swift's Hospital had been enlarged twice at the tax-payers' expense (1778, 1793), the administration decided to relieve the institution by erecting the Richmond Asylum (1810), the first public asylum in Ireland. When this establishment also became overcrowded, in 1817, legislation was passed which led to the establishment of the oldest system of public asylums in Europe.

  5. The architecture of psychological management: the Irish asylums (1801-1922).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reuber, M

    1996-11-01

    This analysis examines some of the psychological, philosophical and sociological motives behind the development of pauper lunatic asylum architecture in Ireland during the time of the Anglo-Irish union (1801-1922). Ground plans and structural features are used to define five psycho-architectonic generations. While isolation and classification were the prime objectives in the first public asylum in Ireland (1810-1814), a combination of the ideas of a psychological, 'moral', management and 'panoptic' architecture led to a radial institutional design during the next phase of construction (1817-1835). The asylums of the third generation (1845-1855) lacked 'panoptic' features but they were still intended to allow a proper 'moral' management of the inmates, and to create a therapeutic family environment. By the time the institutions of the fourth epoch were erected (1862-1869) the 'moral' treatment approach had been given up, and asylums were built to allow a psychological management by 'association'. The last institutions (1894-1922) built before Ireland's acquisition of Dominion status (1922) were intended to foster the development of a curative society.

  6. No Time for Nostalgia!: Asylum-Making, Medicalized Colonialism in British Columbia (1859-97) and Artistic Praxis for Social Transformation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roman, Leslie G.; Brown, Sheena; Noble, Steven; Wainer, Rafael; Young, Alannah Earl

    2009-01-01

    This article asks: How have disability, indigenous arts and cultural praxis transformed and challenged the historical sociological archival research into relationships among asylum-making, medicalized colonialism and eugenics in the Woodlands School, formerly the Victoria Lunatic Asylum, the Provincial Asylum for the Insane in Victoria, BC 1859-72…

  7. Public health metaphors in Australian policy on asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koutroulis, Glenda

    2009-02-01

    To analyse the way in which a public health metaphor has been incorporated into Australian political practice to justify the exclusion or mistreatment of unwelcome non-citizens, giving particular attention to recent asylum seekers. Starting with a personal experience of working in an immigration detention centre and then drawing on media reports and published scholarship, I critique political rhetoric and policy on asylum seekers, arguing that the significance of a public health metaphor lies in its effectiveness in persuading the public that refugees and asylum seekers are a moral contaminant that threatens the nation and has to be contained. Acceptance of the metaphor sanctions humanly degrading inferences, policies and actions. Public health professionals therefore have a responsibility to challenge the political use of public health and associated metaphors. Substituting the existing metaphor for one that is more morally acceptable could help to redefine refugees and asylum seekers more positively and promote compassion in political leaders and the community.

  8. A Patient’s Tale of Incarceration in a Victorian Lunatic Asylum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carol Berkencotter

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Using the archival admissions records and the case history of a patient at a British asylum in the 1870s, the author compares two genres. The first of these is two medical certificates written and signed by two physicians attesting that the patient was of unsound mind and needed to be confined and treated. The second genre is the patient’s oral testimony to Parliament’s Select Committee on Lunacy Laws (1877, a narrative he delivered the year following his release from the asylum. Both genres are legal texts; however, it is the patient’s narrative of personal experience, as transcribed in the committee report, that allows the reader a glimpse of the misery imposed by confinement in a “lunatic” asylum. The two medical certificates have considerably more illocutionary force, however; as speech acts they most often resulted in confinement until the patient was determined to have recovered, was transferred to another asylum, or died.Utilizando el archivo de registros de admisión y la historia clínica de un paciente en un psiquiátrico británico de los años 1870, se comparan dos géneros. El primero consiste en dos certificados médicos escritos y firmados por dos psiquiatras certificando que el paciente estaba mentalmente incapacitado y necesitaba confinación y tratamiento. El segundo género se trata del testimonio oral del paciente ante el Parliament’s Select Committee on Lunacy Laws (1877, pronunciado al año siguiente de su alta. Ambos géneros son textos legales, sin embargo, es la narración de la experiencia personal del paciente, transcrita en el informe del comité, lo que permite obtener una visión de las miserias impuestas por el encierro en un sanatorio de lunáticos. Los certificados médicos tienen una fuerza ilocutiva considerablemente mayor, pero como actos del habla resultaban en la reclusión del paciente hasta que se determinaba su recuperación, su traslado a otro

  9. Lunate chondromalacia: evaluation of routine MRI sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bordalo-Rodrigues, Marcelo; Schweitzer, Mark; Bergin, Diane; Culp, Randall; Barakat, Mohamed S

    2005-05-01

    Chondromalacia is a commonly encountered abnormality at arthroscopy and may be responsible for significant clinical symptoms and disability. In the wrist, the most common location for chondromalacia is the lunate bone. Consequently, we sought to study the accuracy of clinical MRI in the assessment of lunate articular cartilage. MR images of 34 patients who underwent arthroscopy and had an MRI examination within 1 month of surgery were evaluated by two reviewers for the presence and location of lunate cartilage defects and subchondral edema. Lunate cartilage defects were seen on MRI in 10 of the 13 patients with chondromalacia, but these defects were also incorrectly noted in three of 21 of patients without chondromalacia. The visible locations for cartilage defects were the ulnar aspect of the proximal lunate bone (n = 3), radial aspect of the proximal lunate bone (n = 4), ulnar aspect of the distal lunate bone (n = 2), and radial aspect of the distal lunate bone (n = 1). Subchondral marrow edema was observed in six of the 10 patients with chondromalacia seen on MRI; in all six patients, the edema was seen in the same quadrant as the cartilage defect. Marrow edema was detected in one patient without chondromalacia. We conclude that lunate chondromalacia can be accurately assessed using routine MRI sequences, although there are occasional false-positive interpretations.

  10. Through the Looking-Glass: How Nineteenth Century Asylums Shaped School Architecture and Notions of Intellectual Abnormality Shaped Public Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roof, David J.

    2017-01-01

    This paper utilizes Henri Lefebvre's work to examine nineteenth century school architecture, in relation to asylums. The deployment of the asylums occurred in unison with the development of public schools. Based on archival research this paper seeks an examination of this interrelated development. The social/spatial arrangement of asylums and…

  11. 21 CFR 888.3750 - Wrist joint carpal lunate polymer prosthesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Wrist joint carpal lunate polymer prosthesis. 888.3750 Section 888.3750 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN... lunate polymer prosthesis. (a) Identification. A wrist joint carpal lunate prosthesis is a one-piece...

  12. Australian asylum policies: have they violated the right to health of asylum seekers?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, Vanessa

    2009-02-01

    Notwithstanding recent migration policy amendments, there is concern that Australian asylum policies have disproportionately burdened the health and wellbeing of onshore asylum seekers. There may be a case to be made that Australian governments have been in violation of the right to health of this population. The objective of this paper is to critically examine these issues and assess the implications for public health practice. The author undertook a review of the recent empirical literature on the health effects of post-migration stressors arising from Australian policies of immigration detention, temporary protection and the restriction of Medicare to some asylum seekers. This evidence was examined within the context of Australia's international law obligations. Findings reveal that Australian asylum policies of detention, temporary protection and the exclusion of some asylum seekers from Medicare rights have been associated with adverse mental health outcomes for this population. This is attributable to the impact of these policies on accessing health care and the underlying determinants of health for asylum seekers. It is arguable that Australian Governments have been discriminating against asylum seekers by withholding access on the grounds of their migration status, to health care and to the core determinants of health in this context. In so doing, Australia may have been in violation of its obligation to respect the right to health of this population. While the 'right to health' framework has much to offer public health, it is an undervalued and poorly understood discipline. The author argues for more education, research and advocacy around the intersection between heath and human rights.

  13. Differential diagnosis of the signal-compromised lunate in MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmitt, R.; Christopoulos, G.; Coblenz, G.; Froehner, S.; Brunner, H.; Kalb, K.; Krimmer, H.; Lanz, U.

    2005-01-01

    Purpose: To define both the underlying pathology and diagnostic criteria in lunates presenting with conspicuous signal pattern in MRI. Materials and Methods: The retrospective evaluation of 2940 MRI examinations revealed 203 patients with signal alterations of the lunate. All MRI examinations were performed on 1.5-Tesla platforms using dedicated surface coils and an intravenous contrast agent. To establish a definitive diagnosis, a total of 252 MRI examinations (49 follow-ups), 22 CT examinations and 4 arthroscopic studies were obtained in addition to the obligatory conventional radiographs. Results: Incorporating all clinical data, radiographs and MRI examinations succeeded in assigning a diagnosis in 136 signal-compromised lunates (67.0%), whereas additional diagnostic procedures or follow-up examinations were required for the definitive diagnosis in 57 cases (33.0%). The most frequent entities were 51 cases of Kienboeck's disease (25.1%), 47 cases of ulnolunate-(triquetral) impaction syndromes (23.2%) and 44 cases of intra-osseous ganglion cysts (21.7%). Other pathologies included 23 degenerative, 19 traumatic and 10 inflammatory changes as well as 9 congenital conditions. For MRI assessment of the altered lunate, the most important parameters were location and morphology as well as involvement of the articular and osseous structures of the carpus. Conclusion: The lunate may be affected by different pathological states of the wrist. In total, only one quarter of the signal-compromised lunate represented Kienboeck's disease. (orig.)

  14. The need for a rights-based public health approach to Australian asylum seeker health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durham, Jo; Brolan, Claire E; Lui, Chi-Wai; Whittaker, Maxine

    2016-01-01

    Public health professionals have a responsibility to protect and promote the right to health amongst populations, especially vulnerable and disenfranchised groups, such as people seeking asylum and whose health care is frequently compromised. As at 31 March 2016, there was a total of 3707 people (including 384 children) in immigration detention facilities or community detention in Australia, with 431 of them detained for more than 2 years. The Public Health Association of Australia and the Australian Medical Association assert that people seeking asylum in Australia have a right to health in the same way as Australian citizens, and they denounce detention of such people in government facilities for prolonged and indeterminate periods of time. The position of these two professional organisations is consistent with the compelling body of evidence demonstrating the negative impact detention has on health. Yet in recent years, both the Labour and Liberal parties-when at the helm of Australia's Federal Government-have implemented a suite of regressive policies toward individuals seeking asylum. This has involved enforced legal restrictions on dissenting voices of those working with these populations, including health professionals. This paper outlines Australia's contemporary offshore immigration detention policy and practices. It summarises evidence on asylum seeker health in detention centres and describes the government's practice of purposeful silencing of health professionals. The authors examine how Australia's treatment of asylum seekers violates their health rights. Based on these analyses, the authors call for concrete action to translate the overwhelming body of evidence on the deleterious impacts of immigration detention into ethical policy and pragmatic interventions. To this end, they provide four recommendations for action.

  15. Compound dorsal dislocation of lunate with trapezoid fracture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bong-Sung Kim

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available We report about a dorsal dislocation of the lunate accompanied by a trapezoid fracture in a 41-year old male patient after a motorcycle accident. The lunate dislocation with no dorsal or volar intercalated segment instability (DISI, VISI was diagnosed by x-ray whereas the trapezoid fracture was only diagnosable by computed tomography. A closed reduction and internal fixation of the lunate by two Kirschner wires was performed, the trapezoid fracture was conservatively treated. Surgery was followed by immobilization, intense physiotherapy and close follow-up. Even though complaints such as swelling and pain subsided during the course of rehabilitation, partial loss of strength and range of motion remained even after 16 months. In conclusion, a conservative treatment of trapezoid fractures seems to be sufficient in most cases. Closed reduction with Kwire fixation led to an overall satisfactory result in our case. For dorsal lunate dislocations in general, open reduction should be performed when close reduction is unsuccessful or DISI/VISI are observed in radiographs after attempted close reduction.

  16. Reconstructing Harry: a genealogical study of a colonial family 'inside' and 'outside' the Grahamstown Asylum, 1888-1918.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilbraham, Lindy

    2014-04-01

    Recent scholarship has explored the dynamics between families and colonial lunatic asylums in the late nineteenth century, where families actively participated in the processes of custodial care, committal, treatment and release of their relatives. This paper works in this historical field, but with some methodological and theoretical differences. The Foucauldian study is anchored to a single case and family as an illness narrative that moves cross-referentially between bureaucratic state archival material, psychiatric case records, and intergenerational family-storytelling and family photographs. Following headaches and seizures, Harry Walter Wilbraham was medically boarded from his position as Postmaster in the Cape of Good Hope Colony of South Africa with a 'permanent disease of the brain', and was committed to the Grahamstown Asylum in 1910, where he died the following year, aged 40 years. In contrast to writings about colonial asylums that usually describe several patient cases and thematic patterns in archival material over time and place, this study's genealogical lens examines one white settler male patient's experiences within mental health care in South Africa between 1908 and 1911. The construction of Harry's 'case' interweaves archival sources and reminiscences inside and outside the asylum, and places it within psychiatric discourse of the time, and family dynamics in the years that followed. Thus, this case study maps the constitution of 'patient' and 'family' in colonial life, c.1888-1918, and considers the calamity, uncertainty, stigma and silences of mental illness.

  17. Impaction-fracture of the capitate and lunate: a case report.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Ong, Joshua Chong Yew

    2012-08-01

    We report a 15-year-old girl who underwent a mid-carpal fusion for undiagnosed impaction-fractures of the capitate, lunate, and triquetrum after a fall on her outstretched left hand in a dorsiflexed and radially deviated position. The joint was dis-impacted, and the height of the lunate was restored using a cortical bone graft. The damaged proximal capitate articular surface was decorticated to facilitate fusion, as was the lunotriquetral articulation. Kirschner wires were inserted along the coronal plane. At the one-year follow-up, the patient had achieved a satisfactory range of motion and fusion of the capitate-lunate-triquetral articulations.

  18. Scaphoid and lunate movement in different ranges of carpal radioulnar deviation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Jin Bo; Xu, Jing; Xie, Ren Guo

    2011-01-01

    We aimed to investigate scaphoid and lunate movement in radial deviation and in slight and moderate ulnar deviation ranges in vivo. We obtained computed tomography scans of the right wrists from 20° radial deviation to 40° ulnar deviation in 20° increments in 6 volunteers. The 3-dimensional bony structures of the wrist, including the distal radius and ulna, were reconstructed with customized software. The changes in position of the scaphoid and lunate along flexion-extension motion (FEM), radioulnar deviation (RUD), and supination-pronation axes in 3 parts--radial deviation and slight and moderate ulnar deviation--of the carpal RUD were calculated and analyzed. During carpal RUD, scaphoid and lunate motion along 3 axes--FEM, RUD, and supination-pronation--were the greatest in the middle third of the measured RUD (from neutral position to 20° ulnar deviation) and the smallest in radial deviation. Scaphoid motion along the FEM, RUD, and supination-pronation axes in the middle third was about half that in the entire motion range. In the middle motion range, lunate movement along the FEM and RUD axes was also the greatest. During carpal RUD, the greatest scaphoid and lunate movement occurs in the middle of the arc--slight ulnar deviation--which the wrist frequently adopts to accomplish major hand actions. At radial deviation, scaphoid and lunate motion is the smallest. Copyright © 2011 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Reconstructing Harry: A Genealogical Study of a Colonial Family ‘Inside’ and ‘Outside’ the Grahamstown Asylum, 1888–1918

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilbraham, Lindy

    2014-01-01

    Recent scholarship has explored the dynamics between families and colonial lunatic asylums in the late nineteenth century, where families actively participated in the processes of custodial care, committal, treatment and release of their relatives. This paper works in this historical field, but with some methodological and theoretical differences. The Foucauldian study is anchored to a single case and family as an illness narrative that moves cross-referentially between bureaucratic state archival material, psychiatric case records, and intergenerational family-storytelling and family photographs. Following headaches and seizures, Harry Walter Wilbraham was medically boarded from his position as Postmaster in the Cape of Good Hope Colony of South Africa with a ‘permanent disease of the brain’, and was committed to the Grahamstown Asylum in 1910, where he died the following year, aged 40 years. In contrast to writings about colonial asylums that usually describe several patient cases and thematic patterns in archival material over time and place, this study’s genealogical lens examines one white settler male patient’s experiences within mental health care in South Africa between 1908 and 1911. The construction of Harry’s ‘case’ interweaves archival sources and reminiscences inside and outside the asylum, and places it within psychiatric discourse of the time, and family dynamics in the years that followed. Thus, this case study maps the constitution of ‘patient’ and ‘family’ in colonial life, c.1888–1918, and considers the calamity, uncertainty, stigma and silences of mental illness. PMID:24775428

  20. Bibliometric analysis of medicine - related publications on refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people: 2000 - 2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sweileh, Waleed M

    2017-03-20

    Wars and violent domestic conflicts have forced millions of people to move outside their homes. Meeting the basic health needs of those people requires an understanding of research activity and research output on this topic. The objective of this study was to shed light on the quantity and impact of medicine - related publications on refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people (IDP). Scopus database was used to retrieve required data. Specifically, the number of publications, top productive countries and institutions, highly cited articles, citation analysis, international collaboration, and journals involved in publishing articles on refugees, asylum seekers and IDP were reviewed and analyzed. The time span for the study was set from year 2000 to 2015. Two thousands five hundred and thirty publications were retrieved. The h-index of retrieved articles was 64. A steep rise in number of publications was noticed after 2011. Top productive countries were the United States of America, Australia and the United Kingdom. The American public health institute (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the United Nations refugee agency were among the top active organizations on this topic. Active journals in publishing on health of refugees, asylum seekers and IDP were those on mental health, psychology, public health and general medicine. Publications on Somali, Afghani, Iraqi, and Syrian refugees received a significant share of medicine-related publications. Analysis of publications based on region showed that publications on refugees from Middle East is rising sharply and is approaching those on African refugees. Bibliometric analysis reveals that research publications on refugees have been increasing in a dramatic way and articles are being published in journals with high impact factor and international reputation, not only in general medicine and public health, but also mental health and psychology journals. Analysis of publications related to

  1. Understanding the co-production of public services: the case of asylum seekers in Glasgow

    OpenAIRE

    Strokosch, Kirsty

    2013-01-01

    This thesis explores the co-production of public services in the case of asylum seekers in Glasgow. It makes contributions on the theoretical and empirical levels. First, it integrates two theoretical standpoints on co-production from the public administration/management and services management literatures. This integration forms the basis for the development of an original conceptual framework which differentiates three modes of co-production at the level of the individual ser...

  2. Graduate public health training in healthcare of refugee asylum seekers and clinical human rights: evaluation of an innovative curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asgary, Ramin

    2016-04-01

    An innovative curriculum was developed to equip public health students with appropriate attitude and skills to address healthcare of asylum seekers. Implemented in 2005 the curriculum included: (1) didactic sessions covering epidemiology and health sequelae of torture, asylum laws, and approaches to identify survivors' healthcare needs; (2) panel discussions with survivors and advocates; and (3) participating in medico-legal process of asylum seeking. Complementary mixed methods evaluations included pre- and post-curriculum questionnaires, formal curriculum evaluations, final papers and oral presentations. 125 students participated. Students showed improved knowledge regrading sequelae of abuse and survivors' healthcare needs (P health and human rights careers. As an advocacy and cultural competency training in public health practice addressing healthcare of refugees domestically, this curriculum was well received and effective, and will also help students better serve other similar populations. Population case-based domestic opportunities to teach global health and health and human rights should be effectively utilized to develop a well-equipped global health corps.

  3. Length of stay in asylum centres and mental health in asylum seekers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hallas, Peter; Hansen, Anne R; Staehr, Mia A

    2007-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The length of stay in asylum centres is generally mentioned as a possible health risk to asylum seekers. Medical staff working with asylum seekers has claimed that long lengths of stay in asylum centres might cause or aggravate mental disorders. We used records from a large, multiethnic...... specialists. If an asylum seeker needed more than three specialist consultations for mental illness or five consultations for physical illness the referrals had to be approved by The Danish Immigration Service. Between July 2001 - December 2002 the Red Cross prospectively registered health related data on all......: Length of stay in asylum centres was associated with an increase in referrals for mental disorders in a large, multiethnic group of asylum seekers. The present study supports the view that prolonged length of stay in an asylum centre is a risk factor for mental health. The risk of psychiatric illness...

  4. Palmar dislocation of scaphoid and lunate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Khalid Koulali Idrissi

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available A palmar dislocation of scaphoid and lunate is uncommon. We have found only 19 reported cases in the literature. We reported a simultaneous, divergent dislocation. The closed reduction followed by percutaneous pinning has given a good result without avascular necrosis of any carpal bone.

  5. Impact of asylum interviews on the mental health of traumatized asylum seekers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katrin Schock

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Asylum interviews within the asylum procedure are associated with psychological stress for traumatized asylum seekers. This study investigates the impact of asylum interviews on the mental health in a sample of 40 traumatized asylum seekers. The comparison group consisted of refugees (N=10 that had not been invited to an asylum interview. Additionally, the moderating effects of trial-related variables such as perceived justice of the trial, stress of giving testimony, and stress of waiting for the asylum interview were examined. Method: Participants were assessed on average 10 days before (t1 and 16 days after (t2 the asylum interview. Chi-square tests for dichotomous and categorical variables were used to compare the descriptive statistics of the two groups. To investigate symptom changes from t1 to t2, paired t-tests were calculated. The magnitude of effects was measured by Cohen's effect size d within groups. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted for demographic and trial variables predicting posttraumatic intrusions, avoidance, and hyperarousal. Results: Data showed a significant increase in posttraumatic intrusions and a significant decrease in posttraumatic avoidance and hyperarousal symptoms from t1 to t2. No significant symptom changes in the posttraumatic stress disorder subscales were found in the comparison group. The results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed perceived justice of the interview to predict the increase of intrusions and the number of experienced traumata and testimony stress to predict posttraumatic avoidance. Conclusions: The present findings underline the stressful impact of asylum interviews on traumatized refugees. They indicate that the asylum interview might decrease posttraumatic avoidance and trigger posttraumatic intrusions, thus highlight the importance of ensuring that the already vulnerable group of traumatized refugees needs to be treated with empathy during their asylum

  6. Public health ethics: asylum seekers and the case for political action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNeill, Paul M

    2003-10-01

    This paper is a case study in public health ethics. It considers whether there is a basis in ethics for political action by health professionals and their associations in response to inhumane treatment. The issue arises from Australia's treatment of asylum seekers and the charge that this treatment has been both immoral and inhumane. This judgement raises several questions of broader significance in bioethics and of significance to the emerging field of public health ethics. These questions relate to the role of health professionals in response to inhumane treatment of people in their charge; to the discipline of public health in light of a growing recognition of its ethical basis; and the role of public health and bioethical associations in response to ethical issues arising in a political context. It is argued that, in serious cases of humanitarian and human rights abuses affecting health and well-being, there is a case for political action by health professionals, academic and professional institutions, and associations of public health and ethics.

  7. The Asylum Centre as “Just Another Local Institution”

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Birgitte Romme

    2019-01-01

    This article investigates everyday practices of co-residency and ‘institutional neighbourliness’ amongst asylum seekers and local inhabitants in the small Danish town of Jelling. Where asylum centres in Denmark are sometimes faced with local opposition and are often isolated from nearby settlements...... an ethnographic exploration of how over time and outside of an urban, cosmopolitan setting processes of multiethnic co-residency are shaped, interacted, and narrated, through everyday physical meetings in public space. The article shows how local cultural history proves paramount for understanding the present......-day migratory encounter and outcome in Jelling in its complexity, including the mundane neighbourly routines and pragmatic workings through which the institutions of ‘the local community’ and ‘the asylum centre’ have spatially and socially merged. Today the asylum centre has become “just another local...

  8. The health status of asylum seekers screened by Auckland Public Health in 1999 and 2000.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hobbs, Mark; Moor, Catherine; Wansbrough, Tony; Calder, Lester

    2002-08-23

    Approximately 1500 to 1800 applications for refugee status are made to the New Zealand Immigration Service each year. Approximately one third of these asylum seekers receive health screening from Auckland Public Health. We report here key findings from this screening programme for the period 1999 to 2000. The files of patients attending the Auckland Public Health Protection Asylum Seekers Screening Clinic at Green Lane Hospital were reviewed. Data on demographics, medical examination, diagnostic testing and referrals were analysed. Nine hundred people, mainly from Middle Eastern countries, received screening. Important findings were: symptoms of psychological illness (38.4%); Mantoux skin test positivity ( 36.4%); active tuberculosis (0.6%); TB infection requiring chemoprophylaxis (18%) or chest X-ray monitoring (15%); gut parasite infection; carrier state for alpha and beta thalassaemia and the heterozygous states for HbS and HbE; incomplete immunisation; and the need for referral to a secondary care service (32.6%). Immigrant communities in New Zealand have special healthcare needs, as well as experiencing language barriers, cultural differences and economic difficulties. Healthcare providers should be alert to these needs. Appropriate resources are required to address these issues in a timely fashion.

  9. Length of stay in asylum centres and mental health in asylum seekers: a retrospective study from Denmark

    OpenAIRE

    Hallas, Peter; Hansen, Anne R; St?hr, Mia A; Munk-Andersen, Ebbe; Jorgensen, Henrik L

    2007-01-01

    Abstract Background The length of stay in asylum centres is generally mentioned as a possible health risk to asylum seekers. Medical staff working with asylum seekers has claimed that long lengths of stay in asylum centres might cause or aggravate mental disorders. We used records from a large, multiethnic group of asylum seekers to study if the incidence of mental disorders increased with length of stay. Methods The study population was asylum seekers in Danish asylum centres run by the Dani...

  10. Asylum grant rates following medical evaluations of maltreatment among political asylum applicants in the United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lustig, Stuart L; Kureshi, Sarah; Delucchi, Kevin L; Iacopino, Vincent; Morse, Samantha C

    2008-02-01

    Although many individuals applying for political asylum allege maltreatment and sometimes torture in their countries of origin, the utility of medical evaluations in asylum adjudication has not been documented. This study compares the asylum grant rate among US asylum seekers who received medical evaluations from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), with rates among asylum seekers who did not receive PHR evaluations. Retrospective analysis was carried out on all asylum cases referred to PHR between 2000 and 2004 for medical evaluations for which adjudication outcome was available. Basic demographic information was obtained: age, sex, country of origin, English language ability, US region where adjudication occurred, whether legal representation was pro bono, type of evaluation, provision of oral court testimony, and whether asylum seekers were in detention. Cases were analyzed descriptively and with chi square tests. Between 2000 and 2004, 1663 asylum seekers received medical evaluations from PHR; the adjudication status (either granted or denied) was determined in 746 cases at the time of the study. Of these cases, 89% were granted asylum, compared to the national average of 37.5% among US asylum seekers who did not receive PHR evaluations. Medical evaluations may be critical in the adjudications of asylum cases when maltreatment is alleged.

  11. Association of lunate morphology, sex, and lunotriquetral interosseous ligament injury with radiologic measurement of the capitate-triquetrum joint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Borgese, Marissa; Boutin, Robert D.; Chaudhari, Abhijit J. [University of California - Davis, Department of Radiology, Sacramento, CA (United States); Bayne, Christopher O.; Szabo, Robert M. [University of California - Davis, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sacramento, CA (United States)

    2017-12-15

    Radiologic presentation of carpal instability at the radial side of the carpus, e.g. scapholunate diastasis following scapholunate interosseous ligament injury, has been studied extensively. By comparison, presentation at the ulnar-sided carpus has not. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of lunate morphology, sex, and lunotriquetral interosseous ligament (LTIL) status on the radiologic measurement of the capitate-triquetrum joint (C-T distance). Further, we sought to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of C-T distance for assessing LTIL injuries. We retrospectively identified 223 wrists with wrist radiographs and MR arthrograms with contrast injection. Data collected included sex, lunate morphology and LTIL status from MR arthrography, and C-T distance from radiography. The effects of lunate morphology, sex, and LTIL injury status on C-T distance were evaluated using generalized linear models. Diagnostic performance of C-T distance was assessed by the area under receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUROC). Lunate morphology, sex, and LTIL injury status all had significant effects on C-T distance; wrists with type II lunates, men, and wrists with LTIL injuries had greater C-T distances than wrists with type I lunates, women, and wrists without LTIL injuries, respectively (p < 0.01). The diagnostic value of the C-T distance for identifying patients with full-thickness LTIL tears was sufficient for women with type I (AUROC = 0.67) and type II lunates (0.60) and good for men with type I (0.72) and type II lunates (0.77). The demonstrated influence of LTIL status on C-T distance supports the use of C-T distance as a tool in assessing for full-thickness LTIL tears. (orig.)

  12. Association of lunate morphology, sex, and lunotriquetral interosseous ligament injury with radiologic measurement of the capitate-triquetrum joint

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borgese, Marissa; Boutin, Robert D.; Chaudhari, Abhijit J.; Bayne, Christopher O.; Szabo, Robert M.

    2017-01-01

    Radiologic presentation of carpal instability at the radial side of the carpus, e.g. scapholunate diastasis following scapholunate interosseous ligament injury, has been studied extensively. By comparison, presentation at the ulnar-sided carpus has not. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of lunate morphology, sex, and lunotriquetral interosseous ligament (LTIL) status on the radiologic measurement of the capitate-triquetrum joint (C-T distance). Further, we sought to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of C-T distance for assessing LTIL injuries. We retrospectively identified 223 wrists with wrist radiographs and MR arthrograms with contrast injection. Data collected included sex, lunate morphology and LTIL status from MR arthrography, and C-T distance from radiography. The effects of lunate morphology, sex, and LTIL injury status on C-T distance were evaluated using generalized linear models. Diagnostic performance of C-T distance was assessed by the area under receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUROC). Lunate morphology, sex, and LTIL injury status all had significant effects on C-T distance; wrists with type II lunates, men, and wrists with LTIL injuries had greater C-T distances than wrists with type I lunates, women, and wrists without LTIL injuries, respectively (p < 0.01). The diagnostic value of the C-T distance for identifying patients with full-thickness LTIL tears was sufficient for women with type I (AUROC = 0.67) and type II lunates (0.60) and good for men with type I (0.72) and type II lunates (0.77). The demonstrated influence of LTIL status on C-T distance supports the use of C-T distance as a tool in assessing for full-thickness LTIL tears. (orig.)

  13. Length of stay in asylum centres and mental health in asylum seekers: a retrospective study from Denmark.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallas, Peter; Hansen, Anne R; Staehr, Mia A; Munk-Andersen, Ebbe; Jorgensen, Henrik L

    2007-10-11

    The length of stay in asylum centres is generally mentioned as a possible health risk to asylum seekers. Medical staff working with asylum seekers has claimed that long lengths of stay in asylum centres might cause or aggravate mental disorders. We used records from a large, multiethnic group of asylum seekers to study if the incidence of mental disorders increased with length of stay. The study population was asylum seekers in Danish asylum centres run by the Danish Red Cross. General medical care was provided by Red Cross staff who could refer selected cases to medical specialists. If an asylum seeker needed more than three specialist consultations for mental illness or five consultations for physical illness the referrals had to be approved by The Danish Immigration Service. Between July 2001 - December 2002 the Red Cross prospectively registered health related data on all new applications (n = 4516) to the Immigration Service regarding referrals to medical specialists. We used these records to analyse the association between length of stay in the asylum centres and overall rate of referral for mental disorders. Data was analysed using weighted linear regression. We found that referrals for mental disorders increased with length of stay in asylum centres in a large, multiethnic population of asylum seekers. The association was found in all the categories of psychiatric illness studied and for a majority of the nationality groups studied. Length of stay in asylum centres was associated with an increase in referrals for mental disorders in a large, multiethnic group of asylum seekers. The present study supports the view that prolonged length of stay in an asylum centre is a risk factor for mental health. The risk of psychiatric illness among asylum seekers should be addressed by political and humanitarian means, giving prevention of illness the highest priority.

  14. Length of stay in asylum centres and mental health in asylum seekers: a retrospective study from Denmark

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stæhr Mia A

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The length of stay in asylum centres is generally mentioned as a possible health risk to asylum seekers. Medical staff working with asylum seekers has claimed that long lengths of stay in asylum centres might cause or aggravate mental disorders. We used records from a large, multiethnic group of asylum seekers to study if the incidence of mental disorders increased with length of stay. Methods The study population was asylum seekers in Danish asylum centres run by the Danish Red Cross. General medical care was provided by Red Cross staff who could refer selected cases to medical specialists. If an asylum seeker needed more than three specialist consultations for mental illness or five consultations for physical illness the referrals had to be approved by The Danish Immigration Service. Between July 2001 – December 2002 the Red Cross prospectively registered health related data on all new applications (n = 4516 to the Immigration Service regarding referrals to medical specialists. We used these records to analyse the association between length of stay in the asylum centres and overall rate of referral for mental disorders. Data was analysed using weighted linear regression. Results We found that referrals for mental disorders increased with length of stay in asylum centres in a large, multiethnic population of asylum seekers. The association was found in all the categories of psychiatric illness studied and for a majority of the nationality groups studied. Conclusion Length of stay in asylum centres was associated with an increase in referrals for mental disorders in a large, multiethnic group of asylum seekers. The present study supports the view that prolonged length of stay in an asylum centre is a risk factor for mental health. The risk of psychiatric illness among asylum seekers should be addressed by political and humanitarian means, giving prevention of illness the highest priority.

  15. Perspectives on Erving Goffman's "Asylums" fifty years on.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adlam, John; Gill, Irwin; Glackin, Shane N; Kelly, Brendan D; Scanlon, Christopher; Mac Suibhne, Seamus

    2013-08-01

    Erving Goffman's "Asylums" is a key text in the development of contemporary, community-orientated mental health practice. It has survived as a trenchant critique of the asylum as total institution, and its publication in 1961 in book form marked a further stage in the discrediting of the asylum model of mental health care. In this paper, some responses from a range of disciplines to this text, 50 years on, are presented. A consultant psychiatrist with a special interest in cultural psychiatry and mental health legislation, two collaborating psychotherapists in adult and forensic mental health, a philosopher, and a recent medical graduate, present their varying responses to the text. The editors present these with the hope of encouraging further dialogue and debate from service users, carers, clinicians, and academics and researchers across a range of disciplines.

  16. Moral urbanism, asylum, and the politics of critique

    OpenAIRE

    Jonathan Darling

    2013-01-01

    The city of Sheffield was the UK’s first ‘City of Sanctuary’, an identification which suggested that the city would act to welcome asylum seekers and refugees through promoting a ‘culture of hospitality’. In this paper I seek to interrogate such claims and explore how the promotion of a language of hospitality marks a form of ‘moral urbanism’ through which the city is linked to specific values and obligations that enable the governmental ordering of responses to asylum. In exploring public st...

  17. Unicameral bone cyst of the lunate in an adult: case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gündeş, Hakan; Sahin, Mustafa; Alici, Tugrul

    2010-10-30

    We report a case of a symptomatic unicameral (simple) bone cyst of the lunate in a 42-year- old woman. The lesion was treated with curettage and cancellous autogenous iliac bone grafting. At five years of follow-up the wrist was pain free, there were no limitations of motion, and the radiographs showed complete obliteration of the cavity. To the best of our knowledge, no other unicameral bone cyst of the lunate has been reported in an adult. Cysts with significant cavities at the carpal bones in an adult should be approached cautiously, as they may require early curettage and bone grafting for healing, before collapse and degenerative changes occur.

  18. Unicameral bone cyst of the lunate in an adult: case report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alici Tugrul

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract We report a case of a symptomatic unicameral (simple bone cyst of the lunate in a 42-year- old woman. The lesion was treated with curettage and cancellous autogenous iliac bone grafting. At five years of follow-up the wrist was pain free, there were no limitations of motion, and the radiographs showed complete obliteration of the cavity. To the best of our knowledge, no other unicameral bone cyst of the lunate has been reported in an adult. Cysts with significant cavities at the carpal bones in an adult should be approached cautiously, as they may require early curettage and bone grafting for healing, before collapse and degenerative changes occur.

  19. Threatened or Threatening? How Ideology Shapes Asylum Seekers' Immigration Policy Attitudes in Israel and Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canetti, Daphna; Snider, Keren L G; Pedersen, Anne; Hall, Brian J

    2016-12-01

    Can different political ideologies explain policy preferences regarding asylum seekers? We focus on attitudes regarding governmental policy towards out-group members and suggest that perceptions of threat help to shape these policy attitudes. Study 1 compared public opinion regarding asylum policy in Israel ( N = 137) and Australia ( N = 138), two countries with restrictive asylum policies and who host a large number of asylum seekers; Study 2, a longitudinal study, was conducted during two different time periods in Israel-before and during the Gaza conflict. Results of both studies showed that threat perceptions of out-group members drive the relationship between conservative political ideologies and support for exclusionary asylum policies among citizens. Perceptions of threat held by members of the host country (the in-group) towards asylum seekers (the out-group) may influence policy formation. The effect of these out-groups threats needs to be critically weighed when considering Israeli and Australian policies towards asylum seekers.

  20. Threatened or Threatening? How Ideology Shapes Asylum Seekers’ Immigration Policy Attitudes in Israel and Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canetti, Daphna; Snider, Keren L. G.; Pedersen, Anne

    2016-01-01

    Can different political ideologies explain policy preferences regarding asylum seekers? We focus on attitudes regarding governmental policy towards out-group members and suggest that perceptions of threat help to shape these policy attitudes. Study 1 compared public opinion regarding asylum policy in Israel (N = 137) and Australia (N = 138), two countries with restrictive asylum policies and who host a large number of asylum seekers; Study 2, a longitudinal study, was conducted during two different time periods in Israel—before and during the Gaza conflict. Results of both studies showed that threat perceptions of out-group members drive the relationship between conservative political ideologies and support for exclusionary asylum policies among citizens. Perceptions of threat held by members of the host country (the in-group) towards asylum seekers (the out-group) may influence policy formation. The effect of these out-groups threats needs to be critically weighed when considering Israeli and Australian policies towards asylum seekers. PMID:28190933

  1. Asylum nursing in the UK at the end of the Victorian era: Hill End Asylum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brimblecombe, N

    2005-02-01

    This paper explores aspects of asylum care at the beginning of the 20th century. Archival materials from Hill End, the Hertford County Asylum, provide a single historical case study. The study focuses on the methods and standards by which asylum nursing was monitored and also examines aspects of the origins and work life of the nursing staff. Standards of care were monitored by a number of official bodies visiting the asylum, whilst the medical superintendent's role focused on the supervision and disciplinary control of nursing staff. Evaluation reports at the time were largely favourable in relation to the care given in Hill End Asylum. However, the reports were based on the relatively limited expectations of the time: primarily relating to the cleanliness, quietness and lack of overt complaints regarding care from patients. Further measures reported related to: death rates, wet beds, numbers of staff dismissed, together with the use of mechanical restraints and seclusion. Nursing staff in the asylum were not normally recruited locally and frequently stayed for only short periods of time. Training provided was very limited at Hill End although a national nurse training scheme was well established by this time. The nursing issues important within the asylum were common to all asylums at the time, and some are still significant today. This paper provides an insight into the historical development of the mental health nursing profession in the UK and its relationship with the medical profession. It also provides evidence that current attempts to monitor the quality of care through clinical governance processes are far from new.

  2. The Effect of Proximal Lunate Morphology “Zapico Classification” on Kienböck’s Disease

    OpenAIRE

    Davod Jafari; Hooman Shariatzadeh; Bahman Hosseini

    2017-01-01

    Background The Kienböck's disease (KD), even today, has many obscurities. Its etiologies as well as classifications are under constant change and debate, therefore we decided to define the effect of proximal lunate morphology on KD and its usefulness in evaluating the course of the disease. Objectives The purpose of this study is to compare the 3 different morphologies of the proximal lunate as defined by Antuna-Zapico (A-Z) in KD...

  3. 'Amusements are provided': asylum entertainment and recreation in Australia and New Zealand c.1860-c.1945.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacKinnon, Dolly

    2009-01-01

    This chapter examines the official 'entertainment', in all its forms, provided to inmates in Australian and New Zealand asylums--later mental hospitals--between c.1860 and c.1945. Visitors came into asylum grounds and patients were permitted periods of leave, all for the purposes of entertainment and recreation. Surviving recreation buildings, their grounds and institutional archives, bear silent witness to the noisy and lively recreational activities of past patients, staff and visitors. This chapter reconstructs these practices in twenty public and three private asylums from this period by examining a diverse range of sources, including archives, histories of asylums and newspaper articles.

  4. An Overview of Pending Asylum and Refugee Legislation in the US Congress

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melanie Nezer

    2014-05-01

    .While legislation is unlikely to pass in the near future, it remains important for members of Congress who believe in the importance a fair, effective, and humane asylum system and refugee resettlement program, to introduce and build support for asylum and refugee legislation. Provisions in bills that have already been introduced, like those in S. 744, are more likely to be included in legislation that is moving through Congress.  In addition, these bills demonstrate the continued interest of members of Congress in asylum and refugee issues and the need for reform. They also provide an important tool for advocates for education and outreach to Congress and the public.  

  5. Planning focus group interviews with asylum seekers: Factors related to the researcher, interpreter and asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eklöf, Niina; Hupli, Maija; Leino-Kilpi, Helena

    2017-10-01

    The aim of this article was to discuss factors related to the researcher, interpreter and asylum seekers when planning focus group interviews with asylum seekers. Focus group interview is one of the basic data collection methods in descriptive nursing and health research. It has been used in multicultural research, allowing an opportunity to participate without literacy and to have linguistic and cultural support from other participants. Asylum seekers form a specific, vulnerable group, and the growing number of asylum seekers increases the need for research related to them. A culturally, methodologically and ethically high-quality focus group interview is based on the researcher's special knowledge and skills, acknowledgement of asylum seekers as both individuals and part of cultural and communal groups, and careful planning of the interpreter's role during the interviews. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. A longitudinal study of change in asylum seekers Activities of Daily Living ability while in asylum centre

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morville, Anne-Le; Amris, Kirstine; Eklund, Mona

    Abstract WFOT Title: Occupational performance amongst asylum seekers in Denmark Introduction: Increased health problems are reported among asylum seekers, often related to torture, but there is no knowledge regarding occupational performance and whether there are any changes in asylum seekers...... changes in occupational performance and general health over time. Methods: At baseline 43 newly arrived asylum seekers, age 20-43, were consecutively enrolled in the study. All participants were assessed using AMPS and the questionnaires WHO-5, Major Depression Inventory, Pain Detect Questionnaire...... and the general health problems had increased. Further, the preliminary findings indicated an association between number of torture incidents and a decline in occupational performance and general health at follow-up. Conclusion: The findings showed that the asylum seekers had an occupational performance...

  7. Asylum seekers in Denmark--a study of health status and grade of traumatization of newly arrived asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masmas, Tania Nicole; Møller, Eva; Buhmannr, Caecilie; Bunch, Vibeke; Jensen, Jean Hald; Hansen, Trine Nørregård; Jørgensen, Louise Møller; Kjaer, Claes; Mannstaedt, Maiken; Oxholm, Annemette; Skau, Jutta; Theilade, Lotte; Worm, Lise; Ekstrøm, Morten

    2008-01-01

    An unknown number of asylum seekers arriving in Denmark have been exposed to torture or have experienced other traumatising events in their country of origin. The health of traumatised asylum seekers, both physically and mentally, is affected upon arrival to Denmark, and time in asylum centres leads to further deterioration in health. One hundred forty-two (N=142) newly arrived asylum seekers were examined at Center Sandholm by Amnesty International Danish Medical Group from the 1st of September until the 31st of December 2007. The asylum seekers came from 33 different countries, primarily representing Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Chechnya. Of the asylum seekers, 45 percent had been exposed to torture--approximately one-third within the year of arrival to Denmark. Unsystematic blows, personal threats or threats to family, degrading treatment, isolation, and witnessing torture of others were the main torture methods reported. The majority of the asylum seekers had witnessed armed conflict, persecution, and imprisonment. The study showed that physical symptoms were approximately twice as frequent and psychological symptoms were approximately two to three times as frequent among torture survivors as among non-tortured asylum seekers. However, even the health of non-tortured asylum seekers was affected. Among the torture survivors, 63 percent fulfilled the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, and 30-40 percent of the torture survivors were depressed, in anguish, anxious, and tearful in comparison to 5-10 percent of the non-tortured asylum seekers. Further, 42 percent of torture survivors had torture-related scars. Torture survivors amid newly arrived asylum seekers are an extremely vulnerable group, hence examination and inquiry about the torture history is extremely important in order to identify this population to initiate the necessary medical treatment and social assistance. Amnesty International Danish Medical group is currently planning a follow

  8. [Asylum in Switzerland. Some aspects of refugee migration].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolzman, C; Musillo, I

    1987-06-01

    "Switzerland is the European country which, after Sweden, has received the highest number of refugees (30,000) in proportion to its population. Asylum seekers have increased considerably since 1979. They are coming mostly from Third World, politically unsettled countries. The essay presents the results of a survey conducted in Geneva on a sample of 549 asylum seekers assisted by public welfare agencies from 1974 to 1983. These refugees belong to the younger age bracket of the active population. About half of them have completed their secondary or tertiary education. But their professional, social and cultural adjustment poses some problems. The vast majority of them, in fact, are employed in unqualified occupations in the tertiary sectors." (SUMMARY IN ENG) excerpt

  9. The Politics of Gender Asylum in the U. S.: Protection of Women Asylum Seekers in the Context of Global Inequalities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina Matešić

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the changes towards more gender-sensitive interpretations of refugee status in international and national asylum laws and policies within the context of contemporary and historical global power relations. It also analyzes the changes in the language that can be found in the international UNHCR guidelines for the protection of women asylum seekers, U.S. national guidelines for assessing gender-related asylum claims, and recent U.S. court decisions assessing the gendered claims of women. Among the analyzed court cases, the focus is on the 2005 Mohammed case due to its problematic court decision and legal interpretations. Finding the Western countries’ instrumentalization of the international refugee protection system crucial for understanding the contemporary asylum system and women asylum seekers, the argument connects the historical conditions with the way in which the protection of women refugees from “cultural” gendered violence has been articulated in asylum politics in the U.S. The author’s overall findings are that international law, governmental organizations, and liberal women’s human rights NGOs have shaped the international and national legal protection of (women asylum seekers in such a way that it reproduces global inequalities in its representation of “Third World” women and their culture, uses women asylum seekers fleeing from violence for the purpose of exercising Western cultural superiority, and covers up the restrictive and racist Western asylum politics towards immigrants and asylum seekers.

  10. Transition from an asylum seeker-specific health service to mainstream primary care for community-based asylum seekers: a qualitative interview study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fair, Genevieve L; Harris, Mark F; Smith, Mitchell M

    2018-03-15

    Transition of asylum seekers from special-purpose health services to mainstream primary care is both necessary and difficult. This study explores the issues encountered by asylum seekers undergoing this transition in Sydney, Australia. Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with nine asylum seeker patients and nine staff working in the sector. Asylum seekers faced significant challenges in the transition to mainstream primary care. Contributing factors included the complexity of health and immigration systems, the way in which asylum seeker-specific services provide care, lack of understanding and accommodation by mainstream general practioner (GP) services, asylum seekers' own lack of understanding of the health system, mental illness, and social and financial pressures. There is a need for better preparation of asylum seekers for the transition to mainstream primary care. Mainstream GPs and other providers need more education and support so that they can better accommodate the needs of asylum seeker patients. This is an important role for Australia's refugee health services and Primary Health Networks.

  11. Daily Occupations among asylum seekers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morville, Anne-Le

    2014-01-01

    which might even influence their identity. Such deprivation can eventually lead to dissatisfaction with everyday life and to occupational dysfunction, i.e. a decline in ADL ability. Asylum seekers are a group who are more likely to suffer from health problems than the background population. Especially...... torture survivors suffer from ill health. Pain and psychological symptoms are among the most frequent health issues for both asylum seekers and torture survivors and may cause occupation-related problems. The overarching aim of this thesis was to investigate how staying in an asylum centre influenced...... was to assess whether torture had an influence on the occupational satisfaction and performance, and whether this had changed after ten-months. Forty-three asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iran and Syria participated at baseline and ten months later 17 were available for inclusion in follow-up studies. Study I...

  12. Asylum vs sovereignty in the 21st century: How nation-state's breach international law to block access to asylum.

    OpenAIRE

    Campbell, John

    2015-01-01

    Asylum was created by the international community in the 20th century to provide legal protection to individuals fleeing persecution by nation states; but the ability to secure asylum has been fundamentally reshaped by sovereign national interests in the 21st century. This paper has two objectives. First it explores the various ways in which nation-states have adopted policies and pursued agendas which prevent asylum seekers from gaining access to countries of asylum, which criminalize many w...

  13. [Psychiatric expert opinions on asylum seekers in Germany].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sieberer, Marcel; Ziegenbein, Marc; Eckhardt, Gudrun; Machleidt, Wielant; Calliess, Iris T

    2011-01-01

    To investigate the frequency of traumatisation, suicidality and given diagnoses in expert opinions on asylum seekers and to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of this population. The psychiatric expert opinions on asylum seekers, furnished in an 8-year-period at Hannover Medical School, were analysed retrospectively for qualitative and quantitative characteristics. 62 psychiatric expert opinions on asylum seekers were included in this study. The asylum seekers originated from 18 different countries, mainly from Turkey and former Yugoslavia. Most expert opinions were given in secondary asylum procedures, i. e. after the initial asylum request had been rejected. The asylum seekers reported on traumatisation in 82.3 %. The most frequently reported forms of traumatisation were rape in female, and torture in male persons. According to ICD-10 or DSM-IV-R criteria posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was the most frequent diagnosis (74.1 %) in this study. The second most common diagnoses were depressive disorders (ICD-10: F32.x in 33.9 % and ICD-10: F33.x in 25.9 %). Suicidal tendency was found in 56.5 % of the asylum seekers. Cultural differences, language barriers, a heavy burden by psychological symptoms, and clinical severity are difficulties in the process of psychiatric assessment of refugees in legal asylum procedures. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  14. Transition from an asylum seeker–specific health service to mainstream primary care for community-based asylum seekers: a qualitative interview study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Genevieve L Fair

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Background and aim: Transition of asylum seekers from special-purpose health services to mainstream primary care is both necessary and difficult. This study explores the issues encountered by asylum seekers undergoing this transition in Sydney, Australia. Methods: Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with nine asylum seeker patients and nine staff working in the sector. Results: Asylum seekers faced significant challenges in the transition to mainstream primary care. Contributing factors included the complexity of health and immigration systems, the way in which asylum seeker–specific services provide care, lack of understanding and accommodation by mainstream general practioner (GP services, asylum seekers’ own lack of understanding of the health system, mental illness, and social and financial pressures. Conclusions: There is a need for better preparation of asylum seekers for the transition to mainstream primary care. Mainstream GPs and other providers need more education and support so that they can better accommodate the needs of asylum seeker patients. This is an important role for Australia’s refugee health services and Primary Health Networks.

  15. Exploring the relationship between postmigratory stressors and mental health for asylum seekers and refused asylum seekers in the UK.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Gareth; Melluish, Steve; Welham, Alice

    2017-01-01

    Numerous studies have linked the high rates of traumatic events experienced by refugees to the elevated rate of mental health problems in these populations. A growing body of evidence has also highlighted the importance of considering postmigratory stressors when making sense of displaced person distress. This study explored the relationship between mental health and postmigratory stress for asylum seekers and refused asylum seekers in Britain. The study further examined if those refused asylum experienced elevated distress and postmigratory stress compared to those awaiting the outcome of asylum applications. Results indicated that participants ( N = 97) had endured a range of pre- and postmigratory stressors and had high scores on measures of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. A postmigratory factor comprising items associated with isolation, restrictive policies, and stressors associated with having an insecure immigration status, was significantly associated with PTSD scores. This relationship remained when controlling for the variance accounted for by premigratory trauma predictors. Being refused asylum was the strongest predictor of depression and anxiety. Those refused asylum scored higher on a factor associated with barriers to accessing services. Social materialist theories of distress are drawn upon to contextualise the heightened vulnerability of those refused asylum. The paper concludes by emphasising the problems associated with taking an exclusively trauma-focussed approach when working with asylum seekers and argues for community orientated interventions to support displaced people to cope with the various stressors endured in exile.

  16. Transition from an asylum seeker–specific health service to mainstream primary care for community-based asylum seekers: a qualitative interview study

    OpenAIRE

    Genevieve L Fair; Mark F Harris; Mitchell M Smith

    2018-01-01

    Background and aim: Transition of asylum seekers from special-purpose health services to mainstream primary care is both necessary and difficult. This study explores the issues encountered by asylum seekers undergoing this transition in Sydney, Australia. Methods: Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with nine asylum seeker patients and nine staff working in the sector. Results: Asylum seekers faced significant challenges in the transition to mainstream primary care. C...

  17. A 'Scottish Poor Law of Lunacy'? Poor Law, Lunacy Law and Scotland's parochial asylums.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farquharson, Lauren

    2017-03-01

    Scotland's parochial asylums are unfamiliar institutional spaces. Representing the concrete manifestation of the collision between two spheres of legislation, the Poor Law and the Lunacy Law, six such asylums were constructed in the latter half of the nineteenth century. These sites expressed the enduring mandate of the Scottish Poor Law 1845 over the domain of 'madness'. They were institutions whose very existence was fashioned at the directive of the local arm of the Poor Law, the parochial board, and they constituted a continuing 'Scottish Poor Law of Lunacy'. Their origins and operation significantly subverted the intentions and objectives of the Lunacy Act 1857, the aim of which had been to institute a public district asylum network with nationwide coverage.

  18. Serbian migration policy concerning irregular migration and asylum in the context of the EU integration process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Stojić-Mitrović

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper I would like to present Serbian migration policy concerning irregular migration and asylum in the context of the attempts of the Serbian state to become a member of the European Union. I would describe the history of the asylum system prior and after the implementation of the independent asylum system in Serbia in 2008. My presentation of the Serbian migration policy would be channelled by the analysis of some particular political issues, such as the externalization of the EU borders’ control, as well as some relevant elements of the European integration process, like visa liberalization. The second, more culturally specific dimension of the issue would be accessed through the demonstration of both legislative and public conceptualizations of the irregular migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Serbia.

  19. Ethical aspects of medical age assessment in the asylum process: a Swedish perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malmqvist, Erik; Furberg, Elisabeth; Sandman, Lars

    2018-05-01

    According to European regulations and the legislations of individual member states, children who seek asylum have a different set of rights than adults in a similar position. To protect these rights and ensure rule of law, migration authorities are commonly required to assess the age of asylum seekers who lack reliable documentation, including through various medical methods. However, many healthcare professionals and other commentators consider medical age assessment to be ethically problematic. This paper presents a simplified and amended account of the main findings of a recent ethical analysis of medical age assessment in the asylum process commissioned by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. A number of ethical challenges related to conflicting goals, equality and fairness, autonomy and informed consent, privacy and integrity, and professional values and roles are identified and analysed. It is concluded that most of these challenges can be met, but that this requires a system where the assessment is sufficiently accurate and where adequate safeguards are in place. Two important ethical questions are found to warrant further analysis. The first is whether asylum seekers' consent to the procedure can be considered genuinely voluntary. The second is whether and how medical age assessments could affect negative public attitudes towards asylum seekers or discriminatory societal views more generally.

  20. People Seeking Asylum in Australia and their Access to Employment: Just What Do We Know?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caroline Fleay

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Public and political claims about the employment of people from a refugee background in Australia do not always reflect the research findings in this area. For example, recent claims by a senior Coalition Government Minister about people seeking asylum who arrived to Australia by boat during the previous Labor Government’s terms in office (2007-13 posit that many have limited employment prospects. However, given there is little research or government reporting on the experiences of asylum seekers who arrived during this time, and none that focuses specifically on their employment, there is no evidence to support this. A review of research on the employment experiences of people from a refugee background, and Australian policies, suggests a more nuanced picture. This includes research that found while initially people from a refugee background are more likely to be unemployed, have temporary jobs and lower incomes than other newly arrived immigrants, second-generation refugees have higher levels of labour market participation than the general population. Research also highlights that refugees may experience a range of barriers to accessing employment, including discrimination, and a review of Australian policies indicates these are likely to have exacerbated some of these barriers for asylum seekers who arrived to Australia by boat. In addition, given previous findings that public attitudes can be influenced by representations made in public and political discourses, the public statements of senior Ministers may be further deepening barriers to accessing employment faced by asylum seekers who arrived by boat.

  1. Should she be granted asylum? Examining the justifiability of the persecution criterion and nexus clause in asylum law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noa Wirth Nogradi

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The current international asylum regime recognizes only persecuted persons as rightful asylum applicants. The Geneva Convention and Protocol enumerate specific grounds upon which persecution is recognized. Claimants who cannot demonstrate a real risk of persecution based on one of the recognized grounds are unlikely to be granted asylum. This paper aims to relate real-world practices to normative theories, asking whether the Convention’s restricted preference towards persecuted persons is normatively justified. I intend to show that the justifications of the persecution criterion also apply to grounds currently lacking recognition. My main concern will be persecution on the grounds of gender.The first section introduces the dominant standpoints in theories of asylum, which give different answers to the question of who should be granted asylum, based on different normative considerations. Humanitarian theories base their claims on the factual neediness of asylum-seekers, holding that whoever is in grave danger of harm or deprivation should be granted asylum. Political theories base their justifications on conceptions of legitimacy and membership, holding that whoever has been denied membership in their original state should be granted asylum. Under political theories, Matthew Price’s theory will be discussed, which provides a normative justification of the currently recognized persecution criterion. The second section provides a descriptive definition of persecution based on Kuosmanen (2014, and evaluates the normative relevance of the different elements of this definition based on the theories presented previously. The third section is devoted to the examination of the normative justifiability of the nexus clause’s exclusive list of the bases (grounds upon which persons might be persecuted. The section argues that while the clause does not recognize that persecution might be based on gender, in fact many women experience harms based on

  2. Diplomatic asylum and the Assange case

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    den Heijer, M.

    2013-01-01

    This article traces the place and development of diplomatic asylum in international law in close connection with the more specific questions raised by the case of Julian Assange, who was granted asylum in the Ecuador embassy in London on 16 August 2012. After discussing the historical rise and

  3. Resilience among asylum seekers living with HIV

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    Orton Lois

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A small body of evidence demonstrates the challenges faced by migrant communities living with HIV but has yet to consider in-depth the experience of asylum seekers whose residency status is undetermined. The overall aim of our study was to explore the experiences of those who are both living with HIV and seeking asylum. This paper focuses on the stressors precipitated by the HIV diagnosis and by going through the asylum system; as well as participants’ resilience in responding to these stressors and the consequences for their health and wellbeing. Methods We conducted an ethnographic study. Fieldwork took place in the UK between 2008–2009 and included: 350 hours of observation at voluntary services providing support to black and minority ethnic groups living with HIV; 29 interviews and four focus group discussions with those who were seeking asylum and living with HIV; and 15 interviews with their health and social care providers. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method. Results There were three main stressors that threatened participants’ resilience. First, migration caused them to leave behind many resources (including social support. Second, stigmatising attitudes led their HIV diagnosis to be a taboo subject furthering their isolation. Third, they found themselves trapped in the asylum system, unable to influence the outcome of their case and reliant on HIV treatment to stay alive. Participants were, however, very resourceful in dealing with these experiences. Resilience processes included: staying busy, drawing on personal faith, and the support received through HIV care providers and voluntary organisations. Even so, their isolated existence meant participants had limited access to social resources, and their treatment in the asylum system had a profound impact on perceived health and wellbeing. Conclusions Asylum seekers living with HIV in the UK show immense resilience. However, their isolation

  4. An Overview of the Romanian Asylum Policies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oana Vasile

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Migration flows affecting Europe over recent years have generated a wave of solidarity but also fear and threats. European countries are divided into host countries or countries of transit due to their economic attractiveness but from the beginning, it was clear that asylum policies were far from similar and insufficiently flexible. Although Romania is considered as one of the transit countries for immigrants heading to Western Europe and it has not been confronted with an influx of refugees, it has developed specific policies in line with the acquis communautaire in order to be prepared for any situation of influx. The purpose of this research is to assess how asylum policies have been implemented in Romania and what improvements are necessary in order for them to become more sustainable. In Romania’s case, we used a SWOT analysis in our research methodology. This study aims to address relevant topics regarding the recent increasing trends of asylum applications and to analyse how the asylum policies in Romania can generate an adequate response. Furthermore, specialized institutions may consider our recommendations on how to improve the management of the asylum system in Romania.

  5. Ukrainian asylum seekers and a Polish immigration paradox

    OpenAIRE

    Marta Szczepanik; Ewelina Tylec

    2016-01-01

    The recognition rate for Ukrainian asylum seekers in Poland remains at an extremely low level, with the concept of ‘internal flight alternative’ serving as the legal basis for rejection of many asylum applications.

  6. Occupational deprivation in an asylum centre:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morville, Anne-Le; Erlandsson, Lena-Karin

    2013-01-01

    This article presents a study of three asylum-seeking men from Iran and Afghanistan. It aimed to explore how and if they experienced occupations as occupations in a Danish asylum centre and how their life experience shaped their choice and value of current occupations. In-depth narrative interviews...... explored the participants’ occupational history and its influence on their occupations in the asylum centre. A thematic analysis showed that the participants had been subjected to occupational disruption and deprivation by politically oppressive systems even before their flight. Their occupations...... in Denmark were to a certain extent influenced by their earlier occupations and the current occupational deprivation they all experienced was due to limited possibilities in the centre. Although they tried their best to fill their days and create structure, there was a loss of valued occupations...

  7. Usage of psychiatric emergency services by asylum seekers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reko, Amra; Bech, Per; Wohlert, Cathrine

    2015-01-01

    predominantly male and married. The group consisted primarily (61%) of failed asylum seekers. Most patients (81%) presented with relevant mental health problems. The main reasons for presenting to the acute psychiatric emergency service were suicidal ideation and/or behaviour (60%). The most frequent diagnosis...... by asylum seekers in Denmark shows some of the acute mental health needs asylum seekers present with. The findings of high levels of suicidal ideation and possible diagnostic difficulties are discussed, as well as possible improvements of the referral and psychiatric evaluation processes....

  8. Ukrainian asylum seekers and a Polish immigration paradox

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Szczepanik

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The recognition rate for Ukrainian asylum seekers in Poland remains at an extremely low level, with the concept of ‘internal flight alternative’ serving as the legal basis for rejection of many asylum applications.

  9. Problems Faced by Mexican Asylum Seekers in the United States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Anna Cabot

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Violence in Mexico rose sharply in response to President Felipe Calderón’s military campaign against drug cartels which began in late 2006. As a consequence, the number of Mexicans who have sought asylum in the United States has grown significantly. In 2013, Mexicans made up the second largest group of defensive asylum seekers (those in removal proceedings in the United States, behind only China (EOIR 2014b. Yet between 2008 and 2013, the grant rate for Mexican asylum seekers in immigration court fell from 23 percent to nine percent (EOIR 2013, 2014b. This paper examines—from the perspective of an attorney who represented Mexican asylum seekers on the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas—the reasons for low asylum approval rates for Mexicans despite high levels of violence in and flight from Mexico from 2008 to 2013. It details the obstacles faced by Mexican asylum seekers along the US-Mexico border, including placement in removal proceedings, detention, evidentiary issues, narrow legal standards, and (effectively judicial notice of country conditions in Mexico. The paper recommends that asylum seekers at the border be placed in affirmative proceedings (before immigration officials, making them eligible for bond. It also proposes increased oversight of immigration judges.

  10. The impact of a long asylum procedure on quality of life, disability and physical health in Iraqi asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laban, Cornelis J; Komproe, Ivan H; Gernaat, Hajo B P E; de Jong, Joop T V M

    2008-07-01

    Refugees in western countries often face long juridical procedures before their requests for a resident permit is granted. The, still scanty, literature shows high prevalence rates of psychopathology among asylum seekers, but there has been little interest for other impaired dimensions of health. The present study is part of a community-based mental health survey among Iraqi asylum seekers in the Netherlands, conducted between November 2000 and September 2001, on the risks of a long asylum procedure. The objectives of this study were to explore quality of life (QoL), disability and physical health and their relationships with psychopathology and pre- and post-migration variables. Two groups of pre-stratified (length of asylum procedure), randomly selected Iraqi asylum seekers (N = 143 and N = 151), were interviewed with fully structured, culturally validated questionnaires. Quality of life was examined with QoLWHO-Bref, functional disability with the Brief Disability Questionnaire and physical health with a newly developed questionnaire. Psychiatric (DSM IV) disorders were measured with the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview 2.1. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the relationships between the outcome measures and socio-demographics, adverse life events in Iraq, post-migration living problems (PMLP) and psychopathology. Respondents with a long asylum procedure reported significantly lower QoL, higher functional disability and more physical complaints. Multivariate regression shows that length of stay is the strongest predictor for a low overall QoL. In addition, lower QoL was predicted by psychopathology, higher age, adverse life events in the Netherlands and the PMLP-clusters: family issues, socio-economic living conditions and socio-religious aspects. Disability was predicted by psychopathology, higher age and the PMLP clusters: family issues and socio-religious aspects. Physical complaints were predicted by length of

  11. Overgeneral memory in asylum seekers and refugees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graham, Belinda; Herlihy, Jane; Brewin, Chris R

    2014-09-01

    Studies in western samples have shown that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression are associated with overgeneral autobiographical memory retrieval. This study assesses whether this association extends to asylum seekers and refugees from diverse cultural backgrounds. We discuss implications for those providing testimony of their experiences when seeking asylum. 38 asylum seekers and refugees were recruited through clinics and community groups. Clinical interviews assessed PTSD and depression and participants completed a test of autobiographical memory specificity. When accounting for omissions, participants with PTSD and depression recalled a lower proportion of specific memories. Those with PTSD also failed more frequently to report any memory. The sample did not permit separate evaluation of the effects of PTSD and depression on specificity. Lower memory specificity observed in people experiencing PTSD and depression in western populations extends to asylum seekers and refugees from diverse cultural backgrounds. This study adds to the literature suggesting that being recognised as a refugee fleeing persecution is more difficult for those with post-traumatic symptoms and depression. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. A state of limbo--in transition between two contexts: Health assessments upon arrival in Sweden as perceived by former Eritrean asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonzon, Robert; Lindkvist, Pille; Johansson, Eva

    2015-07-01

    National statistics have shown that only about 40% of asylum seekers actually attend the optional health assessment offered upon their arrival in Sweden, but the reasons for this have not been fully explored. Health assessments for newly arrived asylum seekers have become a regular practice in most EU countries, but what is performed, how it is organized and whether it is mandatory or not varies between countries. The aim of the study was to explore and improve our understanding of how former asylum seekers from Eritrea perceived and experienced the health assessment during their asylum-seeking process. We used a qualitative research approach guided by grounded theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 former asylum seekers from Eritrea. Data were analysed based on constant comparative analysis. The asylum seekers expressed feelings of ambiguity and mistrust and felt that they were seen only as objects by the Swedish healthcare system during their asylum-seeking process. Poor communication and inability to overcome language and cultural barriers seemed to be the most important findings in the narratives. The core category was defined as 'A state of limbo - in transition between two contexts'. There are reasons to believe that these issues with communication negatively affected both the quality of the health assessment and the number of asylum seekers attending the health assessment. Improved communication by the authorities towards the asylum seekers is, therefore, of vital importance. © 2015 the Nordic Societies of Public Health.

  13. Impact of national policy on the health of people seeking asylum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joels, Claire

    Recent Department of Health policy has modified the stage in the application process that people seeking asylum are entitled to free NHS health care. This has caused confusion, not only among asylum seekers and settled refugees, but also among healthcare professionals. In turn, this has led to increased difficulty for people seeking asylum in accessing healthcare services. This article identifies when in the process asylum seekers are entitled to free NHS care. It considers how current legislation and the government stance on immigration are having a negative effect on the health of people seeking asylum while they are in the U.K., and to what extent nurses and other health professionals can help.

  14. Emergency mental health nursing for self-harming refugees and asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Procter, Nicholas G

    2005-09-01

    This article describes the structure and function of emergency mental health nursing practice for self-harming refugees and asylum seekers on Temporary Protection Visas. Emergency nurses working in accident and emergency departments or as part of crisis intervention teams will see self-harming refugees and asylum seekers at the very point of their distress. This clinical paper is intended to support nurses in their practice should they encounter an adult asylum seeker needing emergency mental health care. Practical strategies are highlighted to help mental health nurses assess, care, and comfort refugees and asylum seekers in this predicament. Mental health nurses should, where possible, work closely with asylum seekers, their support workers, and accredited interpreters and translators to ensure the appropriate use of language when dealing with mental and emotional health issues without further isolating the asylum seeker from appropriate services. To help strengthen continuity and integration of mental health supports for refugees and asylum seekers, well-resourced care must be experienced as coherent and connected. A coherent, interdisciplinary and team-orientated approach will synthesize different viewpoints to shape clinical practice and create workable solutions in local situations.

  15. Tuberculosis screening and follow-up of asylum seekers in Norway: a cohort study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Garåsen Helge

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background About 80% of new tuberculosis cases in Norway occur among immigrants from high incidence countries. On arrival to the country all asylum seekers are screened with Mantoux test and chest x-ray aimed to identify cases of active tuberculosis and, in the case of latent tuberculosis, to offer follow-up or prophylactic treatment. We assessed a national programme for screening, treatment and follow-up of tuberculosis infection and disease in a cohort of asylum seekers. Methods Asylum seekers ≥ 18 years who arrived at the National Reception Centre from January 2005 to June 2006, were included as the total cohort. Those with a Mantoux test ≥ 6 mm or positive x-ray findings were included in a study group for follow-up. Data were collected from public health authorities in the municipality to where the asylum seekers had moved, and from hospital based internists in case they had been referred to specialist care. Individual subjects included in the study group were matched with the Norwegian National Tuberculosis Register which receive reports of everybody diagnosed with active tuberculosis, or who had started treatment for latent tuberculosis. Results The total cohort included 4643 adult asylum seekers and 97.5% had a valid Mantoux test. At least one inclusion criterion was fulfilled by 2237 persons. By end 2007 municipal public health authorities had assessed 758 (34% of them. Altogether 328 persons had been seen by an internist. Of 314 individuals with positive x-rays, 194 (62% had seen an internist, while 86 of 568 with Mantoux ≥ 15, but negative x-rays (16% were also seen by an internist. By December 31st 2006, 23 patients were diagnosed with tuberculosis (prevalence 1028/100 000 and another 11 were treated for latent infection. Conclusion The coverage of screening was satisfactory, but fewer subjects than could have been expected from the national guidelines were followed up in the community and referred to an internist. To

  16. The role of mental health professionals in political asylum processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meffert, Susan M; Musalo, Karen; McNiel, Dale E; Binder, Renée L

    2010-01-01

    Applying for asylum in the United States can be a strenuous process for both applicants and immigration attorneys. Mental health professionals with expertise in asylum law and refugee trauma can make important contributions to such cases. Not only can mental health professionals provide diagnostic information that may support applicants' claims, but they can evaluate how culture and mental health symptoms relate to perceived deficits in credibility or delays in asylum application. They can define mental health treatment needs and estimate the possible effects of repatriation on mental health. Mental health professionals can also provide supportive functions for clients as they prepare for testimony. Finally, in a consultative role, mental health experts can help immigration attorneys to improve their ability to elicit trauma narratives from asylum applicants safely and efficiently and to enhance their resilience in response to vicarious trauma and burnout symptoms arising from work with asylum seekers.

  17. [Asylum: the Huge Psychiatric Hospital in the 19th century U.S].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazano, Haruki

    2012-01-01

    The large-scale state psychiatric hospitals, referred to as "asylums," were built in the USA in the 19th century and generally have a bad reputation in Japan as institutions with an unpleasant environment for the patients. Asylums were not built for institutionalizing mental patients. The original meaning of the word asylum is a "retreat" or "sanctuary," and these institutions were originally built to act as sanctuaries for the protection of mental patients. The field of psychiatric medicine in western countries in the 19th century began to embrace the concept of "moral treatment" for mental patients, including no restraint of the patients and treating them in a more open environment. With this background, asylums were built according to the efforts of social activist Dorothea Dix with financial assistance from the Quakers. The psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Kirkbride had a large influence on asylum architecture, and believed that the hospital building and environment as well as location have healing effects on the patients, which he called the "therapeutic landscape". Kirkbridelater proposed an architectural plan that became the basis for subsequent mental hospital architecture, and many asylums were built according to this plan. As the architecture was considered part of the treatment, many leading architects and landscape architects at the time became involved in building asylums. In the later half of the 19th century, over 150 asylums were built across the USA. However, moral treatment fell out of favor toward the end of the 19th century, and the concept of therapeutic landscape was also neglected. The hospitals had many uncured patients, and caregivers became pessimistic about the efficacy of the treatments. Abuse and neglect of the patients were also common. The environment at the asylums deteriorated, which created the image of asylums that, we hold today. Many asylums have been demolished or abandoned. These early attempts at asylum failed due to insufficient

  18. Nutritional vulnerability seen within asylum seekers in Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Reilly, Sharleen; O'Shea, Tess; Bhusumane, Sibusiso

    2012-04-01

    To examine the extent of nutritional vulnerability seen in a cohort of asylum seekers in Australia. Twenty-one asylum seekers (15 males, 6 females) that used a food bank were interviewed over a 6 week period at the Melbourne based Asylum Seeker Resource Centre about foods consumed in the previous 24-h and any non food bank foods obtained. A basket audit was conducted after participants accessed the food bank on the day of interview, Participants obtained significantly less than the minimum requirements for the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating in the vegetables and legumes (P bank, their primary or sole food source. A high level of nutritional vulnerability was seen in this cohort due to their inability to meet minimum nutritional requirements from their primary food access point. Health professionals working with asylum seeker populations need to be aware of this issue and the resulting potential for longer term ill health as a consequence.

  19. Screening for infectious diseases of asylum seekers upon arrival: the necessity of the moral principle of reciprocity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beeres, Dorien T; Cornish, Darren; Vonk, Machiel; Ravensbergen, Sofanne J; Maeckelberghe, Els L M; Boele Van Hensbroek, Pieter; Stienstra, Ymkje

    2018-03-02

    With a large number of forcibly displaced people seeking safety, the EU is facing a challenge in maintaining solidarity. Europe has seen millions of asylum seekers crossing European borders, the largest number of asylum seekers since the second world war. Endemic diseases and often failing health systems in their countries of origin, and arduous conditions during transit, raise questions around how to meet the health needs of this vulnerable population on arrival in terms of screening, vaccination, and access to timely and appropriate statutory health services. This paper explores the potential role of the principle of reciprocity, defined as the disposition 'to return good in proportion to the good we receive, and to make reparations for the harm we have done', as a mid-level principle in infectious disease screening policies. More than half of the European countries implemented screening programmes for newly arrived asylum seekers. Screening may serve to avoid potential infectious disease risks in the receiving countries as well as help identify health needs of asylum seekers. But screening may infringe upon basic rights of those screened, thus creating an ethical dilemma. The use of the principle of reciprocity can contribute to the identification of potential improvements for current screening programmes and emphasizes the importance of certain rights into guidelines for screening. It may create a two way moral obligation, upon asylum seekers to actively participate in the programme, and upon authorities to reciprocate the asylum seekers' participation and the benefits for the control of public health. The authors argue that the reciprocity principle leads to a stronger ethical justification of screening programmes and help achieve a balance between justifiable rights claims of the host population and the asylum seekers. The principle deserves a further and more thorough exploration of its potential use in the field of screening, migration and infectious

  20. Asylum for persecuted homosexuals in the Republic of Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew Wolman

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Two recent successful claims for asylum suggest that the Republic of Korea may be prepared to serve in the future as an important country of asylum for those suffering persecution due to their sexual orientation.

  1. LGBTI asylum claims: the Central and Eastern European perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krzysztof Śmiszek

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Recent research indicates that CEE countries still lag far behind therest of Europe in their asylum practices in relation to LGBTI asylumclaims. Low levels of awareness, lack of guidance and cultural hostility are jeopardising asylum seekers’ prospects for fair treatment.

  2. When lives are put on hold: Lengthy asylum processes decrease employment among refugees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hainmueller, Jens; Hangartner, Dominik; Lawrence, Duncan

    2016-08-01

    European governments are struggling with the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, but there exists little evidence regarding how the management of the asylum process affects the subsequent integration of refugees in the host country. We provide new causal evidence about how one central policy parameter, the length of time that refugees wait in limbo for a decision on their asylum claim, affects their subsequent economic integration. Exploiting exogenous variation in wait times and registry panel data covering refugees who applied in Switzerland between 1994 and 2004, we find that one additional year of waiting reduces the subsequent employment rate by 4 to 5 percentage points, a 16 to 23% drop compared to the average rate. This deleterious effect is remarkably stable across different subgroups of refugees stratified by gender, origin, age at arrival, and assigned language region, a pattern consistent with the idea that waiting in limbo dampens refugee employment through psychological discouragement, rather than a skill atrophy mechanism. Overall, our results suggest that marginally reducing the asylum waiting period can help reduce public expenditures and unlock the economic potential of refugees by increasing employment among this vulnerable population.

  3. When lives are put on hold: Lengthy asylum processes decrease employment among refugees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hainmueller, Jens; Hangartner, Dominik; Lawrence, Duncan

    2016-01-01

    European governments are struggling with the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, but there exists little evidence regarding how the management of the asylum process affects the subsequent integration of refugees in the host country. We provide new causal evidence about how one central policy parameter, the length of time that refugees wait in limbo for a decision on their asylum claim, affects their subsequent economic integration. Exploiting exogenous variation in wait times and registry panel data covering refugees who applied in Switzerland between 1994 and 2004, we find that one additional year of waiting reduces the subsequent employment rate by 4 to 5 percentage points, a 16 to 23% drop compared to the average rate. This deleterious effect is remarkably stable across different subgroups of refugees stratified by gender, origin, age at arrival, and assigned language region, a pattern consistent with the idea that waiting in limbo dampens refugee employment through psychological discouragement, rather than a skill atrophy mechanism. Overall, our results suggest that marginally reducing the asylum waiting period can help reduce public expenditures and unlock the economic potential of refugees by increasing employment among this vulnerable population. PMID:27493995

  4. Cultural competence among nurse practitioners working with asylum seekers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Suurmond, Jeanine; Seeleman, Conny; Rupp, Ines; Goosen, Simone; Stronks, Karien

    2010-01-01

    Asylum seekers often have complex medical needs. Little is known about the cultural competences health care providers should have in their contact with asylum seekers in order to meet their needs. Cultural competence is generally defined as a combination of knowledge about certain cultural groups,

  5. Problems Faced by Mexican Asylum Seekers in the United States

    OpenAIRE

    J. Anna Cabot

    2014-01-01

    Violence in Mexico rose sharply in response to President Felipe Calderón’s military campaign against drug cartels which began in late 2006. As a consequence, the number of Mexicans who have sought asylum in the United States has grown significantly. In 2013, Mexicans made up the second largest group of defensive asylum seekers (those in removal proceedings) in the United States, behind only China (EOIR 2014b). Yet between 2008 and 2013, the grant rate for Mexican asylum seekers in immigration...

  6. Fake passports and appointed communities: Nation and transnationalism in the Danish asylum system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Whyte, Zachary

    2003-01-01

    Nationality underwrites a great deal of the Danish asylum process, and of the refugee regime as a whole. The housing and care of asylum seekers, handled by the Danish Red Cross, is based on classifications by nationality. Bending a phrase from Benedict Anderson, these might be called "appointed...... communities". While the Danish asylum system in principle performs individual determination procedures for asylum seekers, granting refugee status on a case-by-case basis, in practice those identified as Iraqi or Afghani have had a very high acceptance rate. However, it is clearly the case that not all asylum...... seekers have citizenship of the countries they claim to come from, or indeed feel they come from the countries of which they have citizenship. In this context, we must enquire about the mechanics of determining nationality and about how asylum seekers themselves relate to national identities. I argue...

  7. THE ASYLUM, BETWEEN HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE AND POLITICAL INSTRUMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CATRINEL BRUMAR

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available At 9 November 2010, the European Court of Justice, in a preliminary ruling, decided to depart from the interpretation promoted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in the matter of the application of the exclusion clauses. The European Court considered that no proportionality test between human rights protection and gravity of a crime is to be applied in the case of a person suspected of having committed an act contrary to the principles and purposes of the United Nations. By eliminating this test, the Court is sending a signal on rethinking the asylum institution, from a humanitarian tool that it became, to a political instrument. This decision could not be read alone; corroborated to the concerns already raised on the suitable use of the asylum instrument to address massive humanitarian needs, it would indicate a reorientation in the interpretation of international norms governing the refugee law. Still, the human rights organs and the European Court of Human Rights continue to refer to the asylum as a situation where a humanitarian perspective, reflected in the proportionality test, or for those mechanisms the risk of human rights violation probability test, is still valid. The two apparently divergent directions will need to converge in the implementation of the European Union regulations on asylum. This paper is exploring the possible reinterpretation of the European norms, trying to identify the new trends in the political perspective of asylum and the limitations to these trends that the respect for human rights is establishing.

  8. The Impact of Detention on the Health of Asylum Seekers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Filges, Trine; Montgomery, Edith; Kastrup, Marianne

    2016-01-01

    Objectives: This review assesses the evidence about the effects of detention on the mental and physical health and social functioning of asylum seekers. Method and Analysis: We followed Campbell Collaboration guidelines to conduct a systematic review. Meta-analytic methods were used...... to quantitatively synthesize the study results.  Results: Primary study effect sizes for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety, while the asylum seekers were still detained lies in the range 0.35–0.99, all favoring the nondetained asylum group. Author’s Conclusions: There is some evidence...... to suggest an independent adverse effect of detention on the mental health of asylum seekers. The conclusions should however be interpreted with caution as they are based on few studies. More research is needed in order to fully investigate the effect of detention on mental health....

  9. Head injury in asylum seekers and refugees referred with psychological trauma

    OpenAIRE

    Doherty, S.M.; Craig, R.; Gardani, M.; McMillan, T.M.

    2016-01-01

    Objective. Individuals who seek asylum are frequently fleeing violent persecution and may experience head injury (HI). However, little is known about the prevalence of HI in asylum seekers and refugees (ASR) despite the potential for HI to significantly affect cognitive and emotional functioning and to compromise asylum outcomes. This preliminary study investigates the prevalence of HI in ASR referred to a complex psychological trauma service. Method. Participants were 115 adult ASR referred ...

  10. Psychological evaluation of asylum seekers as a therapeutic process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gangsei, David; Deutsch, Anna C

    2007-01-01

    Torture survivors are often reluctant to tell their stories. They typically make every effort to forget this painful, traumatic experience. Often they do not share with family, friends or healthcare professionals the fact that they have been beaten, raped or subjected to electrical shocks and other terrors. Talking means retrieving memories, triggering the feelings and emotions that accompanied the torture itself. Furthermore, refugee torture survivors feel that people won't understand or believe their experiences. However, survivors who escape their country may need to reveal their torture experience as they apply for asylum in the host country. When they prepare for the asylum process, it may well be the first time that they talk about the torture. Mental health professionals are often called upon to evaluate survivors and prepare affidavits for the asylum process, documenting the effects of torture. This creates a unique and priviliged opportunity to help survivors to address the devastating consequences of torture. Winning asylum is essential to recovery for a torture survivor in a country of refuge. Psychological evaluations of the consequences of torture can present information and evidence to asylum adjudicators which significantly increases understanding of the survivors' background and experiences as well as their manner of self-presentation in the courtroom or interview. They can empower the torture survivor to present his/her experiences more fully and confidently. Even apart from winning asylum, the process of the evaluation has many potential benefits for the survivor's emotional well-being. This includes helping the survivor understand the necessity of telling the story, illuminating the often poorly perceived link between current emotional suffering and past torture, facilitating the development of cognitive and emotional control, and healing the wounds of mistrust, humiliation, marginalization and fear.

  11. Long-term follow-up of callotasis lengthening of the capitate after resection of the lunate for the treatment of stage III lunate necrosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hierner, Robert; Wilhelm, Klaus

    2010-04-01

    The callotasis lengthening technique was used to gradually lengthen the capitate after resection of the lunate in stage IIIa necrosis in 23 patients. Results of ten patients with a follow-up of at least 5 years showed rapid and sufficient callus formation in every patient regardless of age. The callotasis lengthening modification of the Graner II operation provides all advantages and avoids the major inconvenience of the traditional Graner II operation. There was no increased rate of disturbed fracture healing. Results of the DTPA-gadolinium MRI study did not show any significant impairment of vascularization within the region of the capitate bone. With the "intrinsic bone formation," contrary to every other intercarpal arthrodesis at the wrist, there is no need for an additional bone graft.

  12. From morality to madness: a reappraisal of the asylum movement in psychiatry 1800-1940.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosky, R

    1986-06-01

    This essay outlines the history of the asylum movement in psychiatry, but from a somewhat different angle than usual. It attempts to delineate the historical interactions between perceptions of morality and of madness. Changes in these interactions relate to the rise of the asylum movement, around 1800, and its demise, just after World War II. I argue that, whilst insanity was defined against the rational, secular morality of the eighteenth century, it could be separated from immorality and put aside into its asylum. Once mechanistic science and medical scientism began, during the nineteenth century, to include immorality in the systems of disease, the distinction could not hold. The asylums became flooded with the immoral, and management became custodial and nihilistic. This nexus was broken when the asylums were defined, by a few revolutionary superintendents, as instruments of social control. Nevertheless, intellectual paradigms derived from asylum psychiatry persist.

  13. Discursive Representations of Asylum Seekers and Illegal Immigrants in Ireland

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    Elaine Burroughs

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Migrants are often referred to as an all encompassing group of people and the “many faces of migration”, the variety of people, legalities and complexities involved, can be overlooked. The same can be said for non-EU migrants in the Irish context. Non-EU migrants (or those that are not Caucasian are generally viewed to be a distinct cohort of comparable migrants. Indeed, these migrants are often portrayed in a broadly negative way by key Irish institutions (such as the parliament or the media, and these representations impact upon how Irish society views non-EU migration and indeed migration in general. While Ireland is by no means the only European country in which this type of practice occurs, this paper aims to draw attention to generalized, inaccurate and misleading representations of non-EU migrants in Ireland, by specifically examining representations of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. There can be an overlap in how these “types” of migrants are conceptualized and this paper therefore aims to develop an understanding of the implications involved for migrants categorized as an “asylum seeker” or an “illegal immigrant.” Furthermore, these topics are under-researched within the Irish context, yet they receive much political and public attention. At the same time however, this paper aims to challenge the labels assigned to non-EU migrants and the terminology that is used to define their identity so concretely. In the Irish context there is much confusion in relation to the multiple “faces” of non-EU migration, as a range of terminology is used to refer to them. This terminology is often used in an interchangeable manner, in an array of societal contexts. There is a consistent (whether this happens intentionally or unintentionally is debatable misuse of categories and migration terminology in Irish institutional discourses. Quite often those seeking asylum are referred to as illegal immigrants and vice versa

  14. Multimorbidity in adult asylum seekers: a first overview.

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    Carmen A Pfortmueller

    Full Text Available PRINCIPALS: Over the last two decades, the total annual number of applications for asylum in the countries of the European Union has increased from 15,000 to more than 300,000 people. The aim of this study was to give a first overview on multimorbidity of adult asylum seekers. METHODS: Our retrospective Swiss single center data analysis examined multimorbidity of adult asylums seekers admitted to our ED between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2012. RESULTS: A total of 3170 patients were eligible for the study; they were predominantly male (2392 male, 75.5% versus 778 female, 24.5. The median age of the patients was 28 years (range 28-82. The most common region of origin was Africa (1544, 48.7%, followed by the Middle East (736, 23.6%. 2144 (67.6% of all patients were not multimorbid. A total of 1183 (37.7% of our patients were multimorbid. The mean Charlson comorbidity index was 0.25 (SD 1.1, range 0-12. 634 (20% of all patients sufferem from psychiatric diseases, followed by chronic medical conditions (12.6%, 399 and infectious diseases (4.7%, 150. Overall, 11% (349 of our patients presented as a direct consequence of prior violence. Patients from Sri Lanka/India most often suffered from addictions problems (50/240, 20.8%, p<0.0001. Infectious diseases were most frequent in patients from Africa (6.6%, followed by the Balkans and Eastern Europe/Russia (each 3.8%. CONCLUSION: The health care problems of asylum seekers are manifold. More than 60% of the study population assessed in our study did not suffer from more than one disease. Nevertheless a significant percentage of asylum seekers is multimorbid and exhibits underlying psychiatric, infectious or chronic medical conditions despite their young age.

  15. "Infiltrators" or refugees? An analysis of Israel's policy towards African asylum seekers

    OpenAIRE

    Campbell, John; Yaron, Hadas; Hashimshony-Yaffe, Nurit

    2013-01-01

    This article adopts a genealogical approach in examining Israeli immigration policy by focusing on the situation confronting African asylum seekers who have been forced back into Egypt, detained and deported but who have not had their asylum claims properly assessed. Based on immigration policies formulated at the time of Israeli independence, whose principle objective was to secure a Jewish majority state, we argue that Israel’s treatment of African asylum seekers as ‘infiltrators’/economic ...

  16. Image of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in the Media: An Evaluation on Media Politics

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    Suat Kolukırık

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available The case of refugees and asylum-seekers constitutes one of the most important problems of today’s developed and developing countries. Immigration and sanctuary which arise generally from economic causes have reached a more intensified state due to deficiencies in the process of democratization and establishment of an environment of peace. Although it is difficult to provide an exact number, it is observed that a population of more than 10 million people in the world today continue their lives outside their home countries and seek new environments for survival. It is known that refugee mobility follows a route from the south to northern countries and in the case of Turkey it is realized along the coastal lines and through east/south highways, and occupies a significant area of coverage in the Turkish printed media. This article aims to analyze and evaluate the media language and discourse on the lives of refugees or asylum seekers through the perspective of democratization and human rights. Critical discourse analysis will be used to analyze the main axes of enquiry which include the news released in the Turkish printed media on refugees and asylum seekers, the approach adopted in shaping such news coverage, the messages they convey, and their role in molding public opinion

  17. Turning Asylum Seekers into ‘Dangerous Criminals’: Experiences of the Criminal Justice System of those Seeking Sanctuary

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    Monish Bhatia

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Since the events of 9/11 in the US in 2001 and, four years later, the 7/7 London bombings in the UK, warnings of terrorist attacks are high on the public agenda in many western countries. Politicians and tabloid press in the UK have continued to make direct and indirect connections between asylum seekers, terrorism and crime. This has increasingly resulted in harsh policy responses to restrict the movement of ‘third-world’ nationals, criminalisation of immigration and asylum policy, and making the violation of immigration laws punishable through criminal courts. This paper largely highlights the narratives of five asylum seekers who committed ‘crime’ by breaching immigration laws and were consequently treated as ‘dangerous criminals’ by the state authorities. More importantly it shows how these individuals experienced this treatment. The aim of this paper is to give voice to the victims of state abuse, claim space for victim agency, gather victim testimonies, challenge official explanations and in the process confront criminal and racist state practices.

  18. Increase in imported malaria in the Netherlands in asylum seekers and VFR travellers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Gier, Brechje; Suryapranata, Franciska S T; Croughs, Mieke; van Genderen, Perry J J; Keuter, Monique; Visser, Leo G; van Vugt, Michele; Sonder, Gerard J B

    2017-02-02

    Malaria is a notifiable disease in the Netherlands, a non-endemic country. Imported malaria infections occur regularly among travellers, migrants and visitors. Surveillance data were analysed from 2008 to 2015. Trends in amounts of notifications among risk groups were analysed using Poisson regression. For asylum seekers, yearly incidence was calculated per region of origin, using national asylum request statistics as denominator data. For tourists, denominator data were used from travel statistics to estimate incidence per travel region up to 2012. A modest increase in overall imported malaria notifications occurred in 2008-2015 (from 222 in 2008 to 344 in 2015). Notably, in 2014 and 2015 sharp increases were seen in malaria among travellers visiting friends and relatives (VFR), and in asylum seekers. Of all Plasmodium falciparum infections, most (1254/1337; 93.8%) were imported from Africa; 1037/1337 (77.6%) were imported from Central and West Africa. Malaria in VFR was mostly caused by P. falciparum infection after visiting Ghana (22%) or Nigeria (19%). Malaria in asylum seekers was mostly caused by Plasmodium vivax infection from the Horn of Africa. The large number of notifications in asylum seekers resulted from both an increase in number of asylum seekers and a striking increase of malaria incidence in this group. Incidence of malaria in asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa ranged between 0.02 and 0.3% in 2008-2013, but rose to 1.6% in 2014 and 1.3% in 2015. In 2008-2012, incidence in tourists visiting Central and West Africa dropped markedly. Imported malaria is on the rise again in the Netherlands, most notably since 2013. This is mostly due to immigration of asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa. The predominance of P. vivax infection among asylum seekers warrants vigilance in health workers when a migrant presents with fever, as relapses of this type of malaria can occur long after arrival in the Netherlands.

  19. A Content Analysis on the Representation of Syrian Asylum Seekers in the Turkish Press

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    Müzeyyen Pandır

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available This article is a content analysis of the representation of Syrian asylum seekers in the Turkish press. The research sample includes news reports, columns and visuals published in 2014 in five national newspapers with the highest circulation figures (“Hürriyet”, “Sabah”, “Posta”, “Sözcü”, “Zaman”. The article is part of a larger research project, which is funded by TÜBİTAK, investigating the representation of Syrian asylum seekers between 2011 and 2015 in Turkish newspapers. Analysing news texts and columns is widely held in research projects. However, conducting a visual analysis on news photographs is usually overlooked. This study investigates news texts and news photographs together. The study shows that the coverage of Syrian asylum seekers has usually a positive or neutral content. However, the results also point out the ambivalence in the representations of asylum seekers. The representations of Syrian asylum seekers portray these individuals mostly as “poor” people “in need of help” as well as “threats” for social security. These frequently repeated representations and ambivalence show that the representation of Syrian asylum seekers in Turkish newspapers reproduces the stereotypical representation of asylum seekers as defined in international studies.

  20. Hospital and asylum visiting in historical perspective: themes and issues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mooney, Graham; Reinarz, Jonathan

    2009-01-01

    Compared to doctors, patients and institutions, visitors are an understudied constituency in medical history. The collection of essays in this book situates the historical practice of hospital and asylum visiting in broad social, cultural and geographical perspectives. This introduction loosely categorises visitors into four groups: patient visitors, including family and friends; public visitors, such as entertainers, tourists and the clergy, who have no direct formal ties with the institution or the patients; house visitors involved with the management and government of the hospital; and official visitors, who have inspectorial responsibilities. Discussion of the wider historical significance of visiting draws attention to issues such as urban governance, philanthropy, the public sphere, civil society and citizenship.

  1. Reproductive health care for asylum-seeking women - a challenge for health professionals

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    Zemp Elisabeth

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Dealing with pregnancy, childbirth and the care of newborn babies is a challenge for female asylum seekers and their health care providers. The aim of our study was to identify reproductive health issues in a population of women seeking asylum in Switzerland, and to examine the care they received. The women were insured through a special Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO and were attending the Women's Clinic of the University Hospital in Basel. We also investigated how the health professionals involved perceived the experience of providing health care for these patients. Methods A mixed methods approach combined the analysis of quantitative descriptive data and qualitative data obtained from semi-structured interviews with health care providers and from patients' files. We analysed the records of 80 asylum-seeking patients attending the Women's Clinic insured through an HMO. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 care providers from different professional groups. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively. Qualitative data analysis was guided by Grounded Theory. Results The principal health problems among the asylum seekers were a high rate of induced abortions (2.5 times higher than in the local population, due to inadequate contraception, and psychosocial stress due to the experience of forced migration and their current difficult life situation. The language barriers were identified as a major difficulty for health professionals in providing care. Health care providers also faced major emotional challenges when taking care of asylum seekers. Additional problems for physicians were that they were often required to act in an official capacity on behalf of the authorities in charge of the asylum process, and they also had to make decisions about controlling expenditure to fulfil the requirements of the HMO. They felt that these decisions sometimes conflicted with their duty towards the patient. Conclusion

  2. Treatment of Chechen IDPs, asylum-seekers and refugees in Europe

    OpenAIRE

    Rimmer, Clare

    2008-01-01

    In March 2007, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) launched updated Guidelines on the Treatment of Chechen Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Europe. This article analyses the treatment of Chechen IDPs, asylum seekers and refugees in Europe, concentrating on these groups of people from the Chechen Republic outside of the Russian Federation.

  3. Acute admissions among immigrants and asylum seekers to a psychiatric hospital in Norway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iversen, Valentina Cabral; Morken, Gunnar

    2003-09-01

    The purpose of the present study was to compare admission rates, including admission by coercion, length of hospital stay and diagnosis among immigrants, asylum seekers and Norwegian-born patients. All admissions (n=3053) to Østmarka Hospital during the period 1995-2000 were examined. A sample including all immigrants (94) and asylum seekers (39) as well as a control group of 133 Norwegians was analysed. Immigrants and Norwegians had the same relative risk of admission (1.07). The relative risk of admission was higher for asylum seekers compared to Norwegians (8.84). There were differences in the diagnoses given at discharge in the three groups of patients, both among men (chi2=22.33, df=6, pimmigrants. The number of admissions by coercion was highest among immigrants, and lowest among asylum seekers (chi2=12.03, df=2, pimmigrants, asylum seekers had high admission rates and low frequency of admissions by coercion. Schizophrenia was frequent among female immigrants admitted to hospital.

  4. The place of public inquiries in shaping New Zealand's national mental health policy 1858-1996.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brunton, Warwick

    2005-10-10

    This paper discusses the role of public inquiries as an instrument of public policy-making in New Zealand, using mental health as a case study. The main part of the paper analyses the processes and outcomes of five general inquiries into the state of New Zealand's mental health services that were held between 1858 and 1996. The membership, form, style and processes used by public inquiries have all changed over time in line with constitutional and social trends. So has the extent of public participation. The records of five inquiries provide periodic snapshots of a system bedevilled by long-standing problems such as unacceptable standards, under-resourcing, and poor co-ordination. Demands for an investigation no less than the reports and recommendations of public inquiries have been the catalyst of some important policy changes, if not immediately, then by creating a climate of opinion that supported later change. Inquiries played a significant role in establishing lunatic asylums, in shaping the structure of mental health legislation, establishing and maintaining a national mental health bureaucracy within the machinery of government, and in paving the way for deinstitutionalisation. Ministers and their departmental advisers have mediated this contribution. Public inquiries have helped shape New Zealand's mental health policy, both directly and indirectly, at different stages of evolution. In both its advisory and investigative forms, the public inquiry remains an important tool of public administration. The inquiry/cause and policy/effect relationship is not necessarily immediate but may facilitate changes in public opinion with corresponding policy outcomes long after any direct causal link could be determined. When considered from that long-term perspective, the five inquiries can be linked to several significant and long-term contributions to mental health policy in New Zealand.

  5. Medical and psychological examination of women seeking asylum: documentation of human rights abuses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laws, A; Patsalides, B

    1997-01-01

    Human rights abuses of women are ubiquitous throughout the world. Those perpetrated by governments entitle women to seek political asylum, and many women refugees do so in the United States. The asylum process often requires medical or psychological evaluations to corroborate women's reports of torture or other abuses. This article provides an overview of how to conduct such examinations and how to document findings for the asylum process.

  6. [Suicide and suicidal behavior among asylum seekers in Denmark during the period 2001-2003. A retrospective study].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staehr, Mia Antoni; Munk-Andersen, Ebbe

    2006-04-24

    Our aim was to examine suicidal behaviours among asylum seekers in Denmark. A retrospective quantitative analysis of data from reports to the Danish Red Cross Asylum Department on suicidal behaviours among persons over 15 years of age in the period 2001-2003 and from 54 medical records of suicidal asylum seekers in Denmark in 2001 was carried out. The number of suicide attempts by asylum seekers in 2001 was 3.4 times higher than by Danish residents. Furthermore, the rate of suicide attempts by asylum seekers grew in the following two years. Suicidal behaviours are most frequent among asylum seekers between 30 and 39 years of age. There are national differences. The preferred method of suicide attempt is intake of medicine. Stress-related diagnoses constitute three fourths of all diagnoses. One analysis suggests that the long waiting time (average 20.8 months) faced by asylum seekers combined with rejection of asylum cases may trigger a rapid suicidal reaction. Other factors may also be active, as 44% of suicide attempts occur within six months after arrival in the country. The results are discussed in relation to other research on the vulnerability of refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers and also in relation to length of waiting time, growing mental morbidity and the increasing number of rejections of asylum applications during recent years, a period characterized by a reduction of staff at the asylum centers. It is recommended that prevention of suicidal behaviour shall be given higher legal and administrative priority.

  7. Self-represented witnessing: the use of social media by asylum seekers in Australia's offshore immigration detention centres.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rae, Maria; Holman, Rosa; Nethery, Amy

    2018-05-01

    The act of witnessing connects audiences with distant suffering. But what happens when bearing witness becomes severely restricted? External parties, including the mainstream news media, are constrained from accessing Australia's offshore immigration detention centres. The effect is that people seeking asylum are hidden from the public and excluded from national debates. Some detainees have adopted social media as a platform to communicate their stories of flight, and their experiences of immigration detention, to a wider audience. This article examines the ways in which social media, and particularly Facebook, has facilitated what we call self-represented witnessing. We analyse two public Facebook pages to assess how detainees use such social media networks to document their experiences, and we observe the interaction between detainees, other social media users and mainstream media. Significantly, these social media networks enable detained asylum seekers to conduct an unmediated form of self-represented witnessing that exposes human rights abuses and documents justice claims.

  8. 8 CFR 1209.2 - Adjustment of status of alien granted asylum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Adjustment of status of alien granted asylum. 1209.2 Section 1209.2 Aliens and Nationality EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF REFUGEES AND ALIENS GRANTED ASYLUM § 1209...

  9. 8 CFR 209.2 - Adjustment of status of alien granted asylum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Adjustment of status of alien granted asylum. 209.2 Section 209.2 Aliens and Nationality DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF REFUGEES AND ALIENS GRANTED ASYLUM § 209.2 Adjustment of status of alien...

  10. Helping professionals and Border Force secrecy: effective asylum-seeker healthcare requires independence from callous policies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dudley, Michael

    2016-02-01

    To examine the Australian Border Force Act (BFA) and its context, its implications for asylum-seeker healthcare and professionals, and contemporary and historical parallels. Prolonged immigration detention and policies aiming to deter irregular migration cause maritime asylum-seekers undeniable, well-publicised harms and (notwithstanding claims about preventing drownings) show reckless indifference and calculated cruelty. Service personnel may be harmed. Such policies misuse helping professionals to underwrite state abuses and promote public numbing and indifference, resembling other state abuses in the 'war on terror' and (with qualification) historical counterparts, e.g. Nazi Germany. Human service practitioners and organisations recently denounced the BFA that forbids disclosure about these matters.Continuing asylum-seeker healthcare balances the likelihood of effective care and monitoring with lending credibility to abuses. Boycotting it might sacrifice scrutiny and care, fail to compel professionals and affect temporary overseas workers. Entirely transferring healthcare from immigration to Federal and/or State health departments, with resources augmented to adequate standard, would strengthen clinical independence and quality, minimise healthcare's being securitised and politicised, and uphold ethical codes. Such measures will not resolve detention's problems, but coupled with independent auditing, would expose and moderate detention's worst effects, promoting changes in national conversation and policy-making. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2016.

  11. Policies of access to healthcare services for accompanied asylum-seeking children in the Nordic countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandahl, Hinuga; Norredam, Marie; Hjern, Anders; Asher, Henry; Nielsen, Signe Smith

    2013-08-01

    Asylum-seeking children constitute a vulnerable group with high prevalence and risk for mental health problems. The aim of this study was to compare policies of access to healthcare services, including physical examination and screening for mental health problems on arrival, for accompanied asylum-seeking children in the Nordic countries. This study was based on the national reports "Reception of refugee children in the Nordic countries" written by independent national experts for the Nordic Network for Research on Refugee Children, supplemented by information from relevant authorities. In Sweden, Norway and Iceland, asylum-seeking children had access to healthcare services equal to children in the general population. On a policy level, Denmark imposed restrictions on non-acute hospitalisations and prolonged specialist treatments. Regarding health examinations, Sweden deviated from the Nordic pattern by not performing these systematically. In Denmark, Iceland, and some counties in Sweden, but not in Norway, screening for mental health problems was offered to asylum-seeking children. Access to healthcare services for asylum-seeking children differs in the Nordic countries; the consequences of these systematic differences for the individual asylum-seeking child are unknown. For asylum-seeking children, access to healthcare has to be considered in a wider context that includes the core conditions of being an asylum-seeker. A comparative study at policy level needs to be supplemented with empirical follow-up studies of the well-being of the study population to document potential consequences of policies in practice.

  12. Persecution Experiences and Mental Health of LGBT Asylum Seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hopkinson, Rebecca A; Keatley, Eva; Glaeser, Elizabeth; Erickson-Schroth, Laura; Fattal, Omar; Nicholson Sullivan, Melba

    2017-01-01

    Asylum seekers are a unique population, particularly those who have endured persecution for their sexual orientation or gender identity. Little data exist about the specific experiences and needs of asylum seekers persecuted due to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) identity. Quantitative data were gathered regarding demographics, persecution histories, and mental health of 61 clients from a torture survivors program in New York City who reported persecution due to LGBT identity. Thirty-five clients persecuted due to their LGBT identity were matched by country of origin and sex with clients persecuted for other reasons to explore how persecution and symptoms may differ for LGBT clients. LGBT asylum seekers have a higher incidence of sexual violence, persecution occurring during childhood, persecution by family members, and suicidal ideation. Understanding the type of persecution experiences and how these influence mental health outcomes is an essential step toward designing and delivering effective treatments.

  13. Safeguarding vulnerable families: work with refugees and asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burchill, John

    2011-02-01

    This paper will highlight one of the key findings of a qualitative study based on the analysis of in-depth interviews with 14 health visitors describing their experiences working with refugees and asylum seekers. Despite changes in government legislation to improve children's services in order to prevent harm to children, this recent study demonstrated that health visitors were working with the complexities of needs among refugees and asylum seekers related to safeguarding both children and vulnerable women. The health visitors often worked with families and individuals with no support from other professional services, they worked with failed asylum seekers who were unable to access other forms of support and they worked with women and children who were caught in a cycle of domestic abuse due to their immigration status. They were also working with families who would disappear from the systems in place to safeguard children.

  14. The psychiatric profession and the Australian government: the debate over collective depression syndrome among asylum-seeking detainees

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    William W Bostock

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available William W BostockSchool of Government, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, AustraliaAbstract: Psychiatrists have long had involvement with the political process, both individually and as a profession. They have made valuable contributions to debate over such issues as war, conflict, terrorism, torture, human rights abuse, drug abuse, suicide and other public health issues. However, they have also been complicit in some gross atrocities. Over several years there has been debate over the Australian Government’s treatment of asylum seekers, and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists took the unusual step of publicly criticizing the Australian Government’s policy on grounds of its toxicity leading to a diagnosis of collective depression syndrome, particularly among child detainees, but also adult detainees. The official Ministerial response was to deny that collective depression exists and to assert that the concept is meaningless. Can this intervention by psychiatrists be interpreted as a product of earlier political behaviors by psychiatrists? The willingness of psychiatrists to cooperate with other professions, notably psychologists, pediatricians, physicians and lawyers, is noted, as is presence of minority voices within the Australian psychiatric profession. The significance of the debate over the mental condition of asylum-seeking detainees is that its outcome has implications for how Australia sees itself and is seen by the rest of the world, that is, its national identity.Keywords: collective depression syndrome, psychiatric profession, political intervention, asylum seeker, Australian national identity

  15. Living Outside the Gender Box in Mexico: Testimony of Transgender Mexican Asylum Seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheney, Marshall K; Gowin, Mary J; Taylor, E Laurette; Frey, Melissa; Dunnington, Jamie; Alshuwaiyer, Ghadah; Huber, J Kathleen; Garcia, Mary Camero; Wray, Grady C

    2017-10-01

    To explore preimmigration experiences of violence and postimmigration health status in male-to-female transgender individuals (n = 45) from Mexico applying for asylum in the United States. We used a document review process to examine asylum declarations and psychological evaluations of transgender Mexican asylum seekers in the United States from 2012. We coded documents in 2013 and 2014 using NVivo, a multidisciplinary team reviewed them, and then we analyzed them for themes. Mexican transgender asylum applicants experienced pervasive verbal, physical, and sexual abuse from multiple sources, including family, school, community, and police. Applicants also experienced discrimination in school and in the workplace. Applicants immigrated to the United States to escape persistent assaults and threats to their life. Applicants suffered health and psychological effects from their experiences in Mexico that affected opportunities in the United States for employment, education, and social inclusion. Additional social protections for transgender individuals and antidiscrimination measures in Mexican schools and workplaces are warranted as are increased mental health assessment and treatment, job training, and education services for asylum seekers in the United States.

  16. Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B, C and HIV/AIDS in Asylum Seekers in Istanbul

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    Kadriye Kart Yaşar

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective:This study aimed to determine prevalence of hepatitis B, C and HIV/AIDS in asylum seekers in Istanbul, Turkey. Methods: The data about asylum seekers who applied in Istanbul between March 2008 and March 2010 were evaluated retrospectively. Demographic features and markers of blood borne infections (HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV results of asylum seekers were reviewed. Results: In total 3043 asylum seekers were included into the study. The leading origin countries of the refugees were from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan and majority of them (2328 people, 77% were male. The young adults between 25 and 45 years constituted the most crowded group. Overall prevalence of HCV, HBsAg and HIV/AIDS were 12.2%, 5.9% and 0.7%, respectively. The highest seropositivity rate for anti-HCV, HBsAg and anti-HIV were found in Georgian males (47.1%; in Moldovan males (13.2% and in Somali males (3.1%, respectively. Conclusion:Mostly asylum seekers who have migrated to our country were young adult males from Asia. The highest prevalence rate of HCV was found in Georgian males. Therefore, the increased potential of migration to our country along the recent years necessitates development of an appropriate health approach concerning asylum seekers. J Microbiol Infect Dis 2014;4(1: 20-25

  17. Governmental mobility : the power effects of the movement of detained asylum seekers around Britain's detention estate.

    OpenAIRE

    Gill, Nicholas

    2009-01-01

    This paper explores the ways in which mobility can have governmental effects in the context of the management of asylum seekers awaiting deportation from the UK. Drawing upon the case of Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre, a facility for the incarceration of immigration deportees near Oxford, the paper makes the case that the way asylum seekers are moved between detention centres within the UK has implications for the way they are represented to both asylum activists and asylum secto...

  18. Positive thinking elevates tolerance: Experimental effects of happiness on adolescents' attitudes toward asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tenenbaum, Harriet R; Capelos, Tereza; Lorimer, Jessica; Stocks, Thomas

    2018-04-01

    Inducing emotional reactions toward social groups can influence individuals' political tolerance. This study examines the influence of incidental fear and happiness on adolescents' tolerant attitudes and feelings toward young Muslim asylum seekers. In our experiment, 219 16- to 21-year-olds completed measures of prejudicial attitudes. After being induced to feel happiness, fear, or no emotion (control), participants reported their tolerant attitudes and feelings toward asylum-seeking young people. Participants assigned to the happiness condition demonstrated more tolerant attitudes toward asylum-seeking young people than did those assigned to the fear or control conditions. Participants in the control condition did not differ from participants in the fear condition. The participants in the happiness condition also had more positive feelings toward asylum-seeking young people than did participants in the control condition. The findings suggest that one way to increase positive attitudes toward asylum-seeking young people is to improve general emotional state.

  19. Avascular necrosis of the lunate bone (Kienböck’s disease) secondary to scapholunate ligament tear as a consequence of trauma – a case study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kulhawik, Dorota; Szałaj, Tomasz; Grabowska, Monika

    2014-01-01

    Avascular necrosis of the lunate bone (Kienböck’s disease), is a condition in which lunate bone, loses its blood supply, leading to necrosis of the bone. There is probably no single cause of Kienbock’s disease. Its origin may involve multiple factors, such as the blood supply (arteries), blood drainage (veins), and skeletal variations. Trauma, either isolated or repeated, may possibly be a factor in some cases. This case presented with multifactorial etiology. In the presented case, a patient with negative ulnar variant had injured her right wrist and presented at an orthopedic clinic due to nonspecific pain 6 months later. An arthro-MRI examination revealed necrosis of the lunate bone, scapholunate ligament tear and coexisting TFCC (triangular fibrocartilage complex) tear. Early diagnosis and treatment can prevent progression of necrotic lesions and bone collapse. MRI examination seems to be the key diagnostic method in the early stage of the Kienböck’s disease with negative x-ray and CT images. Arthro-MRI examination also allows us to identify the underlying ligamentous injury. In cases of traumatic etiology, an additional CT test enables stating the final diagnosis

  20. [The end of the asylum, a change in representations].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gelly, Frédéric

    Through the major changes which the psychiatric hospital has undergone throughout history, the question is raised of the identity of caregivers, what the psychiatric asylum provides as a response to mental illness, and the function of the asylum as a place for receiving and then caring for patients, within society. These radical changes, which undermine the narcissism of caregivers, have consequences both within the psychiatric hospital and society as a whole. Consequences which question the very notion of care in a post-modern society. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  1. Food refusal and insanity: sitophobia and anorexia nervosa in Victorian asylums.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Deth, R; Vandereycken, W

    2000-05-01

    Although anorexia nervosa emerged as a new syndrome in the second half of the 19th century, this clinical picture seemed to be unknown in the psychiatric hospitals or asylums. In asylum medicine, the commonly used concept of sitophobia to designate food refusal in the insane covered a wide variety of mental disturbances and cannot be plainly equated with anorexia nervosa. A major difference is the occurrence of hallucinations and delusions specifically centered around religion and digestion. Most probably, anorectic patients were not treated in asylums, but at home, in the doctor's office, or in general hospitals. This pattern may be partly attributed to the fact that both patients and doctors were focusing on symptoms of self-starvation like emaciation, constipation, and amenorrhea, which were primarily interpreted as referring to somatic diseases. Additionally, wealthy families probably preferred private care in water-cure establishments, sanatoria, and rest homes to the stigmatizing referral of their anorectic daughter to an asylum. Hence, the fact that late 19th-century institutionalized psychiatry was only incidentally confronted with anorexia nervosa may explain its lack of interest in the emerging syndrome. Copyright 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  2. ‚Getting Asylum Seekers into Employment‘? – Ein Allheilmittel für die Europäische Einwanderungspolitik?

    OpenAIRE

    Tausch, Arno

    2012-01-01

    The cross-national empirics of the international asylum system are in their infancy. While Hatton, 2009, and Neumayer, 2005, 2006a and 2006b provided important and valuable cross-national insights on the drivers of the asylum seeking process, as yet little is known in terms of hard-core evidence about the effects of asylum-driven migration processes on the recipient countries. But such analyses are necessary, since asylum plays such an important role in the overall South-North migration proce...

  3. Asylansøgeres muligheder for at komme i arbejde: Asylum seekers opportunities to enter the labour market

    OpenAIRE

    Al-Adhami, Adnan Ibrahim; Thøgersen, Dicte Bjarup; Mikkelsen, Laura Barfoed; Robrahn, Pernille Viola

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to highlight the challenges that asylum seekers meet in the asylum system, when they want to enter the labour market. Furthermore, this paper wants to examine the issues that are connected to these challenges, and whether it has an impact on the integration, when asylum seekers are left outside of the labor market. To investigate our research question we have primarily used interviews, including a qualitative research interview with an asylum seeker, Nora, and two...

  4. Central American victims of gang violence as asylum seekers: the role of the forensic expert.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Jesús-Rentas, Gilberto; Boehnlein, James; Sparr, Landy

    2010-01-01

    Individuals fleeing persecution have the right to asylum. This most fundamental right was guaranteed by the 1951 United Nations (UN) Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and was implemented in the 1967 UN protocol regarding refugee status. The United States codified refugee protection and the procedures for asylum in the Refugee Act of 1980, which was made part of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). In claiming refugee status, the burden of proof rests with the asylum seeker and is often a daunting task, given language and cultural barriers, lack of knowledge about U.S. legal procedures, and the reality that oppressive states do not document their intentions to persecute dissidents. Forensic psychiatrists may be asked to provide mental health assessment in immigration cases. In this article, an example of a Central American man with a nontraditional but increasingly common request for asylum is presented, the asylum process is described, and the role of the forensic psychiatric expert before the immigration court is explored.

  5. Humanitarian Power – Rough Care: National politics of asylum in the humanitarian (biopolitical framework

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duško Petrović

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Based on a short field research conducted at the refugee transit center in Slavonski Brod, the paper analyzes contemporary asylum policies in Croatia. The author is suggesting that the structure and function of a centre plays a crucial role in the securitization and humanitarization of the asylum policy. The analysis has shown that the asylum policy in Croatia has the same structure as the dominant asylum policies in Europe. Both of them oscillate between two poles: compassion and repression. Humanitarian policy in Croatia is more restrictive and is based on radical inequality, nationalism, racism, the suspension of rights and the normalization of structural violence. Due to its exclusive national focus, it will not provide any long term solutions for dealing with refugees in the future.

  6. Coercive Population Control and Asylum in the U.S.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Connie Oxford

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In 1980, China implemented one of the most controversial population policies in modern times. China’s one-child policy shaped population politics for thirty-five years until its dissolution in 2015. During this time, many women were subjected to routine gynecological examinations, pregnancy testing, abortions, and sterilizations, which were often forced upon them by family planning officials. Some women fled China and sought refuge in the United States after having experienced a forced abortion or forced sterilization or feared that they would be subjected to a forced abortion or forced sterilization. This article focuses on how the U.S. government responded to China’s one-child policy through the passage of immigration laws and policies that made asylum a viable option for Chinese nationals who had been persecuted or feared persecution because of coercive population control policies. Based on observations of asylum hearings and interviews with immigration judges and immigration attorneys, this article uses feminist ethnographic methods to show how China’s one-child policy and U.S. asylum laws shape the gender politics of reproduction and migration.

  7. Postnational or National Europe? European Asylum Policies and Immigration Controls

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vedrana Baričević

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the theories of the transformation of the modern functions of the nation state and the immigrant membership associated with the (legally defined status of community members exemplified by asylum policies. In the process, two fundamental approaches to the issue are distinguished: the first one emphasizing changes in the institution of the traditional national citizenship and competences of the nation state, while stressing a predominantly national character of the institution of citizenship, and the second one, which emphasizes the transformation of traditional citizenships, stressing the weakening of the role of the nation state. Therefore, in the latter case, there is increasingly more talk about postnationalism, which is a term denoting the transformation of the substantive aspects of citizenship in the EU countries. The mentioned theoretical approaches are applied to three groups of issues. First, the impact of the EU on the processes of the globalisation of the rights of asylum migrants are examined. Second, the paper works out the details of the way of formulating the policy of asylum membership in the EU member states. Third, the question of whether universal postnational inclusion of asylum migrants is at work in the EU member states, or whether the status of this group of immigrants should be found within the limits of the traditional theory of state membership and national sovereignty is addressed

  8. Antero-medial approach to the wrist: anatomic basis and new application in cases of fracture of the lunate facet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uzel, A-P; Bulla, A; Laurent-Joye, M; Caix, P

    2011-08-01

    The Henry approach is the classical anterolateral surgical exposure of the volar aspect of the distal radius. This approach does not allow good access to the medial side of the volar distal radius (lunate facet) and the distal radio-ulnar joint, unless it is extended proximally, retracting the tendons and the median nerve medially, which can cause some trauma. The purpose of our study was to investigate the anatomic basis and to outline the advantages of the unusual anteromedial approach, reporting our experience in the treatment of 4 distal radius fractures, with a 90° or 180° twist of the lunate facet, and 10 wrist dissections on cadavers. The average follow-up was 68.8 months (range 18 to 115 months). In our series, this approach did not cause any nerve injuries or any sensory loss of the distal forearm and the palm. All the fractures of the lunate facet and of the radial styloid process healed. One patient with an ulnar styloid process fracture associated showed pseudarthrosis, but with no instability of the distal radio-ulnar joint or pain on the ulnar side. Using the criteria of Green and O'Brien, modified by Cooney, the results were: excellent in two cases, good in one case, and average in another. The evaluation of arthritis according to Knirk and Jupiter's classification showed grade 0 in three cases and grade 3 in one case with osteochondral sclerosis. We showed that the anteromedial approach is reliable and convenient in the case of fractures situated in the antero-medial portion of the radius, for the double objective of reducing the fracture under direct control and checking the congruence of the distal radio-ulnar joint.

  9. The epidemiology of tuberculosis among asylum seekers in The Netherlands: implications for screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Burg, J L; Verver, S; Borgdorff, M W

    2003-02-01

    To identify low-risk groups among asylum seekers in the Netherlands that may be excluded from tuberculosis (TB) screening at entry or during follow-up. A retrospective cohort study of medical records of asylum seekers entering the country between January 1994 and March 1997. Medical records were available for 46,424 of the 96,000 asylum seekers (48%) in this period. One hundred and three pulmonary TB cases were diagnosed at entry (prevalence 222/100,000). Risk factors were age >11 years, history of imprisonment and country of origin at war or with TB incidence >100/100,000. During a mean follow-up period of 10 months, 51 pulmonary TB cases were diagnosed (incidence 134/100,000 person-years). Risk factors were age >11 years, old lesions on entry X-ray, and country of origin whose asylum seekers had a prevalence of TB at entry >200/100,000. We conclude that 1) those with abnormal X-ray at entry should receive preventive therapy after exclusion of active TB, or undergo intensive follow-up, 2) periodic screening is not indicated for immigrants from countries whose asylum seekers have a low prevalence of pulmonary TB at entry, and 3) children <12 years can be excluded from screening.

  10. The mental health needs of asylum seekers and refugees - challenges and solutions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sen, Piyal

    2016-05-01

    Global events like wars and natural disasters have led to the refugee population reaching numbers not seen since the Second World War. Attitudes to asylum have hardened, with the potential to compromise the mental health needs of asylum seekers and refugees. The challenges in providing mental healthcare for asylum seekers and refugees include working with the uncertainties of immigration status and cultural differences. Ways to meet the challenges include cultural competency training, availability of interpreters and cultural brokers as well as appropriately adapting modes of therapy. Service delivery should support adjustment to life in a foreign country. Never has the need been greater for psychiatrists to play a leadership role in the area.

  11. Negligible import of enteric pathogens by newly-arrived asylum seekers and no impact on incidence of notified Salmonella and Shigella infections and outbreaks in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, January 2015 to May 2016.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehlkes, Lutz; George, Maja; Knautz, Donald; Burckhardt, Florian; Jahn, Klaus; Vogt, Manfred; Zanger, Philipp

    2018-05-01

    IntroductionThe 2015 refugee crisis raised concerns about an import of infectious diseases affecting the German population. Aims: To evaluate public and individual health benefits of stool screening, and explore whether importation of enteric pathogens by newly-arrived asylum seekers impacts on the host population. Methods : We used data from mandatory stool screening to determine the overall, age, sex, and country-specific prevalence of enteric bacteria and helminths. We used surveillance data to assess whether the number of incoming asylum seekers influenced notifications of salmonellosis and shigellosis in Rhineland-Palatinate. Results : Salmonella were found in 0.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.2-0.3%) of 23,410 samples collected from January 2015 to May 2016. Prevalence was highest in children under 5 years (0.8%; 95% CI: 0.5-1.3%). No Shigella or invasive Salmonella spp. were detected. In a subset of 14,511 samples, the prevalence of helminth infestation was 2.4% (95% CI: 2.1-2.6%), with highest proportions detected in adolescents (4.6%; 95% CI 3.8-5.4%) and among Eritreans (9.3%; 95% CI: 7.0-12.0%); in the latter particularly Schistosoma mansoni and Taenia spp. The increase in asylum applications did not increase notifications of salmonellosis and shigellosis. No transmission from asylum seekers to German residents was notified. Conclusion : Public health risk associated with imported enteric pathogens is very low overall. Addressing individual and public health risks, we recommend replacing stool screening of all newly-arrived asylum seekers by a targeted approach, with target groups and approaches being adapted if necessary. Target groups supported by our data are children, adolescents, and Eritreans.

  12. Elevated hair cortisol concentrations in recently fled asylum seekers in comparison to permanently settled immigrants and non-immigrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mewes, R; Reich, H; Skoluda, N; Seele, F; Nater, U M

    2017-03-07

    Recently fled asylum seekers generally live in stressful conditions. Their residency status is mostly insecure and, similar to other immigrants, they experience stress due to acculturation. Moreover, they often suffer from traumatization and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). All of these factors can result in chronic maladaptive biological stress responses in terms of hyper- or hypocortisolism and, ultimately, illness. We believe the current study is the first to compare hair cortisol concentration (HCC) of recently fled asylum seekers with PTSD to those without PTSD, and to compare HCC of asylum seekers to HCC of permanently settled immigrants and non-immigrant individuals. HCC of the previous 2 months was compared between 24 asylum seekers without PTSD, 32 asylum seekers with PTSD, 24 permanently settled healthy Turkish immigrants and 28 non-immigrant healthy Germans as the reference group. Statistical comparisons were controlled for age, sex and body mass index. No significant difference in HCC was found between asylum seekers with and without PTSD. However, the asylum seekers showed a 42% higher HCC than the reference group. In contrast, the permanently settled immigrants exhibited a 23% lower HCC than the reference group. We found relative hypercortisolism in recently fled asylum seekers, but no difference between persons with and without PTSD. These findings add to the very few studies investigating HCC in groups with recent traumatization and unsafe living conditions. Contrary to the findings in asylum seekers, permanently settled immigrants showed relative hypocortisolism. Both hyper- and hypocortisolism may set the stage for the development of stress-related illnesses.

  13. Elevated hair cortisol concentrations in recently fled asylum seekers in comparison to permanently settled immigrants and non-immigrants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mewes, R; Reich, H; Skoluda, N; Seele, F; Nater, U M

    2017-01-01

    Recently fled asylum seekers generally live in stressful conditions. Their residency status is mostly insecure and, similar to other immigrants, they experience stress due to acculturation. Moreover, they often suffer from traumatization and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). All of these factors can result in chronic maladaptive biological stress responses in terms of hyper- or hypocortisolism and, ultimately, illness. We believe the current study is the first to compare hair cortisol concentration (HCC) of recently fled asylum seekers with PTSD to those without PTSD, and to compare HCC of asylum seekers to HCC of permanently settled immigrants and non-immigrant individuals. HCC of the previous 2 months was compared between 24 asylum seekers without PTSD, 32 asylum seekers with PTSD, 24 permanently settled healthy Turkish immigrants and 28 non-immigrant healthy Germans as the reference group. Statistical comparisons were controlled for age, sex and body mass index. No significant difference in HCC was found between asylum seekers with and without PTSD. However, the asylum seekers showed a 42% higher HCC than the reference group. In contrast, the permanently settled immigrants exhibited a 23% lower HCC than the reference group. We found relative hypercortisolism in recently fled asylum seekers, but no difference between persons with and without PTSD. These findings add to the very few studies investigating HCC in groups with recent traumatization and unsafe living conditions. Contrary to the findings in asylum seekers, permanently settled immigrants showed relative hypocortisolism. Both hyper- and hypocortisolism may set the stage for the development of stress-related illnesses. PMID:28267148

  14. Obesity in asylum seekers' children in The Netherlands - the use of national reference charts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stellinga-Boelen, Annette A. M.; Wiegersma, P. Auke; Bijleveld, Charles M. A.; Verkade, Henkjan J.

    2007-01-01

    Background: Growth assessment can be used to monitor health at individual and population level. For asylum seekers children with different geographic backgrounds, growth reference values are frequently not available. We assessed nutritional condition and growth of asylum seekers children upon

  15. LIFE IN A BACKPACK: THE EU’S ASYLUM POLICIES AND ITS IMPACT ON THE MACEDONIAN ASYLUM LEGISLATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angelina Stanojoska

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Starting the Arab spring in 2010 and going through the latest and ongoing Syrian conflict and crises, Balkans and Macedonian railways have been and are a place where many human destinies cross their paths walking to the Member States of the European Union. On the other side, Macedonia is struggling with an influx of refugees, finding itself in a status quo position, even looking as it does not know how to solve the situation. Migrants were killed on railways every day not being able to use any kind of public transportation; their smuggling became a normal business for organized crime groups; Macedonian citizens started to earn money on refugees’ misfortune. The paper using the comparative method and document analysis, gives an overview of the EU’s legislation in the area, its improvement and current impact on things, all of it concluded with the Macedonian legal solutions regarding asylum and authors’ recommendations.

  16. The Principle of Non-Refoulement and Access to Asylum System: Two Sides of the Same Coin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Goranka Lalić Novak

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The European Union and other countries on the Balkan route for migrants have recorded a large increase in the number of asylum seekers. In parallel with the increased number of refugees trying to enter the territory of the EU, measures for migration management have tightened, and the right to asylum at the level of the Member States has been interpreted more and more restrictive. Search for protection from persecution has become a reason for closing borders and disabling access to territory and asylum system. However, access to asylum system is the first step in the realization of the right to asylum as guaranteed by international, European and national law. In addition to allowing access to territory and asylum system, which implies an obligation of states to accept refugees in order to confirm the need for international protection in a fair and efficient procedure, the states are obliged to respect the principle of non-refoulement. The aim of this paper is to clarify the connection between providing access to asylum system and respect for the principle of non-refoulement. Analysis in the paper was done by legal-dogmatic method of research and interpretation of legal acts and other authorities, as well as of UNHCR relevant recommendations and documents. The assumption is that without the provision of access to territory and asylum system the principle of non-refoulement cannot be respected. Apart from the international refugee law and doctrinal interpretations, it derives from the practice of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the prohibition of torture or other inhuman treatment or punishment guaranteed by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The conclusion is that the states must take into account international and European standards regarding the protection of the principle of non-refoulement when considering the introduction of new measures to manage migration movements.

  17. Increasing prevalence of infectious diseases in asylum seekers at a tertiary care hospital in Switzerland.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Constantine Bloch-Infanger

    Full Text Available The increasing number of refugees seeking asylum in Europe in recent years poses new challenges for the healthcare systems in the destination countries. The goal of the study was to describe the evolution of medical problems of asylum seekers at a tertiary care centre in Switzerland.At the University Hospital Basel, we compared all asylum seekers during two 1-year time periods in 2004/05 and 2014/15 concerning demographic characteristics and reasons for referrals and hospitalizations.Hundred ninety five of 2'544 and 516 of 6'243 asylum seekers registered at the national asylum reception and procedure centre Basel were referred to the University Hospital Basel in 2004/05 and 2014/15, and originated mainly from Europe (62.3%, mainly Turkey and Africa (49.1%, mainly Eritrea, respectively. Median age was similar in both study periods (26.9 and 26.2 years. Infectious diseases in asylum seekers increased from 22.6% to 36.6% (p<0.001 and were the main reasons for hospitalizations (33.3% of 45 and 55.6% of 81 hospitalized patients, p = 0.017 in 2004/05 compared to 2014/15. The leading infectious diseases in hospitalized patients were tuberculosis (n = 4 and bacterial skin infections (n = 2 in 2004/05; Malaria (n = 9, pneumonia (n = 6, Chickenpox (n = 5, other viral infections (n = 5 and bacterial skin infections (n = 5 in 2014/15. Infectious diseases like malaria, cutaneous diphtheria, louseborne-relapsing fever or scabies were only found in the second study period. Almost one third of the admitted asylum seekers required isolation precautions with median duration of 6-9.5 days in both study periods.The changing demography of asylum seekers arriving in Switzerland in the current refugee crisis has led to a shift in disease patterns with an increase of infectious diseases and the re-emergence of migration-associated neglected infections. Physicians should be aware of these new challenges.

  18. Lunatic fringe-mediated Notch signaling regulates adult hippocampal neural stem cell maintenance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semerci, Fatih; Choi, William Tin-Shing; Bajic, Aleksandar; Thakkar, Aarohi; Encinas, Juan Manuel; Depreux, Frederic; Segil, Neil; Groves, Andrew K; Maletic-Savatic, Mirjana

    2017-07-12

    Hippocampal neural stem cells (NSCs) integrate inputs from multiple sources to balance quiescence and activation. Notch signaling plays a key role during this process. Here, we report that Lunatic fringe ( Lfng), a key modifier of the Notch receptor, is selectively expressed in NSCs. Further, Lfng in NSCs and Notch ligands Delta1 and Jagged1, expressed by their progeny, together influence NSC recruitment, cell cycle duration, and terminal fate. We propose a new model in which Lfng-mediated Notch signaling enables direct communication between a NSC and its descendants, so that progeny can send feedback signals to the 'mother' cell to modify its cell cycle status. Lfng-mediated Notch signaling appears to be a key factor governing NSC quiescence, division, and fate.

  19. Pedagogical work with asylum-seeking and refugee children in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moldenhawer, Bolette

    Interpersonal and emotional aspects of pedagogical work have during the last decades been of great interest among educational researchers. This paper offers an analysis of social and moral dimensions of education by using professional interactions with asylum-seeking and refugee children...... as a privileged prism through which to study the emotional aspects of pedagogical work. The paper argues that the link between education and emotion is well addressed by considering the positioning of asylum-seeking and refugee children as a particularly vulnerable group characterized by anxiety and insecurity...

  20. Coercion, prohibition and great expectations: The continuing failure of the Common European Asylum System

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    den Heijer, M.; Rijpma, J.; Spijkerboer, T.

    2016-01-01

    This contribution explains the European asylum policy crisis from three structural weaknesses of the Common European Asylum System: its reliance on coercion within the EU, its unrealistic expectations of what borders can achieve and the premise of prohibition of refugee movement in its external

  1. Refugees at Our Border. The U.S. Response to Asylum Seekers. Issue Brief.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frelick, Bill

    This report examines the background of and the newest developments in U.S. asylum policy in relation to Haitian, Central American, and Vietnamese refugees. The following background areas are explored: (1) the change in policy to stop the influx of asylum seekers; and (2) internal policy debate at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)…

  2. The Diplomatic Asylum: From Haya De La Torre to The "WikiLeaks" Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agustina Vázquez

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The WikiLeaks’ founder represents not only a challenge to freedom of information, but also to International Law related to the diplomatic asylum. Julian Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for five years. In the last weeks, news surfaced that Sweden has ceased to request his extradition, the fact that caused much of the case under study. Assange’s situation seems to be diametrically different from Edward Snowden’s; however, both are labeled as "refugees for political reasons". While Assange looks forward to an improvement in his situation in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Snowden still lives in Russia. Is the diplomatic asylum a usual practice? How to understand the diplomatic asylum in Latin America? What about England? In this paper, the analysis will assume that the concept of asylum is not recognized as a universal practice of International Law. However, in Latin America, it seems to be a usual practice since the judgment of the International Court of Justice on Haya de la Torre’s case.

  3. Post-deportation risks for failed asylum seekers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jill Alpes

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available What happens to people who are deported after their asylum applications have failed? Many who are deported are at risk of harm when they return to their country of origin but there is little monitoring done of deportation outcomes.

  4. Adaptation of Harvard Trauma questionnaire for working with refugees and asylum seekers in Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vukčević Maša

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The number of refugees and asylum seekers in Serbia is significantly increasing. Many have experienced traumatic events and suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder and depression. In order to provide them with adequate assistance, caregivers need adjusted assessment tools. The main goal of this research was the adaptation of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire for working with refugees and asylum seekers in Serbia. A total of 16 focus groups were interviewed in two phases in order to create an adequate list of traumatic events for this population. The adapted list was subsequently administered to 226 persons seeking asylum in Serbia, along with the remaining parts of HTQ, HSCL-25 and BDI-II. Results show that the adapted list of traumatic events, as well as a shorter version, has good validity and other metric properties. The adaptation of the first assessment tool for working with refugees and asylum seekers in Serbia has significant practical implications.

  5. Cure and guard. Chronicity in Insane Asylum La Castañeda, Mexico City, 1910-1968

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Sacristán

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article questions the binomial that associates the chronicity and incurability of mental illness with the custodialism of the asylum through a case study, Asylum La Castañeda in Mexico, from 1910 to 1968. We contrast the discourses about the cure and chronicity constructed by Mexican psychiatrists and the statistical trends of patients admitted: new admissions, readmissions, discharges, length of stay, and diagnoses in the light of new treatments. We concluded that according to the doctors, the asylum therapeutic function was severely affected by chronicity and overpopulation, but according to statistics, 80% of the patients had only one admission with a 15-month hospitalization and the long-term confinement rates of readmissions did not impact statistically; two-thirds of the patients left the asylum, and since the 1950s in the context of new therapeutics.

  6. The oral health of refugees and asylum seekers: a scoping review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keboa, Mark Tambe; Hiles, Natalie; Macdonald, Mary Ellen

    2016-10-07

    Improving the oral health of refugees and asylum seekers is a global priority, yet little is known about the overall burden of oral diseases and their causes for this population. To synthesize available evidence on the oral health of, and access to oral health care by this population. Using a scoping review methodology, we retrieved 3321 records from eight databases and grey literature; 44 publications met the following inclusion criteria: empirical research focused on refugees and/or asylum seekers' oral health, published between 1990 and 2014 in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish. Analysis included descriptive and thematic analysis, as well as critical appraisal using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) criteria for quantitative and qualitative studies. The majority of publications (86 %) were from industrialized countries, while the majority of refugees are resettled in developing countries. The most common study designs were quantitative (75 %). Overall, the majority of studies (76 %) were of good quality. Studies mainly explored oral health status, knowledge and practices; a minority (9 %) included interventions. The refugee populations in the studies showed higher burden of oral diseases and limited access to oral health care compared to even the least privileged populations in the host countries. Minimal strategies to improve oral health have been implemented; however, some have impressive outcomes. Oral health disparities for this population remain a major concern. More research is needed on refugees in developing countries, refugees residing in refugee camps, and interventions to bridge oral health disparities. This review has utility for policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders working to improve the oral health of this population.

  7. Gender stereotyping in the Dutch asylum procedure: ‘independent’ men versus ‘dependent’ women

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mascini, P.; van Bochove, M.

    2009-01-01

    Attention for discrimination against women in asylum law has grown considerably during the last few decades. Yet it is male claimants who have had smaller success Rates in the asylum procedures of different countries. Using administrative data from the Dutch INS, we show this difference is caused by

  8. "An absolutely necessary piece": A qualitative study of legal perspectives on medical affidavits in the asylum process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scruggs, Elizabeth; Guetterman, Timothy C; Meyer, Anna C; VanArtsdalen, Jamie; Heisler, Michele

    2016-11-01

    A key challenge for asylum seekers in the United States is being able to provide evidence of prior persecution in their home countries. Medical/psychological affidavits corroborating applicants' accounts often make the difference between successful and unsuccessful applications. The purpose of this study was to identify the unmet demand for and features of effective medical/psychological affidavits in the asylum process, as well as the personal and systemic barriers for asylum seekers. This is a qualitative study of semi-structured interviews with legal professionals who work in asylum law. Sixteen asylum lawyers and one Board of Immigration Appeals accredited representative practicing in the state of Michigan, United States, participated in this study. All participants noted that a vast majority of their asylum cases would benefit from a medical affidavit but that they have difficulty finding qualified physicians with experience writing such affidavits and testifying as expert witnesses. The major barriers to obtaining medical/psychological evaluations included inability to pay for services, lack of practitioner availability, and lack of practitioner training. The participants reported that features of a strong medical affidavit included clear, concise, and corroborative accounts that supported the applicant's story from a diagnostic perspective and forensic descriptions that reinforced the credibility of the applicant. Several also noted that medical/psychological evaluations frequently would reveal additional details and incidents of trauma beyond those stated in the applicant's preliminary statement. The study results suggest substantial unmet need for trained physicians to perform medical and psychological evaluations on a pro bono basis. Lawyers' recommendations regarding effective medical affidavits and necessary ongoing support for asylum applicants should inform current efforts to improve physician and lawyer collaborations on asylum cases. Copyright

  9. [Psychotherapeutic treatment of accompanied and unaccompanied minor refugees and asylum seekers with trauma-related disorders in Germany].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metzner, Franka; Reher, Cornelia; Kindler, Heinz; Pawils, Silke

    2016-05-01

    Germany is one of the most important host countries for minor refugees and asylum seekers in Europe. The number of children who leave their home country has significantly risen worldwide in recent years; a further rise is to be expected due to the increasing number of crisis zones. A literature review demonstrates the state of research on traumatization, post-traumatic stress disorders and psychotherapy in minor refugees and asylum seekers. Many minor refugees and asylum seekers have made mainly interpersonal traumatic experiences within their home country or during their flight and develop simple or complex post-traumatic stress disorders. Left untreated, there is a risk of chronification. The psychotherapeutic treatment of minor refugees and asylum seekers in Germany takes place primarily in specialized psychosocial treatment centers. For an involvement of therapists in private practices, a reduction of organizational barriers as well as evidence-based treatment methods for interpreter-aided psychotherapy of minor refugees and asylum seekers that also consider their developmental state, are still lacking. In research, as well as in practice, there is further need for an early and systematic identification and treatment of minor refugees and asylum seekers with post-traumatic stress disorders or high risk of disease in Germany.

  10. Head injury in asylum seekers and refugees referred with psychological trauma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doherty, S M; Craig, R; Gardani, M; McMillan, T M

    2016-01-01

    Individuals who seek asylum are frequently fleeing violent persecution and may experience head injury (HI). However, little is known about the prevalence of HI in asylum seekers and refugees (ASR) despite the potential for HI to significantly affect cognitive and emotional functioning and to compromise asylum outcomes. This preliminary study investigates the prevalence of HI in ASR referred to a complex psychological trauma service. Participants were 115 adult ASR referred to a community psychological trauma service with moderate to severe mental health problems associated with psychological trauma. They were screened for a history of HI using a questionnaire developed for the study. Interpreters were used when required. The overall prevalence of HI was 51%. At least 38% of those with HI had a moderate-severe HI that could cause persisting disability. In 53% of those with HI, the cause was torture, human trafficking or domestic violence. Repeat HI can have cumulative effects on function; it was common, and was reported in 68% of those with HI. An injury to the head was not known to mental health clinicians prior to screening in 64% of cases. The emotional and cognitive consequences of HI in ASR may increase the vulnerability of this disadvantaged group, and can be associated with neurobehavioural problems affecting daily life and may compromise asylum outcomes. Routine screening for HI in ASR is needed, as are links to neuropsychology and brain injury services for advice, assessment and intervention.

  11. Safe in our hands?: a study of suicide and self-harm in asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Juliet

    2008-05-01

    This study examined the incidence of suicide and self-harm in asylum seekers in the UK, both those in detention and in the community. The investigation revealed that data recording is seriously flawed or sometimes non-existent. However, the scanty data those were available from Immigration Removal Centres, coroners' records and Prison Ombudsman's reports showed high levels of self-harm and suicide for detained asylum seekers as compared with the United Kingdom prison population. It is suggested that this could be attributed to routine failure to observe and mitigate risk factors. The author makes the following recommendations: coroners should record asylum seeker status and ethnicity of deceased, self-harm monitoring in the community should record asylum seeker status and ethnicity, health care in immigration removal centres should meet the same standards as UK prisons as a minimum, allegation of torture by immigration detainees should trigger a case management review and risk assessment for continued detention, and this process should be open to audit, and interpreters should be used for mental state examinations unless their English has been shown to the fluent.

  12. Dietary intake in asylum seeker children in The Netherlands, strongly related to age and origin

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stellinga-Boelen, A. A. M.; Wiegersma, P. A.; Bijleveld, C. M. A.

    Objective: To monitor the dietary intake of energy, macro- and micronutrients in asylum seeker children. Design and setting: Cross-sectional study in three asylum seeker centres in The Netherlands. Subjects: Hundred and sixteen children 2-12 years old (86% of the study cohort) provided a dietary

  13. Meeting the health and social care needs of pregnant asylum seekers; midwifery students' perspectives: part 3; "the pregnant woman within the global context"; an inclusive model for midwifery education to address the needs of asylum seeking women in the UK.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haith-Cooper, Melanie; Bradshaw, Gwendolen

    2013-09-01

    to describe the conceptualisation and development of an inclusive educational model. The model is designed to facilitate pre-registration midwifery students' learning around the health and social care needs of pregnant women seeking asylum in the United Kingdom. current literature has identified a concern about the standard of maternity care experienced by asylum seeking women accessing maternity services in the United Kingdom. In response to this, a doctorate study was undertaken which focused on examining the way in which a group of midwifery students approached the provision of care for asylum seekers. This study revealed difficulties that these students had both in identifying these women's needs and also in the wider care issues in practice. Consequently, one of the recommendations was to ameliorate these difficulties through midwifery education. the key findings from this study were used together with relevant supporting literature to construct "the pregnant woman within the global context" model for midwifery education. The model is designed to facilitate a holistic assessment of need rather than focusing on the physical assessment at the expense of other aspects of care. It incorporates wider factors, on a global level, which could impact on the health and social care needs of a pregnant woman seeking asylum. It also prompts students to consider the influence of dominant discourses on perceptions of asylum seek;ing and is designed to encourage students' to question these discourses. this model can be used in midwifery education to prepare students in caring for pregnant women seeking asylum. It may be especially helpful when students have close contact with pregnant women seeking asylum, for example through caseloading. Further research is recommended to evaluate the effectiveness of this model in enhancing the care of asylum seeking women in the United Kingdom. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Avaliação artroscópica e macroscópica da faceta medial do semilunar Arthroscopic and macroscopic evaluation of the lunate medial facet

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edgard de Novaes França Bisneto

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: avaliar a correlação entre a presença de uma faceta medial do semilunar e a incidência de lesões ligamentares e artrose do pólo proximal do hamato. MÉTODOS: Avaliação artroscópica e dissecação dos punhos foram efetuados em cadáveres. RESULTADOS: Houve uma correlação clara, estatisticamente significativa entre artrose do pólo proximal do hamato e a presença da faceta medial do semilunar. CONCLUSÃO: Artrose do pólo proximal do hamato está correlacionada com a presença do tipo II semilunar. Nível de Evidência III, Estudo de pacientes nãoconsecutivos; sem padrão de referência "ouro" aplicado uniformementeOBJECTIVE: To evaluate the correlation between the presence of a lunate medial facet and the incidence of ligament lesions of the wrist and arthrosis of the proximal pole of the hamate. This study was carried out on cadavers. METHODS: Arthroscopic evaluation and dissection were performed on cadaver wrists. RESULTS: There was a clear, statistically significant correlation between arthrosis of the proximal pole of the hamate and the presence of a medial facet on the lunate. CONCLUSION: Arthrosis of the proximal pole of the hamate is correlated with the presence of a type II lunate. Level of Evidence III, Study of nonconsecutive patients; without consistently applied reference ''gold'' standard.

  15. Infectious disease health services for refugees and asylum seekers during a time of crisis: A scoping study of six European Union countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bozorgmehr, Kayvan; Samuilova, Mariya; Petrova-Benedict, Roumyana; Girardi, Enrico; Piselli, Pierluca; Kentikelenis, Alexander

    2018-04-11

    Systematic information on infectious disease services provided to refugees and asylum seekers in the European Union (EU) is sparse. We conducted a scoping study of experts in six EU countries in order to map health system responses related to infectious disease prevention and control among refugees and asylum seekers. We conducted 27 semi-structured in-depth interviews with first-line staff and health officials to collect information about existing guidelines and practices at each stage of reception in first-entry (Greece/Italy), transit (Croatia/Slovenia), and destination countries (Austria/Sweden). Thematic coding was used to perform a content analysis of interview material. Guidance on infectious disease screening and health assessments lack standardisation across and-partly-within countries. Data collection on notifiable infectious diseases is mainly reported to be performed by national public health institutions, but is not stratified by migrant status. Health-related information is not transferred in a standardized way between facilities within a single country. International exchange of medical information between countries along the migration route is irregular. Services were reported to be fragmented, and respondents mentioned no specific coordination bodies beyond health authorities at different levels. Infectious disease health services provided to refugees and asylum seekers lack standardisation in health assessments, data collection, transfer of health-related information and (partly) coordination. This may negatively affect health system performance including public health emergency preparedness. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. The relationship between trauma, post-migration problems and the psychological well-being of refugees and asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carswell, Kenneth; Blackburn, Pennie; Barker, Chris

    2011-03-01

    There is growing evidence of the impact of post-migration factors on the mental health of refugees. To date, few UK studies have been conducted. The study investigated the relationship between trauma, post-migration problems, social support and the mental health of refugees and asylum seekers. Refugees and asylum seekers (n = 47) were recruited mainly from clinical settings. Self-report measures of post-migration problems, mental health problems and social support were completed in an interview. Bivariate associations were identified between increased symptoms and number of traumas, adaptation difficulties, loss of culture and support and confidant support. In multivariate analyses post-migration problems were significantly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and emotional distress. There was no significant association of symptoms and number of traumas or social support. The results suggest that clinical services should provide holistic interventions within a phased approach when working with refugees and asylum seekers. At a policy level, the results suggest the need for asylum policies that reduce post-migration problems and provide support for refugees and asylum seekers.

  17. Adherence to antiretrovirals in refugees and asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nwoguh, Francisca

    Adherence to antiretroviral regimes is essential in effective management of HIV. The cultural, social, religious and immigration status of refugees and asylum seekers can have an impact on their understanding of their care needs and maintenance of their treatment regimen.

  18. The psychiatric profession and the Australian government: the debate over collective depression syndrome among asylum-seeking detainees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bostock, William W

    2009-01-01

    Psychiatrists have long had involvement with the political process, both individually and as a profession. They have made valuable contributions to debate over such issues as war, conflict, terrorism, torture, human rights abuse, drug abuse, suicide and other public health issues. However, they have also been complicit in some gross atrocities. Over several years there has been debate over the Australian Government's treatment of asylum seekers, and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists took the unusual step of publicly criticizing the Australian Government's policy on grounds of its toxicity leading to a diagnosis of collective depression syndrome, particularly among child detainees, but also adult detainees. The official Ministerial response was to deny that collective depression exists and to assert that the concept is meaningless. Can this intervention by psychiatrists be interpreted as a product of earlier political behaviors by psychiatrists? The willingness of psychiatrists to cooperate with other professions, notably psychologists, pediatricians, physicians and lawyers, is noted, as is presence of minority voices within the Australian psychiatric profession. The significance of the debate over the mental condition of asylum-seeking detainees is that its outcome has implications for how Australia sees itself and is seen by the rest of the world, that is, its national identity.

  19. Assessing reported cases of sexual and gender-based violence, causes and preventive strategies, in European asylum reception facilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, Charlotte; Keygnaert, Ines; Oliveira Martins, Maria do Rosário; Dias, Sónia

    2018-05-09

    Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a widespread public health problem and a violation of human rights rooted in gender and power inequities. Refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants living in European asylum reception facilities (EARF) are especially vulnerable to SGBV. To contribute to closing the gap on systematic and accurate evidence on SGBV, we aim to explore reported cases of SGBV, causes and preventable measures described by residents and professionals from EARF. We developed a cross-sectional study using the Senperforto project database. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with residents (refugees, asylum-seekers and unaccompanied minors) and professionals (service and health care providers) at EARF, in 7 European countries. We used IBM® SPSS software to analyze our data. Further, statistical tests - Chi-square Test and Fisher's exact test (5% significance level) were conducted. In total 562 respondents: 375 residents (R) and 187 professionals (P) participated in the study. The majority of respondents were male (56.9%), aged 19 to 39 years (67.3%). Respondents described 698 cases of SGBV (R 328, P 370), comprising 1110 acts of multi-types of violence. Respondents from Malta (160) and Belgium (143) reported the highest number of SGBV cases. The main reported causes were frustration and stress (R 23.6%, P 37.6%, p 0.008) and differences related with cultural background (R 19.3%, P 20.3%, p 0.884). Respondents assumed that these acts of violence could be prevented by SGBV prevention interventions (R 31.5%, P 24.7%, p 0.293); improving living conditions (R 21.7%, P 15.3%, p 0.232); and promoting communication (R 16.1%, P 28.2%, p 0.042). The majority of R were not aware of existing preventable measures in the asylum facility or host country. While the majority of P were aware of existing preventable measures in the asylum facility or country. Proposed SGBV prevention strategies in EARF included SGBV sensitization and awareness, improving living

  20. Forensic dental investigations and age assessment of asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nuzzolese, Emilio; Di Vella, Giancarlo

    2008-06-01

    Age estimation is useful in forensic investigations to aid in the process of identifying unknown victims as well as living individuals. In many countries age estimation is commonly used to assist immigration authorities in deciding whether refugees or illegal migrants have reached that designated age that separates a juvenile from an adult. This is particularly important for the protection of unaccompanied minors. Italy is a country of great appeal for immigration as people from other Mediterranean countries can easily reach Italian coasts. In Italy, as in other western world countries, unaccompanied asylum seekers deemed to be under 18 face a very different path through the immigration system. They cannot be deported and are sent through a juvenile system where they have access to education programmes and may be granted a residence permit. The Section of Legal Medicine of the University of Bari was approached by Judges and Immigration Police with the question to assess the age of unaccompanied asylum seekers who claim to be below 18 years of age. The contribution of forensic odontologists for age estimation was recognised and since November 2006 age estimation of asylum seekers in Bari (Italy) relies on clinical and dental examination together with skeletal maturation as seen on radiographs of the left hand and wrist, the pelvis for iliac crests and root development and mineralisation of third molars as seen on an orthopantomogram.

  1. Hepatitis A among refugees, asylum seekers and migrants living in hosting facilities, Greece, April to December 2016

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mellou, Kassiani; Chrisostomou, Anthi; Sideroglou, Theologia; Georgakopoulou, Theano; Kyritsi, Maria; Hadjichristodoulou, Christos; Tsiodras, Sotirios

    2017-01-01

    An increased number of hepatitis A cases among refugees, asylum seekers and migrants residing in hosting facilities in Greece were recorded between April and December 2016. In total, 177 laboratory-confirmed symptomatic cases were reported; of these, 149 (84%) occurred in hosting camps mostly among Syrian children under 15 years. All cases reported symptom onset after their entry into the country. Public health interventions focused on hygiene measures and vaccination. PMID:28181904

  2. Mental health interventions for traumatized asylum seekers and refugees: What do we know about their efficacy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slobodin, Ortal; de Jong, Joop T V M

    2015-02-01

    The prevalence of trauma-related problems among refugees and asylum seekers is extremely high due to adverse experiences associated with forced migration. Although the literature presents a considerable number of guidelines and theoretical frameworks for working with traumatized refugees and asylum seekers, the efficacy, feasibility and applicability of these interventions have little empirical evidence. The purpose of this article is to critically review the literature to provide a rationale for developing culturally sensitive, evidence-based interventions for refugees and asylum seekers. A literature review integrating research findings on interventions designed especially for traumatized asylum seekers and refugees was conducted. Retained studies had to use some quantitative measurements of post-traumatic stress and to have pre- and post-measurements to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention. Studies included in this review cover a wide variety of interventions, including trauma-focused interventions, group therapy, multidisciplinary interventions and pharmacological treatments. The majority of studies with traumatized refugees and asylum seekers reported positive outcomes of the intervention in reducing trauma-related symptoms. There is evidence to support the suitability of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and narrative exposure therapy (NET) in certain populations of refugees. Other intervention studies are limited by methodological considerations, such as lack of randomization, absence of control group and small samples. This review has again highlighted the shortage of guiding frameworks available to investigators and clinicians who are interested in tailoring interventions to work with refugees and asylum seekers. Theoretical, ethical and methodological considerations for future research are discussed. © The Author(s) 2014.

  3. Ethical aspects of medical age assessment in the asylum process : a Swedish perspective.

    OpenAIRE

    Malmqvist, Erik; Furberg, Elisabeth; Sandman, Lars

    2018-01-01

    According to European regulations and the legislations of individual member states, children who seek asylum have a different set of rights than adults in a similar position. To protect these rights and ensure rule of law, migration authorities are commonly required to assess the age of asylum seekers who lack reliable documentation, including through various medical methods. However, many healthcare professionals and other commentators consider medical age assessment to be ethically problema...

  4. Suicide death and hospital-treated suicidal behaviour in asylum seekers in the Netherlands: a national registry-based study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    van Oostrum Irene EA

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Several suicide and suicidal behaviour risk factors are highly prevalent in asylum seekers, but there is little insight into the suicide death rate and the suicidal behaviour incidence in this population. The main objective of this study is to assess the burden of suicide and hospital-treated non-fatal suicidal behaviour in asylum seekers in the Netherlands and to identify factors that could guide prevention. Methods We obtained data on cases of suicide and suicidal behaviour from all asylum seeker reception centres in the Netherlands (period 2002-2007, age 15+. The suicide death rates in this population and in subgroups by sex, age and region of origin were compared with the rate in the Dutch population; the rates of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour were compared with that in the population of The Hague using indirect age group standardization. Results The study included 35 suicide deaths and 290 cases of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour. The suicide death rate and the incidence of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour differed between subgroups by sex and region of origin. For male asylum seekers, the suicide death rate was higher than that of the Dutch population (N = 32; RR = 2.0, 95%CI 1.37-2.83. No difference was found between suicide mortality in female asylum seekers and in the female general population of the Netherlands (N = 3; RR = 0.73; 95%CI 0.15-2.07. The incidence of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour was high in comparison with the population of The Hague for males and females from Europe and the Middle East/South West Asia, and low for males and females from Africa. Health professionals knew about mental health problems prior to the suicidal behaviour for 80% of the hospital-treated suicidal behaviour cases in asylum seekers. Conclusions In this study the suicide death rate was higher in male asylum seekers than in males in the reference population. The incidence of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour

  5. When is return voluntary? Conditions of asylum in Lebanon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amy Keith

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The decision of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to return to Syria must not be based on a deteriorating quality of asylum that creates physical, social and material pressures on decisions to return.

  6. Community-based interventions for building social inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia: A systematic review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Di Mahoney

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available As refugee and asylum seeker numbers increase in Australia, their effective integration into society is facilitated by inclusion in social, economic and community life. This systematic review of the literature explored community-based programs that contribute to inclusion and social participation of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. Four scholarly databases were searched for articles published between 2007 and 2017 resulting in five articles which met inclusion criteria. Although the studies identified were of variable quality, the findings suggest a number of factors that facilitate program effectiveness. These included where: (a English language and communications skills were considered; (b programs built on refugees’ own skills and experience prior to resettlement; (c volunteers and mentors were involved; and (d participants engaged in diverse projects that enabled new connections. The review highlights the paucity of well-researched interventions that build social inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. Emerging evidence suggests that community-based programs can positively increase social inclusion and connectedness amongst refugees and asylum seekers. Additional well-designed programs and evaluation of such programs are needed to better understand and identify effective interventions targeting social inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers.

  7. A historiographic study of psychiatric treatments in Brazil: mentalism and organicism from 1830 to 1859.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almeida de Oliveira, Carlos Francisco; Martins Eulálio, Carlos Evandro; Campelo, Viriato; Dalgalarrondo, Paulo; Dening, Tom

    2016-12-01

    Our aim is to investigate two major tendencies in nineteenth-century Brazilian alienism: mentalism and organicism, by conducting a descriptive study of original Brazilian documents on medical health treatments in the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s. Primary sources of Brazilian alienism were theses, memoirs, official reports, and documents written by clinicians and asylum directors. We analysed early mental treatment in Brazilian lunatic asylums, exploring the relative contributions of two main theoretical orientations: moral treatment (based on Pinel and Esquirol) and 'medical-organicist therapeutic orientation'. Intertextuality was used to assess reports of medical organicist treatment in Brazil. We concluded that contemporaneous textual sources indicate that mid-nineteenth-century alienism in Brazil was predominantly influenced by organicism exported from European countries. Pinel's mentalist view, nevertheless, remained the reference point for clinical issues associated with the doctor-patient relationship. © The Author(s) 2016.

  8. The Occurrence of Diseases and Related Factors in a Center for Asylum Seekers in Italy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Firenze Alberto

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Italy is the main recipient of asylum seekers in the European region, and Sicily is their first point of arrival. This geographical position creates a large job for Health Authorities to identify and deal with the health of immigrants. This study evaluates the prevalence of disease among asylum seekers, assessing which are associated factors.

  9. The Relationship Between Post-Migration Stress and Psychological Disorders in Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Susan S Y; Liddell, Belinda J; Nickerson, Angela

    2016-09-01

    Refugees demonstrate high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological disorders. The recent increase in forcible displacement internationally necessitates the understanding of factors associated with refugee mental health. While pre-migration trauma is recognized as a key predictor of mental health outcomes in refugees and asylum seekers, research has increasingly focused on the psychological effects of post-migration stressors in the settlement environment. This article reviews the research evidence linking post-migration factors and mental health outcomes in refugees and asylum seekers. Findings indicate that socioeconomic, social, and interpersonal factors, as well as factors relating to the asylum process and immigration policy affect the psychological functioning of refugees. Limitations of the existing literature and future directions for research are discussed, along with implications for treatment and policy.

  10. Refugee reception and pedagogical work with asylum-seeking and refugee children in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moldenhawer, Bolette

    on family reunification, cuts to social benefits, and granting more temporary or subsidiary forms of protection, with fewer rights attached (ibid. 106). In this paper, the aim is to illuminate how this broad range of restrictive policies is informing the professional work with asylum-seeking and refugee...... children. Since children in the asylum system are regarded as part of the family's unity and are not heard independently in asylum cases, such as for example in Norway (Vitus 2011, 147), I argue that children – along with their families – are in a position of permanent temporality; a position that at all...... and immigration system is ambiguous because it officially does express a concern for preparing applicants for a life in Denmark, but in reality, “the more powerful and concerted political will is directed at keeping the applicants at a distance, socially disconnected, so as to facilitate their possible...

  11. Detention in Kenya: risks for refugees and asylum seekers

    OpenAIRE

    Lucy Kiama; Dennis Likule

    2013-01-01

    Refugees and asylum seekers detained in Kenya risk multiple convictions and protracted detention due to poor coordination between immigration officials, police and prison officers, coupled with lack of interpreters and low levels of knowledge among government officers.

  12. Impact of the Introduction of the Electronic Health Insurance Card on the Use of Medical Services by Asylum Seekers in Germany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Claassen, Kevin; Jäger, Pia

    2018-04-25

    Objectives: Asylum seekers in Germany represent a highly vulnerable group from a health perspective. Furthermore, their access to healthcare is restricted. While the introduction of the Electronic Health Insurance Card (EHIC) for asylum seekers instead of healthcare-vouchers is discussed controversially using politico-economic reasons, there is hardly any empirical evidence regarding its actual impact on the use of medical services. The aim of the study is to examine this impact on the use of medical services by asylum seekers as measured by their consultation rate of ambulant physicians (CR). Study Design: For this purpose, a standardized survey was conducted with 260 asylum seekers in different municipalities, some of which have introduced the EHIC for asylum seekers, while others have not. Methods: The period prevalence was compared between the groups “with EHIC” and “without EHIC” using a two-sided t -test. Multivariate analysis was done using a linear OLS regression model. Results: Asylum seekers in possession of the EHIC are significantly more likely to seek ambulant medical care than those receiving healthcare-vouchers. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that having to ask for healthcare-vouchers at the social security office could be a relevant barrier for asylum seekers.

  13. Barriers to contraceptive careseeking: the experience of Eritrean asylum-seeking women in Israel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gebreyesus, Tsega; Gottlieb, Nora; Sultan, Zebib; Ghebrezghiabher, Habtom Mehari; Tol, Wietse; Winch, Peter J; Davidovitch, Nadav; Surkan, Pamela J

    2017-12-28

    In recent years, there has been a mass migration of Eritreans (many seeking political asylum) into Israel after precarious irregular movement across international borders. This study qualitatively explores the structural barriers to family planning (i.e. contraceptive services) for Eritrean women in Israel that are rooted in their temporary legal status and the patchwork of family planning services. From December 2012 to September 2013, we interviewed 25 key informants (NGO workers, researchers, Eritrean community activists, International NGO representatives and Ministry of Health officials) and 12 Eritrean asylum seekers. We also conducted 8 focus groups with Eritrean asylum seekers. Data were analyzed using both inductive and deductive coding. We identified 7 main barriers to accessing family planning services: (1) distance to health facilities; (2) limited healthcare resources; (3) fragmentation of the healthcare system; (4) cost of contraceptive services; (5) low standard of care in private clinics; (6) discrimination; and (7) language barriers. The political, economic and social marginalization of Eritrean asylum-seeking women in Israel creates structural barriers to family planning services. Their marginalization complicates providers' efforts (NGO and governmental) to provide them with comprehensive healthcare, and hinders their ability to control their sexual and reproductive health. Failure to act on this evidence may perpetuate the pattern of unwanted pregnancies and social and economic disparities in this population.

  14. In their own words: a synthesis of the qualitative research on the experiences of adults seeking asylum. A systematic review of qualitative findings in forced migration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoare, Thomas; Vidgen, Andrew; Roberts, Neil

    2017-12-01

    Quantitative research indicates that some forced migrants have mental health needs. Asylum seekers are a group of forced migrants applying for asylum status in a host country, and are often subject to rights restrictions and threat of deportation, though little is known about subjective experiences of the asylum journey and process of claiming asylum. The current paper therefore describes a systematic review of the qualitative literature, examining asylum seekers experiences of asylum journey, from country of origin, to arrival and adaptation to host countries. A search of four databases yielded 122 studies. Inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied and 15 studies were retained and critically appraised. The country where research was conducted, study aims, sample characteristics and methodological approaches were all critically reviewed for included studies. Study aims fell into four themes; 'an aspect of the asylum seeker journey'; 'psychological distress and wellbeing'; 'cultural identity and adaptation to new environment' and 'social welfare, employment and housing'. Studies were generally high quality and indicate issues around choice of asylum destination, distress created by uncertainty around asylum decision and hostile reactions of host communities. However, few studies have examined the experiences of asylum seekers specifically, which is important given the unique circumstances of this population.

  15. Psychopathology and resident status - comparing asylum seekers, refugees, illegal migrants, labor migrants, and residents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heeren, Martina; Wittmann, Lutz; Ehlert, Ulrike; Schnyder, Ulrich; Maier, Thomas; Müller, Julia

    2014-05-01

    This study aimed to describe, compare, and predict mental health outcomes of different migrant groups and native residents in Switzerland. Asylum seekers (n=65); refugees holding permanent protection visas (n=34); illegal migrants (n=21); labor migrants (n=26); and residents (n=56) completed an assessment by questionnaire. Main outcome variables were symptoms of posttraumatic stress, anxiety and depression. It was tested whether resident status predicted psychopathology over and above the influence of control variables including social desirability, traumatic event types and post-migration resources. Asylum seekers (54.0%) and refugees (41.4%) fulfilled criteria of PTSD most frequently. Clinically relevant symptoms of anxiety and depression were most frequently reported by asylum seekers (84.6% and 63.1%, resp.) and illegal migrants (both 47.6%). Resident status contributed to psychopathology over and above the influence of control variables. Overall, asylum seekers, refugees, and illegal migrants showed high psychiatric morbidity. Differences in resident status appear to be specifically associated with mental health outcomes. This association persists even when controlling for social desirability, post-migration resources and traumatic events. This emphasizes the importance of current socio-political living conditions for mental health, even with respect to the psychopathological sequelae of past traumatic experiences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Screening for infectious diseases of asylum seekers upon arrival : The necessity of the moral principle of reciprocity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beeres, Dorien T; Cornish, Darren; Vonk, Machiel; Ravensbergen, Sofanne J; Maeckelberghe, Els L M; Boele Van Hensbroek, Pieter; Stienstra, Ymkje

    2018-01-01

    BACKGROUND: With a large number of forcibly displaced people seeking safety, the EU is facing a challenge in maintaining solidarity. Europe has seen millions of asylum seekers crossing European borders, the largest number of asylum seekers since the second world war. Endemic diseases and often

  17. How Do Countries' Health Information Systems Perform in Assessing Asylum Seekers' Health Situation? Developing a Health Information Assessment Tool on Asylum Seekers (HIATUS) and Piloting It in Two European Countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bozorgmehr, Kayvan; Goosen, Simone; Mohsenpour, Amir; Kuehne, Anna; Razum, Oliver; Kunst, Anton E

    2017-08-08

    Background: Accurate data on the health status, health behaviour and access to health care of asylum seekers is essential, but such data is lacking in many European countries. We hence aimed to: (a) develop and pilot-test an instrument that can be used to compare and benchmark the country health information systems (HIS) with respect to the ability to assess the health status and health care situation of asylum seekers and (b) present the results of that pilot for The Netherlands (NL) and Germany (DE). Materials and Methods : Reviewing and adapting existing tools, we developed a Health Information Assessment Tool on Asylum Seekers (HIATUS) with 50 items to assess HIS performance across three dimensions: (1) availability and detail of data across potential data sources; (2) HIS resources and monitoring capacity; (3) general coverage and timeliness of publications on selected indicators. We piloted HIATUS by applying the tool to the HIS in DE and NL. Two raters per country independently assessed the performance of country HIS and the inter-rater reliability was analysed by Pearson's rho and the intra-class correlation (ICC). We then applied a consensus-based group rating to obtain the final ratings which were transformed into a weighted summary score (range: 0-97). We assessed HIS performance by calculating total and domain-specific HIATUS scores by country as well as absolute and relative gaps in scores within and between countries. Results : In the independent rating, Pearson's rho was 0.14 (NL) and 0.30 (DE), the ICC yielded an estimated reliability of 0.29 (NL) and 0.83 (DE) respectively. In the final consensus-based rating, the total HIATUS score was 47 in NL and 15 in DE, translating into a relative gap in HIS capacity of 52% (NL) and 85% (DE) respectively. Shortfalls in HIS capacity in both countries relate to the areas of HIS coordination, planning and policies, and to limited coverage of specific indicators such as self-reported health, mental health, socio

  18. Detention in Kenya: risks for refugees and asylum seekers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucy Kiama

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Refugees and asylum seekers detained in Kenya risk multiple convictions and protracted detention due to poor coordination between immigration officials, police and prison officers, coupled with lack of interpreters and low levels of knowledge among government officers.

  19. Asylum migration and the construction of the European Common Foreign and Security Policy: evidence from the Greek case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvia Lucía Forero Castañeda

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This article examines how the recent evolution of asylum migration has affected the construction of the European Common Foreign and Security Policy (EU-CFSP, taking the Greek case during the 2001-2012 period as a starting point. With this in mind, the normative progress of the EU-CFSP facing the reception of asylum seekers in Greece is analyzed, under the scope of what Barry Buzan and Ole Waever would call Securitization Process. Both legal and political frameworks on asylum migration in Greece and in the European Union are approached, in the context of the evolution of the EU-CFSP in three main areas: Neighborhood Policy, Development and Cooperation Policy, and Human Rights Protection. The conclusión points toward the partial influence of asylum migration in the configuration of the UE-CFSP during the studied period.

  20. The common European asylum system and the rights of the child : an exploration of meaning and compliance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smyth, Ciara Mary

    2013-01-01

    This thesis addresses the question of whether the EU Common European Asylum System (CEAS) complies with the rights of the child. A significant proportion of people seeking asylum in EU countries are children. These children may be totally alone, with people who are not their customary caregivers

  1. Sanctioning international protection applicants for choosing the country of asylum

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    Polona Mozetič

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Major disparities in the regulation and application of international protection exist among EU member states. Therefore, applicants for international protection want to choose the state where they lodge an application. Instead of harmonizing law on international protection, member states sanction applicants for international protection who lodge an application in the preferred member states and not in the one responsible under the Dublin III Regulation. According to the New International Protection Act, implementing EU procedural directive, it may be assumed that an applicant implicitly withdrew her/his application, if s/he left the asylum home without authorisation, and in that case the procedure is discontinued. If an applicant lodges a subsequent application after more than nine months or more than once, her/his application will possibly not be subject of a substantial examination.In order to prevent ”asylum shopping” EU allows for the possibility that some applicants, who would be entitled to refugee status or subsidiary protection, are never granted such protection. However, this is contrary to the principle of non-refoulement as developed in the case-law of the ECtHR and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia. Mechanisms that aim to prevent ”asylum shopping” may be contrary to the well-established principles of human rights protection, unfair or unreasonable and affect the most marginalized applicants for international protection.

  2. HIV positive asylum seekers receiving the order to leave the Belgian territory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demeester, Remy; Legrand, Jean-Claude

    2014-01-01

    In a human rights based approach, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has recently released a resolution about migrants and refugees and the fight against HIV (1). It states that "an HIV positive migrant should never be expelled when it is clear that he will not receive adequate health care and assistance in the country to which he is being sent back. To do otherwise would amount to a death sentence for that person." Nevertheless, in Belgium, for the last 2 years, none of the HIV-infected migrants in care in the AIDS Reference Centers (ARC) received the right to stay in Belgium for medical reasons. We identified all HIV-infected asylum seekers in care between 1 July 2012 and 1 July 2014 in the ARC of Charleroi, Belgium, and we analyzed their medical and social files. Among the 302 patients in active follow up in our ARC, 45 HIV positive asylum seekers were in care during the last 2 years. Male/female ratio was 0/96. Mean age was 35 years. Countries of origin and reasons for migration are detailed in the Table 1. 18% (8/45) knew their seropositivity before arriving in Europe. All the patients introduced an asylum request, 29 (64%) have received a negative answer and an order to leave the territory, 4 (9%) were regularized for non-medical reasons (see Table 1), 4 (9%) are waiting for an answer and for 8 (18%) outcome is unknown due to lost follow up (LFU). 31 (69%) patients have also introduced a request to stay for medical reasons: 18 (58%) have received a refusal, 7 (23%) are still waiting for an answer, and 6 (19%) are LFU. Only 23 (51%) patients are still in care in our ARC on 1 July 2014 (see Table 1). The immigration office bases its decisions on availability of the treatment in the country even if accessible only to a limited number of patients. Decisions taken by the Belgian authorities for the last two years concerning HIV-infected asylum seekers do not guarantee the continuity of care of those patients and push them towards illegality. Such

  3. [Labour, silence and order: visualizing modern psychiatry--strategies for legitimizing Swiss asylum psychiatry in the context of occupational therapy in the interwar period].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Germann, Urs

    2006-01-01

    In the 1930s Swiss psychiatrists were engaged in a singular public campaign to promote a new image of their profession. The result of this campaign was a series of booklets about psychiatric institutions. These asylum-monographs, as they were called, encompassed a large number of photographic illustrations, most of which showed patients at work. Taking the visual omnipresence of patients' work in the asylum-monographs as a starting point, this contribution examines the status of occupational therapy in psychiatric discourse and practice in Switzerland at the beginning of the 1930s. The first part of the contribution describes and outlines the development of patients' work in several psychiatric institutions after World War I. Then it turns to the discussion about the introduction of a new and more active form of occupational therapy ("aktivere Therapie") in this period. The second part of the contribution analyzes the meanings of therapeutic work in psychiatric discourse. It shows that the enthusiasm occupational therapy produced among Swiss psychiatrists was mainly due to its ability to change the visual appearance of the asylums. Furthermore it points to several traits of Eugen Bleuler's concept of schizophrenia, especially the assumption of different ranks of primary and secondary symptoms and the notion of autism, which were both crucial to the contemporary understanding and handling of occupational therapy. Finally, it argues that a medical interpretation of patients' work, which identified therapy with working discipline, was a necessary precondition for the omnipresence of patients' work in Swiss psychiatry's public campaign in the 1930s.

  4. Comparison of self-reported health & healthcare utilisation between asylum seekers and refugees: an observational study.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Toar, Magzoub

    2009-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Adult refugees and asylum seekers living in Western countries experience a high prevalence of mental health problems, especially post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. This study compares and contrasts the prevalence of health problems, and potential risk factors as well as the utilisation of health services by asylum seekers and refugees in the Irish context. METHODS: Cross sectional study using validated self reported health status questionnaires of adult asylum seekers (n = 60) and refugees (n = 28) from 30 countries, living in Ireland. Outcome measures included: general health status (SF-36), presence of PTSD symptoms and anxiety\\/depression symptoms. Data on chronic conditions and pre or post migration stressors are also reported. The two groups are compared for utilisation of the health care system and the use of over the counter medications. RESULTS: Asylum seekers were significantly more likely than refugees to report symptoms of PTSD (OR 6.3, 95% CI: 2.2-17.9) and depression\\/anxiety (OR 5.8, 95% CI: 2.2-15.4), while no significant difference was found in self-reported general health. When adjusted by multivariable regression, the presence of more than one chronic disease (OR 4.0, 95%CI: 1.3-12.7; OR 3.4, 95% CI: 1.2-10.1), high levels of pre migration stressors (OR 3.6, 95% CI: 1.1-11.9; OR 3.3, 95% CI: 1.0-10.4) or post migration stressors (OR 17.3, 95% CI: 4.9-60.8; OR 3.9, 95% CI: 1.2-12.3) were independent predictors of self reported PTSD or depression\\/anxiety symptoms respectively, however, residence status was no longer significantly associated with PTSD or depression\\/anxiety. Residence status may act as a marker for other explanatory variables; our results show it has a strong relationship with post migration stressors (chi2 = 19.74, df = 1, P < 0.001).In terms of health care utilisation, asylum seekers use GP services more often than refugees, while no significant difference was found between these groups

  5. Comparison of self-reported health & healthcare utilisation between asylum seekers and refugees: an observational study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fahey Tom

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Adult refugees and asylum seekers living in Western countries experience a high prevalence of mental health problems, especially post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, depression and anxiety. This study compares and contrasts the prevalence of health problems, and potential risk factors as well as the utilisation of health services by asylum seekers and refugees in the Irish context. Methods Cross sectional study using validated self reported health status questionnaires of adult asylum seekers (n = 60 and refugees (n = 28 from 30 countries, living in Ireland. Outcome measures included: general health status (SF-36, presence of PTSD symptoms and anxiety/depression symptoms. Data on chronic conditions and pre or post migration stressors are also reported. The two groups are compared for utilisation of the health care system and the use of over the counter medications. Results Asylum seekers were significantly more likely than refugees to report symptoms of PTSD (OR 6.3, 95% CI: 2.2–17.9 and depression/anxiety (OR 5.8, 95% CI: 2.2–15.4, while no significant difference was found in self-reported general health. When adjusted by multivariable regression, the presence of more than one chronic disease (OR 4.0, 95%CI: 1.3–12.7; OR 3.4, 95% CI: 1.2–10.1, high levels of pre migration stressors (OR 3.6, 95% CI: 1.1–11.9; OR 3.3, 95% CI: 1.0–10.4 or post migration stressors (OR 17.3, 95% CI: 4.9–60.8; OR 3.9, 95% CI: 1.2–12.3 were independent predictors of self reported PTSD or depression/anxiety symptoms respectively, however, residence status was no longer significantly associated with PTSD or depression/anxiety. Residence status may act as a marker for other explanatory variables; our results show it has a strong relationship with post migration stressors (χ2 = 19.74, df = 1, P In terms of health care utilisation, asylum seekers use GP services more often than refugees, while no significant difference was found

  6. Age assessment of young asylum seekers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjern, Anders; Brendler-Lindqvist, Maria; Nørredam, Marie Louise

    2012-01-01

    to be of real use in this decision. Unclear guidelines and arbitrary practices may lead to alarming shortcomings in the protection of this high-risk group of children and adolescents in Europe. Medical participation, as well as non-participation, in these dubious decisions raises a number of ethical questions....... CONCLUSION: To improve care for young asylum seekers with undetermined age, we suggest better legal procedures for the determination of age and a more flexible approach to chronological age....

  7. Irish midwives' experiences of providing maternity care to non-Irish women seeking asylum

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    Tobin CL

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Carolyn L Tobin,1 Jo Murphy-Lawless2 1Department of Nursing, College of Health and Human Services, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA; 2School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland Background: Immigration and asylum seeking has been an important social and political phenomenon in Ireland since the mid 1990s. Inward migration to Ireland was seen in unprecedented numbers from 1995 onward, peaking in 2002 with 11,634 applications for refugee status. Asylum and immigration is an issue of national and international relevance as the numbers of displaced people worldwide continues to grow, reaching the highest level in 20 years at 45.2 million in 2012. Midwives provide the majority of care to childbearing women around the world, whether working as autonomous practitioners or under the direction of an obstetrician. Limited data currently exist on the perspectives of midwives who provide care to childbearing women while they are in the process of seeking asylum. Such data are important to midwifery leaders, educators, and policy-makers. The aims of this study were to explore midwives' perceptions and experiences of providing care to women in the asylum process and to gain insight into how midwives can be equipped and supported to provide more effective care to this group in the future.Methods: Data were collected via indepth unstructured interviews with a purposive sample of ten midwives from two sites, one a large urban inner city hospital, and the second, a smaller more rural maternity hospital. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using content analysis. Results: Five themes emerged from the data, barriers to communication, understanding cultural difference, challenges of caring for women who were unbooked, the emotional cost of caring, and structural barriers to effective care. Conclusion: Findings highlight a need to focus on support and education for midwives, improved

  8. Mental health of asylum seekers: a cross-sectional study of psychiatric disorders

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    Heeren Martina

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Asylum procedures are known to be protracted, stretching to over ten years in many host countries. International research shows high levels of distress for asylum seekers. Little is known about actual psychiatric morbidity in this population, especially during the first few years postmigration. Methods The mental health status of two groups of asylum seekers was assessed: Group 1 (n = 43 had arrived in Switzerland 2.9 (SD 1.1 months prior to assessment, while Group 2 (n = 43 had arrived 15.5 (SD 3.2 months prior to assessment. Psychiatric disorders were diagnosed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI. Symptom severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, anxiety (Hopkins Symptom Checklist, depression (Hopkins Symptom Checklist, and pain (Verbal Rating Scale were assessed using self-report questionnaires. Postmigratory factors such as German language proficiency and social contacts were also assessed. Interviews were conducted with the assistance of trained interpreters. Results Four out of ten participants met diagnostic criteria for at least one DSM-IV disorder. Groups did not differ with respect to psychiatric morbidity or symptom levels. Major depression (31.4% and PTSD (23.3% were diagnosed most frequently. The number of experienced traumatic event types was highly correlated with psychiatric morbidity. Conclusions Psychiatric morbidity in asylum seekers in the first two years after arrival is high, with no indication of a decrease in mental distress over time. Traumatic experiences seem to play a major role in morbidity during this time. Considering the magnitude of clinically relevant distress, a short psychological screening upon arrival with a focus on traumatic experiences may be warranted.

  9. Asylum Seekers and Resettled Refugees in Australia: Predicting Social Policy Attitude From Prejudice Versus Emotion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisa K. Hartley

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available While most of the world's refugees reside in developing countries, their arrival to western countries is highly politicised, giving rise to questions about the types of entitlements and rights that should, or should not, be granted. In this study, using a mixed-methods community questionnaire (N = 185, we examined attitudes towards social policies aimed at providing assistance to two categories of new arrivals to Australia: resettled refugees (who arrive via its official refugee resettlement program and asylum seekers (who arrive via boat and then seek refugee status. Social policy attitude was examined as a consequence of feelings of anger, fear, and threat, as well as levels of prejudice. Participants felt significantly higher levels of anger, fear, threat, and prejudice towards asylum seekers compared to resettled refugees. For both resettled refugees and asylum seekers, prejudice was an independent predictor of more restrictive social policy attitudes. For resettled refugees, fear and perceived threat were independent predictors for more restrictive social policy whereas for asylum seekers anger was an independent predictor of restrictive social policy. The qualitative data reinforced the quantitative findings and extended understanding on the appraisals that underpin negative attitudes and emotional responses. Practical implications relating to challenging community attitudes are discussed.

  10. The Occurrence of Diseases and Related Factors in a Center for Asylum Seekers in Italy

    Science.gov (United States)

    FIRENZE, Alberto; ALEO, Nicola; FERRARA, Clara; MARANTO, Marianna; LA CASCIA, Caterina; RESTIVO, Vincenzo

    2016-01-01

    Introduction Italy is the main recipient of asylum seekers in the European region, and Sicily is their first point of arrival. This geographical position creates a large job for Health Authorities to identify and deal with the health of immigrants. This study evaluates the prevalence of disease among asylum seekers, assessing which are associated factors. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted to analyse demographic and clinical data in an Acceptance Centres for Asylum Seekers from February 2012 to May 2013. All variables that were found to be significant on unvariable analysis for the most frequent pathologies were included in a multivariable logistic regression model. Results Post-traumatic stress disorders with 17.4% and major depression with 7.3% were the most frequent diseases. The factors associated with post-traumatic stress disorders among asylum seekers were: major depression diagnosis (OR=2.91, p=0.004), Pakistan as a country of origin (OR=3.88, pasylum seekers needs special attention, and interventions should be done to prevent the consolidation of psychiatric morbidity. A short psychological screening after the arrival might prove helpful here. Moreover, carefully designed longitudinal studies should be carried out when political recommendations try to change the organization of psychological and healthcare services. PMID:27647085

  11. Inspecting asylum seekers upon entry: a medico-ethical complex.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Francois, G.; Hambach R.; Sprundel, M. van; Devillé, W.; Hal, G. van

    2008-01-01

    In September 2007, the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR summarized the main asylum application levels and trends during the first six months of the year in 36 industrialized countries, including 26 European Union (EU) Member States. Based on the assumption of unchanged yearly patterns, the total number of

  12. Satisfaction with daily occupations amongst asylum seekers in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morville, Anne-Le; Erlandsson, Lena-Karin; Danneskiold-Samsøe, Bente

    2015-01-01

    to their satisfaction with daily occupations and activity level. METHODS: A total of 43 asylum seekers at baseline and 17 at follow-up were included. The questionnaires Satisfaction with Daily Occupations, Major Depression Inventory, WHO-5 Wellbeing, Pain Detect, a questionnaire covering torture, and basic social...

  13. Between remembrance technology and the production of truth: memory and narrative in asylum politics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisa Mencacci

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available In the institutional pathway for recognition of asylum right, the narrative becomes, according to current regulations, the element to be sieved in order to ascertain title to international protection. The aim of this essay is analyzing the various declensions assumed by the narrative in this institutional process. Weaving together clinical and ethnographic data, drawn from the main phases that foreigners have to pass through in this event, I would like to highlight how, in the asylum system, the narrative takes the value of a tool directed, first of all at checking the applicant’s past, and second at co-producing a subject fitting to the media and legal dominant imaginary features. In this specific context, the treatment of traumatic injuries, recognized as basis of interrupted narratives, emerges as issue played in its turn on a double register: as adherence to specific schemes of "therapeutic governance" and as further control of specific events, experienced by asylum seekers in the past.

  14. The Complexity of Survival: Asylum Seekers, Resilience and Religion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buch-Hansen, Gitte; Lorensen, Marlene Ringgaard

    to a simple instrument to obtain asylum. In this article, we show how his recommendation ignores the complexity of motives involved in the change of religious affiliation. By our adjustment of Bourdieu’s theory of social capital, we demonstrate how conversion is also a way of existential survival...

  15. Facilitating ‘reasonable hope’ with refugees and asylum seekers

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    Greg Turner

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The loss of hope over time has led to despair and a mental health crisis for refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru. The use of the principle of ‘reasonable hope’, however, can support their mental health and well-being.  

  16. Context, evidence and attitude: the case for photography in medical examinations of asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Rebekah; Oomen, Janus

    2010-07-01

    Can photographs of scars serve as evidence of torture? Amnesty International's Medical Examination Group in the Netherlands (AI-MEG) has, for more than a decade, been photographing torture scars to supplement the testimonies of asylum seekers who have been denied refuge. AI-MEG only intervenes at this point, when asylum seekers face extradition. Proving allegations of torture is of vital importance, as asylum seekers face rising anti-immigrant sentiment in European countries. All victims examined by AI-MEG present a combination of mental, physical and emotional scars. We summarize five cases where AI-MEG used photography in their medical examinations, and consider the ethical role physicians play in helping asylum seekers obtain refuge. Though photographs cannot capture all forms of trauma, as visual documents, they are a compelling form of concrete evidence of torture. In this way, photographs complement verbal testimonies and help doctors and immigration authorities to see and understand physical scars left by various forms of torture. AI-MEG explains in medical terms the connections between the visible late sequelae of torture and victims' testimonies. They then assess whether or not the physical scars are consistent with the forms of torture recounted by victims, using the terminology of the Istanbul Protocol (1999), the United Nations-adopted manual of guidelines that explains how to document torture. This paper outlines the medical examination process and argues for the use of photography as medical evidence on behalf of asylum seekers. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Comparison of self-reported health & healthcare utilisation between asylum seekers and refugees: an observational study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toar, Magzoub; O'Brien, Kirsty K; Fahey, Tom

    2009-06-30

    Adult refugees and asylum seekers living in Western countries experience a high prevalence of mental health problems, especially post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. This study compares and contrasts the prevalence of health problems, and potential risk factors as well as the utilisation of health services by asylum seekers and refugees in the Irish context. Cross sectional study using validated self reported health status questionnaires of adult asylum seekers (n = 60) and refugees (n = 28) from 30 countries, living in Ireland. Outcome measures included: general health status (SF-36), presence of PTSD symptoms and anxiety/depression symptoms. Data on chronic conditions and pre or post migration stressors are also reported. The two groups are compared for utilisation of the health care system and the use of over the counter medications. Asylum seekers were significantly more likely than refugees to report symptoms of PTSD (OR 6.3, 95% CI: 2.2-17.9) and depression/anxiety (OR 5.8, 95% CI: 2.2-15.4), while no significant difference was found in self-reported general health. When adjusted by multivariable regression, the presence of more than one chronic disease (OR 4.0, 95%CI: 1.3-12.7; OR 3.4, 95% CI: 1.2-10.1), high levels of pre migration stressors (OR 3.6, 95% CI: 1.1-11.9; OR 3.3, 95% CI: 1.0-10.4) or post migration stressors (OR 17.3, 95% CI: 4.9-60.8; OR 3.9, 95% CI: 1.2-12.3) were independent predictors of self reported PTSD or depression/anxiety symptoms respectively, however, residence status was no longer significantly associated with PTSD or depression/anxiety. Residence status may act as a marker for other explanatory variables; our results show it has a strong relationship with post migration stressors (chi2 = 19.74, df = 1, P refugees, while no significant difference was found between these groups for use of dentists, medication, hospitalisation or mental health services. Asylum seekers have a higher level of self reported

  18. "Their Stories Have Changed My Life": Clinicians' Reflections on Their Experience with and Their Motivation to Conduct Asylum Evaluations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mishori, Ranit; Hannaford, Alisse; Mujawar, Imran; Ferdowsian, Hope; Kureshi, Sarah

    2016-02-01

    Many clinicians perform asylum evaluations yet no studies describe the motivation to perform them or their perceived rewards. The number of asylum seekers in the US is increasing and more clinicians are needed as evaluators. A survey to an asylum evaluators' network asked participants to qualitatively reflect on their experience and motivation. Answers were analyzed for themes and sentiment. Respondents cited commitment to humanistic and moral values, noted personal and family experiences, having skills, expertise, and career interests as drivers. They found the experience very rewarding personally and professionally, and in their perceived benefit to asylees. Negative sentiment was less frequent and centered on emotions related to client narratives. Process-oriented frustrations were also noted. This is the first published study describing clinicians' motivation and experience with asylum evaluations. It may illuminate clinicians' drive to volunteer, and serve as a resource for organizations for recruitment and education.

  19. Consequences of tuberculosis among asylum seekers for health care workers in Germany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diel, Roland; Loddenkemper, Robert; Nienhaus, Albert

    2016-01-01

    Immigrants have been contributing to the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Germany for many years. The current wave of migration of asylum seekers to Germany may increase that figure. Healthcare workers (HCW) who look after refugees not only in hospitals and medical practices but also in aid projects may be exposed to cases of TB. The incremental TB cases arising from imported TB as well as from TB cases that developed later in refugees were calculated in a Markov model over a period of 5 years. Infectious and non-infectious susceptible TB and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases were determined separately. In addition, the total amount of latent TB in contact persons and the risk of infection by HCW were estimated. Due to uncertainty of future refugee flows to Europe, different scenarios were considered in univariate and multivariate sensitivity analysis. Assuming a decrease in immigration by half each year to the bottom line of 2014, and in light of the current number of 800,000 asylum seekers, we calculated an additional 10,090 TB cases by the end of the fifth year (5976 cases of infectious pulmonary TB and 143 cases of pulmonary MDR-TB). In case of an unchanging influx of asylum seekers over the 5-year period, 19,031 TB cases would arise, 377 of which infectious MDR-TB. Eighty -seven ensuing TB cases would develop in HCW in the same period, 3 of which MDR-TB cases. Although the total number of TB cases in HCW expected to ensue from the current influx of asylum seekers is rather small, the 3 MDR-TB cases we calculated have to be taken seriously. We consider it essential to increase awareness of protective measures such as respiratory masks and, in the event of documented exposure, of supply-oriented occupational health screening.

  20. The Moral Economy of Lying: Subjectcraft, Narrative Capital, and Uncertainty in the Politics of Asylum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beneduce, Roberto

    2015-01-01

    Based on narratives of asylum-seekers from sub-Saharan Africa in northern Italy, in this article I analyze the narrative strategies used by immigrants to meet the eligibility criteria established by asylum law. For many of them, this means "arranging" biographical details within what I call "a moral economy of lying." The first question I discuss is what types of experience and 'subject positions' these narrative strategies reveal or generate. I then examine the arbitrariness and the bureaucratic violence of the asylum evaluation process, and the role of these procedures in the making of nation-language and current technologies of citizenship. Finally, I consider the politics of testification, recognition, and memory these discourses and practices combine to shape. I analyze these issues from an historical point of view of the politics of identity, truth, and falsehood as imposed in a recent past by colonizers onto the colonized.

  1. Meeting the health and social needs of pregnant asylum seekers, midwifery students' perspectives: part 1; dominant discourses and midwifery students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haith-Cooper, Melanie; Bradshaw, Gwendolen

    2013-09-01

    Current literature has indicated a concern about standards of maternity care experienced by pregnant women who are seeking asylum. As the next generation of midwives, it is important that students are educated in a way that prepares them to effectively care for these women. To understand how this can be achieved, it is important to explore what asylum seeking means to midwifery students. This article is the first of three parts and reports on one objective from a wider doctorate study. It identifies dominant discourses that influenced the perceptions of a group of midwifery students' about the pregnant asylum seeking woman. The study was designed from a social constructivist perspective, with contextual knowledge being constructed by groups of people, influenced by underpinning dominant discourses, depending on their social, cultural and historical positions in the world. In a United Kingdom University setting, during year two of a pre-registration midwifery programme, eleven midwifery students participated in the study. Two focus group interviews using a problem based learning scenario as a trigger for discussion were conducted. In addition, three students were individually interviewed to explore issues in more depth and two students' written reflections on practice were used to generate data. Following a critical discourse analysis, dominant discourses were identified which appeared to influence the way in which asylum seekers were perceived. The findings suggested an underpinning ideology around the asylum seeker being different and of a criminal persuasion. Although the pregnant woman seeking asylum was considered as deserving of care, the same discourses appeared to influence the way in which she was constructed. However, as the study progressed, through reading alternative sources of literature, some students appeared to question these discourses. These findings have implications for midwifery education in encouraging students to challenge negative discourses

  2. Fleeing the Drug War Next Door: Drug-related Violence as a Basis for Refugee Protection for Mexican Asylum-Seekers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Holly Buchanan

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available The death toll in Mexico due to drug-related violence has continued to rise since President Felipe Calderón initiated the Mexican Government's crackdown on drug trafficking organizations in 2006. Pervasive corruption among state and local government officials and alleged human rights violations by the Mexican military have added to the gravity of the endemic drug-related violence in Mexico. In response to the continuous violence in Mexico perpetrated by drug trafficking organiza- tions, a substantial number of Mexican citizens have fled to the United States seeking asylum. Due to the strict requirements for refugee status under international law and asylum protection under U.S. law, individuals seeking protection based on drug-related violence face several legal obstacles. This Article addresses the extent to which drug-related violence may con- stitute a basis for refugee status protection under international refugee law and U.S. asylum law. It seeks to provide insight into the potential viability of claims for refugee status brought by Mexican asylum-seekers fleeing drug-related violence. This Article concludes with a discussion on complementary protection under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment for Mexican asylum-seekers.

  3. Fleeing the Drug War Next Door: Drug-related Violence as a Basis for Refugee Protection for Mexican Asylum-Seekers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Holly Buchanan

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available The death toll in Mexico due to drug-related violence has continued to rise since President Felipe Calderón initiated the Mexican Government's crackdown on drug trafficking organizations in 2006. Pervasive corruption among state and local government officials and alleged human rights violations by the Mexican military have added to the gravity of the endemic drug-related violence in Mexico. In response to the continuous violence in Mexico perpetrated by drug trafficking organiza- tions, a substantial number of Mexican citizens have fled to the United States seeking asylum. Due to the strict requirements for refugee status under international law and asylum protection under U.S. law, individuals seeking protection based on drug-related violence face several legal obstacles. This Article addresses the extent to which drug-related violence may con- stitute a basis for refugee status protection under international refugee law and U.S. asylum law. It seeks to provide insight into the potential viability of claims for refugee status brought by Mexican asylum-seekers fleeing drug-related violence. This Article concludes with a discussion on complementary protection under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment for Mexican asylum-seekers.  

  4. Somatisation: illness perspectives of asylum seeker and refugee patients from the former country of Yugoslavia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hudelson Patricia

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Somatisation is particularly challenging in multicultural contexts where patients and physicians often differ in terms of their illness-related beliefs and practices and health care expectations. This paper reports on a exploratory study aimed at better understanding how asylum seeker and refugee patients from the former country of Yugoslavia who were identified by their physicians as somatising make sense of their suffering. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 asylum seeker and refugee patients from the former country of Yugoslavia who attended the general medicine outpatient clinic of a Swiss teaching Hospital and were identified as presenting with somatisation. Interviews explored patients' illness perspectives and health care expectations. Interviews were audio taped, transcribed verbatim and analyzed to identify key themes in patients' narratives. Results Patients attributed the onset of symptoms to past traumatic experiences and tended to attribute their persistence to current living conditions and uncertain legal status. Patients formulated their suffering in both medical and social/legal terms, and sought help from physicians for both types of problems. Conclusion Awareness of how asylum seeker and refugee patients make sense of their suffering can help physicians to better understand patients' expectations of the clinical encounter, and the particular nature and constraints of the patient-provider relationship in the context of asylum.

  5. Do resettlement variables predict psychiatric treatment outcomes in a sample of asylum-seeking survivors of torture?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitsett, David; Sherman, Martin F

    2017-12-01

    Mental health clinicians who work with asylum seekers provide services to patients who face stressful everyday living conditions. However, little is known about how these problems potentially impact psychiatric treatment within these populations. The purpose of this study was thus to examine whether resettlement factors predict outcomes of a mental health intervention for a sample of asylum-seeking survivors of torture. The study included data from a US outpatient clinic that specialized in treating asylum-seeking survivors of torture. Patients (primarily from Iraq, Afghanistan and African Countries) were evaluated on demographic factors at intake and psychiatric symptoms throughout the course of treatment. Patients experienced significant reductions in depression, anxiety and trauma symptoms, although symptoms still remained near or above clinical thresholds. Stable, uncrowded housing conditions significantly predicted lower depression, anxiety and trauma symptoms at follow-up. These findings support the hypotheses that individuals seeking asylum within the United States who have survived torture can benefit from psychiatric treatment and emphasize the importance of stable living conditions in improving treatment effectiveness. This suggests the need for further research on social predictors of treatment outcomes, as well as the need for clinicians and policymakers to target improved housing as a potentially important tool to reduce psychiatric problems related to torture and forced migration.

  6. [Communication and mental health: a discursive analysis of posters of the National Anti-Asylum Campaign Movement in Brazil].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Espirito Santo, Wanda; Araujo, Inesita Soares de; Amarante, Paulo

    2016-01-26

    The article analyzes two posters that with the same slogan - "Asylums nevermore" - promote National Anti-Asylum Day. The analysis was based on principles of the symptomatology of social discourse, articulating analytical concepts and practices arising from the French School and the pragmatic dimension of discourse analysis. The results revealed affirmation strategies of the movement for the qualification and exacerbation of the issues of the enunciation and other enunciators, namely political actors of the anti-asylum movement and their allies. It also reveals the attempt to disqualify competitive discourse, especially that which discloses the serious problems of its institutional models, but also by juxtaposing the positive presence of the issuers and enunciators of the posters.

  7. The Importance of Being Gay: The Perils and Possibilities of LGBTI Asylum Seekers' Involvement in "Rights of Passage"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Summerskill, Clare

    2018-01-01

    In order to claim asylum in the UK, lesbians and gay men are required to 'prove' their sexual orientation during an interview, demonstrating the dangers that their sexuality poses for them in their countries of origin. Playwrights who create verbatim theatre addressing LGBTI asylum issues will also interview contributors eliciting personal…

  8. Iron deficiency among children of asylum seekers in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stellinga-Boelen, A. A. M.; Storm, H.; Wiegersma, P. A.; Bijleveld, C. M. A.; Verkade, H. J.

    2007-01-01

    Objectives: To investigate, in asylum seekers' children in the Netherlands, biochemical iron status and the prevalence of iron deficiency (ID) and anemia in relation to age, region of origin, length of stay in the Netherlands, body mass index (BMI), and dietary iron intake. Patients and Methods:

  9. Iron deficiency among children of asylum seekers in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stellinga-Boelen, A. A. M.; Storm, H.; Wiegersma, P. A.; Bijleveld, C. M. A.; Verkade, H. J.

    Objectives: To investigate, in asylum seekers' children in the Netherlands, biochemical iron status and the prevalence of iron deficiency (ID) and anemia in relation to age, region of origin, length of stay in the Netherlands, body mass index (BMI), and dietary iron intake. Patients and Methods:

  10. Threat Perception and Modern Racism as Possible Predictors of Attitudes towards Asylum Seekers: Comparative Findings from Austria, Germany, and Slovakia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Walter Renner

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Autochthon Europeans reacted inconsistently to rising numbers of asylum applications in 2015 and 2016. While some of them welcomed asylum seekers enthusiastically, others reacted with hostility. The objective of this study was to test a predictive model of these individual differences by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM. Both, in a German-speaking (N = 349 Austrians and Germans and in a Slovak (N = 307 adult sample, the perception of "cultural threat" was a strong predictor of attitudes towards asylum seekers, whereas perceived "economic threat" and "modern racism" did not explain additional proportions of the variance.

  11. The physical health status, service utilisation and barriers to accessing care for asylum seekers residing in the community: a systematic review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hadgkiss, Emily J; Renzaho, Andre M N

    2014-05-01

    To document physical health problems that asylum seekers experience on settlement in the community and to assess their utilisation of healthcare services and barriers to care, in an international context. A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies was undertaken according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase and CINAHL databases were searched from 2002 to October 2012, focusing on adult asylum seekers residing in the community in high-income countries. The search yielded 1499 articles, of which 32 studies met the inclusion criteria - 23 quantitative and nine qualitative. Asylum seekers had complex health profiles spanning a range of infectious diseases, chronic non-communicable conditions, and reproductive-health issues. They appeared to utilise health services at a higher rate than the host population, yet faced significant barriers to care. The findings of this study highlight the health inequities faced by asylum seekers residing in the communities of host countries, internationally. National data on asylum seekers' health profiles, service utilisation and barriers to care, as well as cross-country policy comparisons, are urgently required for the development of effective Australian health programs and evidence-based policy. What is known about the topic? The clinical and political focus of asylum seekers' health has largely been on the higher incidence of mental disorders and the impact of immigration detention. Since policy changes made in late 2011, an increasing number of asylum seekers have been permitted to live in the community while their claims are processed. There is a paucity of research exploring the physical health needs of asylum seekers residing in the community. What does this paper add? The international literature highlights the complexity of asylum seekers' health profiles. Although they appear to utilise health services at a higher rate than the host population

  12. Exploring the Relationship between Housing and Health for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in South Australia: A Qualitative Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Ziersch

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Housing is an important social determinant of health; however, little is known about the impact of housing experiences on health and wellbeing for people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds. In this paper, we outline a qualitative component of a study in South Australia examining these links. Specifically, interviews were conducted with 50 refugees and asylum seekers who were purposively sampled according to gender, continent and visa status, from a broader survey. Interviews were analysed thematically. The results indicated that housing was of central importance to health and wellbeing and impacted on health through a range of pathways including affordability, the suitability of housing in relation to physical aspects such as condition and layout, and social aspects such as safety and belonging and issues around security of tenure. Asylum seekers in particular reported that living in housing in poor condition negatively affected their health. Our research reinforces the importance of housing for both the physical and mental health for asylum seekers and refugees living in resettlement countries. Improving housing quality, affordability and tenure security all have the potential to lead to more positive health outcomes.

  13. Exploring the Relationship between Housing and Health for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in South Australia: A Qualitative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziersch, Anna; Walsh, Moira; Due, Clemence; Duivesteyn, Emily

    2017-09-08

    Housing is an important social determinant of health; however, little is known about the impact of housing experiences on health and wellbeing for people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds. In this paper, we outline a qualitative component of a study in South Australia examining these links. Specifically, interviews were conducted with 50 refugees and asylum seekers who were purposively sampled according to gender, continent and visa status, from a broader survey. Interviews were analysed thematically. The results indicated that housing was of central importance to health and wellbeing and impacted on health through a range of pathways including affordability, the suitability of housing in relation to physical aspects such as condition and layout, and social aspects such as safety and belonging and issues around security of tenure. Asylum seekers in particular reported that living in housing in poor condition negatively affected their health. Our research reinforces the importance of housing for both the physical and mental health for asylum seekers and refugees living in resettlement countries. Improving housing quality, affordability and tenure security all have the potential to lead to more positive health outcomes.

  14. Attitudes towards Immigrant Workers and Asylum Seekers in Eastern Croatia: Dimensions, Determinants and Differences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margareta Gregurović

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Croatia’s accession to the EU has brought new challenges and issues in researching and analysing migration flows and trends as well as attitudes and perceptions of real and potential newcomers. The aim of this paper is to explore attitudes of the residents of the two most easterly Croatian counties towards two distinct categories of newcomers: immigrant workers and asylum seekers. The research was conducted shortly after Croatia’s entry into the EU, in September 2013, and the presented data are a part of a larger survey that included various migration and ethnicity issues. The survey was applied on a convenience sample of 1 110 adult respondents in two counties: Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem. Data were analysed in a series of multivariate procedures. Results indicated significant perceptions of immigrant workers within the dimension of cultural threat, along with the expression of a considerable degree of social distance towards them. Asylum seekers were further perceived as a security and economic threat. Within two analysed regression models, the effects on attitudes towards immigrant workers and asylum seekers were similar. Among the spectrum of socio-demographic variables, a statistically significant effect on both dependent variables came from age and political orientation, indicating that older and politically right-oriented respondents expressed more negative attitudes towards both groups. Among other socio-demographic variables, education was significant in predicting attitudes towards immigrant workers, while ethnicity was significant in predicting the attitudes towards asylum seekers. The second model analysed the effect of selected political attitudes and value orientations resulting in significant prediction of negative attitudes towards both groups by pronounced conservativism, support of aggression and submission, social-dominance, dominant submissive authoritarianism and social alienation, rejecting socially oriented

  15. Assets, Aliens or Asylum Seekers? Immigration and the United Kingdom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haste, Helen

    2006-01-01

    British attitudes toward immigrants are complex. The United Kingdom has received regular waves of immigrants, both political and economic asylum seekers and, especially in recent decades, recruited labor from the former nations of the British Empire. Throughout its history, ambivalence among the Britons is seen due to these developments. In this…

  16. Transnational entanglements in the history of psychiatry. South Tyrolian patients in German asylums, c. 1940-1945

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Müller

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Object of this article is the destiny of psychiatric inmates in Wuerttemberg asylums, 1940-1945. These patients from Italian regions of Vicenza, Udine, Trento, Alto Adige and various locations more were delegated and, to a substantial number, illegally deported to the German asylums Zwiefalten, Schussenried and Weissenau, all in South Wuerttemberg, in 1940 and 1943. Attention is focused on the pioneering state pre-negotiations, and the so-called option treaties between the German Reich and Fascist Italy as part of the general aspect of National Socialist bio-Politics. The treatment of these South Tyrol patients in the asylums themselves, as well as their fate will be put into the context of the resettlement actions at the margins of the Third Reich, which started in 1939 and widely affected the European continent. It is referred to other sub-groups of migrating population from Italy to the German Reich as well, as a contrasting aspect of this contribution

  17. Forensic age assessment of asylum seekers in Finland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metsäniitty, Mari; Varkkola, Olli; Waltimo-Sirén, Janna; Ranta, Helena

    2017-01-01

    In Finland, forensic age assessment is strictly regulated by legislation. According to the Aliens Act (301/2004) and the amendment of the Act (549/2010), the police authorities, the frontier guard authorities, and the immigration authorities have the right to refer asylum seekers to the University of Helsinki, Department of Forensic Medicine, for age assessment. These assessments are especially performed to solve if the person is of major age, the cutoff being 18 completed years. The forensic age assessment is largely based on dental development, since the special permit of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) to the Department of Forensic Medicine of the University of Helsinki, allowing the use of ionizing radiation for non-medical purposes, includes dental and hand X-rays. Forensic age assessment is always performed by two forensic odontologists. In 2015, the total number of forensic age assessment examinations was 149, and the countries of origin of the asylum seekers were most commonly Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. The current legislation on forensic age assessment has been well received and approved. Radiological and other examinations can be performed in different parts of Finland, but the forensic odontologist at the University of Helsinki is always involved in the process and ensures joint quality standards for the forensic age assessment.

  18. Find and treat or find and lose? Tuberculosis treatment outcomes among screened newly arrived asylum seekers in Germany 2002 to 2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuehne, Anna; Hauer, Barbara; Brodhun, Bonita; Haas, Walter; Fiebig, Lena

    2018-03-01

    BackgroundGermany has a low tuberculosis (TB) incidence. A relevant and increasing proportion of TB cases is diagnosed among asylum seekers upon screening. Aim: We aimed to assess whether cases identified by screening asylum seekers had equally successful and completely reported treatment outcomes as cases diagnosed by passive case finding and contact tracing in the general population. Methods: We analysed characteristics and treatment outcomes of pulmonary TB cases notified in Germany between 2002 and 2014, stratified by mode of case finding. We performed three multivariable analyses with different dependent variables: Model A: successful vs all other outcomes, Model B: successful vs documented non-successful clinical outcome and Model C: known outcome vs lost to follow-up. Results: TB treatment success was highest among cases identified by contact tracing (87%; 3,139/3,591), followed by passive case finding (74%; 28,804/39,019) and by screening asylum seekers (60%; 884/1,474). Cases identified by screening asylum seekers had 2.4 times higher odds of not having a successful treatment outcome as opposed to all other outcomes (A), 1.4 times higher odds of not having a successful treatment outcome as opposed to known non-successful outcomes (B) and 2.3 times higher odds of loss to follow-up (C) than cases identified by passive case finding. Conclusion: Screened asylum seekers had poorer treatment outcomes and were more often lost to follow-up. Linking patients to treatment facilities and investigating potential barriers to treatment completion are needed to secure screening benefits for asylum seekers and communities.

  19. Find and treat or find and lose? Tuberculosis treatment outcomes among screened newly arrived asylum seekers in Germany 2002 to 2014

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuehne, Anna; Hauer, Barbara; Brodhun, Bonita; Haas, Walter; Fiebig, Lena

    2018-01-01

    Background Germany has a low tuberculosis (TB) incidence. A relevant and increasing proportion of TB cases is diagnosed among asylum seekers upon screening. Aim: We aimed to assess whether cases identified by screening asylum seekers had equally successful and completely reported treatment outcomes as cases diagnosed by passive case finding and contact tracing in the general population. Methods: We analysed characteristics and treatment outcomes of pulmonary TB cases notified in Germany between 2002 and 2014, stratified by mode of case finding. We performed three multivariable analyses with different dependent variables: Model A: successful vs all other outcomes, Model B: successful vs documented non-successful clinical outcome and Model C: known outcome vs lost to follow-up. Results: TB treatment success was highest among cases identified by contact tracing (87%; 3,139/3,591), followed by passive case finding (74%; 28,804/39,019) and by screening asylum seekers (60%; 884/1,474). Cases identified by screening asylum seekers had 2.4 times higher odds of not having a successful treatment outcome as opposed to all other outcomes (A), 1.4 times higher odds of not having a successful treatment outcome as opposed to known non-successful outcomes (B) and 2.3 times higher odds of loss to follow-up (C) than cases identified by passive case finding. Conclusion: Screened asylum seekers had poorer treatment outcomes and were more often lost to follow-up. Linking patients to treatment facilities and investigating potential barriers to treatment completion are needed to secure screening benefits for asylum seekers and communities. PMID:29560856

  20. Human rights or security? Positions on asylum in European Parliament speeches

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frid-Nielsen, Snorre Sylvester

    2018-01-01

    This study examines speeches in the European Parliament relating to asylum. Conceptually, it tests hypotheses concerning the relation between national parties and Members of European Parliament (MEPs). The computer-based content analysis method Wordfish is used to examine 876 speeches from 2004-2...

  1. Psychological distress and the asylum process: a longitudinal study of forced migrants in Ireland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Dermot A; Benson, Ciarán A; Dooley, Barbara A

    2008-01-01

    Although asylum seeking has become a major political issue in the Western world, research on its psychological impact is still in its infancy. This study examined levels and predictors of distress among a community sample of persons who have sought asylum in Ireland. A key aim was to provide a longitudinal analysis of the relationship between legal status security and psychological distress. Distress was measured by the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised at Time 1 (N = 162) and its shorter version (the Brief Symptom Inventory) at Time 2 (N = 70). Levels of severe distress were high at both baseline (46%) and follow-up (36%). The only persons to show a decrease in distress were those who had obtained a secure legal status (e.g., refugee status or residency) between the study phases. Distress risk factors included female gender, an insecure legal status, separation from children, discrimination, and postmigration stress. Protective factors were social support (Time 1) and the presence of a partner. The findings suggest that asylum seekers are a high-risk group for distress. This risk can be reduced by appropriate policy changes and interventions to increase social resources.

  2. Beyond the walls of the lunatic asylum: Christopher Hope’s early fiction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. Wood

    2004-07-01

    Full Text Available This article examines an under-explored aspect of Christopher Hope’s early fiction: its capacity to suggest the potential for imaginative and psychological freedom through its comic, carnivalesque qualities. Hope produced various novels and stories set in South Africa during the 1950s and 1960s, including A Separate Development (1981, Black Swan (1987 and the short story collection Learning to Fly (1990. It is argued that Hope’s vision in these works tends to be perceived as essentially satirical, ultimately limited by bleakness and pessimism; while the carnivalesque, potentially liberatory aspects of his writing tend to be overlooked. By utilising comic and carnivalesque features Hope’s work indeed offers creative, liberated ways of apprehending reality. Mikhail Bakhtin’s discussion of the ability of the carnivalesque to open up new ways of seeing, through the “nonofficial” versions of reality that it proffers, is particularly relevant in this regard. It is argued that this latter aspect of Hope’s work is especially significant, bearing in mind the sense of constraint and confinement that seemed to dominate much of South African fiction during the apartheid era and that still remains a key concern in many postapartheid novels.

  3. The impact of the refugee decision on the trajectory of PTSD, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among asylum seekers: a longitudinal study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silove, Derrick; Steel, Zachary; Susljik, Ina; Frommer, Naomi; Loneragan, Celia; Chey, Tien; Brooks, Robert; le Touze, Dominique; Ceollo, Mariano; Smith, Mitchell; Harris, Elizabeth; Bryant, Richard

    2007-01-01

    To examine prospectively the trajectory of trauma-related psychiatric symptoms and disability amongst asylum seekers over the course of the refugee determination process. To identify the direct impact of the refugee decision on psychiatric symptoms by adjusting for other variables, namely sociodemographic characteristics, past trauma, and ongoing postmigration stresses. A prospective cohort study of asylum seekers recruited from a random sample of immigration agents in Sydney, Australia. Consecutive asylum seekers were referred for interview by immigration agents. Interviews were undertaken after the initial application and on average, 3.8 months after the refugee decision. Measures assessed premigration trauma and postmigration stressors. Mental health status was assessed using the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25. Functional impairment was assessed with the Medical Outcomes Study-Short Form 12. Sixty-two of 73 asylum seekers were retained at follow-up. The accepted (16) and rejected (46) groups did not differ on premigration trauma or baseline psychiatric symptoms. Postdecision, the accepted group showed substantial improvements in posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and in mental health functioning, whereas the rejected group maintained high levels of symptoms on all psychiatric indices. Establishing secure residency status for asylum seekers may be important to their recovery from trauma-related psychiatric symptoms. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

  4. Immunity against measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hepatitis A and hepatitis B among adult asylum seekers in the Netherlands, 2016.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Freidl, Gudrun S; Tostmann, Alma; Curvers, Moud; Ruijs, Wilhelmina L M; Smits, Gaby; Schepp, Rutger; Duizer, Erwin; Boland, Greet; de Melker, Hester; van der Klis, Fiona R M; Hautvast, Jeannine L A; Veldhuijzen, Irene K

    2018-01-01

    Asylum seekers are a vulnerable population for contracting infectious diseases. Outbreaks occur among children and adults. In the Netherlands, asylum seeker children are offered vaccination according to the National Immunization Program. Little is known about protection against vaccine-preventable

  5. A foot in the door: access to asylum in South Africa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vigneswaran, D.

    2008-01-01

    Asylum seekers in South Africa experience extreme difficulties lodging their claimsat the Department of Home Affairs. This paper utilises new survey data to measurethe extent of the Department’s failures to provide access to the status determination process. The principal finding is that South

  6. The effectiveness of psychotherapy with refugees and asylum seekers: preliminary results from an Austrian study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renner, Walter

    2009-02-01

    An Austrian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) offered psychotherapy to 37 asylum seekers and refugees (21 of them female) with a mean age of 36.1 years (s = 7.5), with the majority of them from Chechnya or Afghanistan. Comparative data between the start of therapy and the time of evaluation revealed a highly significant positive effect (d = 0.77), while most therapies were still going on. By a retrospective measure of perceived change, 85% of the participants reported significant improvements. The results show that even under difficult conditions, when working with asylum seekers and refugees, psychotherapy can be effective.

  7. Experiencing 'pathologized presence and normalized absence'; understanding health related experiences and access to health care among Iraqi and Somali asylum seekers, refugees and persons without legal status.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Mei Lan; Sixsmith, Judith; Lawthom, Rebecca; Mountian, Ilana; Shahrin, Afifa

    2015-09-19

    Asylum seekers, refugees and persons without legal status have been reported to experience a range of difficulties when accessing public services and supports in the UK. While research has identified health care barriers to equitable access such as language difficulties, it has not considered the broader social contexts of marginalization experienced through the dynamics of 'othering'. The current study explores health and health care experiences of Somali and Iraqi asylum seekers, refugees and persons without legal status, highlighting 'minoritization' processes and the 'pathologization' of difference as analytical lenses to understand the multiple layers of oppression that contribute to health inequities. For the study, qualitative methods were used to document the lived experiences of asylum seekers, refugees and persons without legal status. Thirty-five in-depth interviews and five focus groups were used to explore personal accounts, reveal shared understandings and enable social, cognitive and emotional understandings of on-going health problems and challenges when seeking treatment and care. A participatory framework was undertaken which inspired collaborative workings with local organizations that worked directly with asylum seekers, refugees and persons without legal status. The analysis revealed four key themes: 1) pre-departure histories and post-arrival challenges; 2) legal status; 3) health knowledges and procedural barriers as well as 4) language and cultural competence. Confidentiality, trust, wait times and short doctor-patient consultations were emphasized as being insufficient for culturally specific communications and often translating into inadequate treatment and care. Barriers to accessing health care was associated with social disadvantage and restrictions of the broader welfare system suggesting that a re-evaluation of the asylum seeking process is required to improve the situation. Macro- and micro-level intersections of accustomed societal

  8. A foot in the door: access to asylum in South Africa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vigneswaran, D.

    2008-01-01

    Asylum seekers in South Africa experience extreme difficulties lodging their claims at the Department of Home Affairs. This paper utilizes new survey data to measure the extent of the Department’s failures to provide access to the status determination process. The principal finding is that South

  9. Unaccompanied adolescents seeking asylum: Poorer mental health under a restrictive reception

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reijneveld, S.A.; Boer, J.B.de; Bean, T.; Korfker, D.G.

    2005-01-01

    We assessed the effects of a stringent reception policy on the mental health of unaccompanied adolescent asylum seekers by comparing the mental health of adolescents in a restricted campus reception setting and in a setting offering more autonomy (numbers [response rates]: 69 [93%] and 53 [69%],

  10. The Impact of Externalization of Migration Controls on the Rights of Asylum Seekers and Other Migrants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bill Frelick

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Wars, conflict, and persecution have forced more people to flee their homes and seek refuge and safety elsewhere than at any time since the end of World War II. As displaced people and other migrants increasingly move out of the conflict-ridden and less developed regions of their displacement and into relatively rich and stable regions of the world, the countries of destination are increasingly working to contain and even stem the migration flow before it reaches their shores. Perversely, countries that have developed generally rights-sensitive standards and procedures for assessing protection claims of asylum seekers within their jurisdictions have simultaneously established barriers that prevent migrants, including asylum seekers, from setting foot on their territories or otherwise triggering protection obligations. Consequently, those who would otherwise have been able to avail themselves of asylum procedures, social support, and decent reception conditions are often relegated to countries of first arrival or transit that have comparatively less capacity to ensure protection of human rights in accordance with international standards.This paper seeks to develop a working definition of the externalization of migration controls and how such externalization of the border implicates the human rights of migrants, and asylum seekers in particular. Although the majority of those migrants seeking legal protections stay in countries neighboring their own, hundreds of thousands continue their journeys in search of protection and stability in more distant states, including in the European Union, the United States, and Australia. In response to the significant increase in asylum seekers arriving at their borders, all three entities have significantly increased deterrence measures with the hopes of keeping new arrivals from entering. This paper will thus highlight a number of the most troubling externalization strategies used by the European Union, the

  11. To deter, distance and dehumanise: mandatory immigration detention and offshore processing of asylum seekers under Australian law

    OpenAIRE

    Penovic, Tania

    2017-01-01

    This thesis examines the law and practice concerning two key policies directed at asylum seekers who arrive or attempt to arrive in Australia by boat; immigration detention and offshore processing. It is comprised of four parts. Part 1 provides an overview of the thesis, consolidating the published material with reference to political theory. A summary of the chapters is provided in Part II. Part III considers the contribution maoe by my work to the literature on asylum seeker policy in...

  12. Protection of asylum seekers and illegal migrants human rights: Practice of the European Court of Human Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Đukanović Anđela

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Protection of asylum seeker and Illegal migrants human rights, has often been difficult due to the need of states to regulate unwanted migration flows. European Court of Human Rights plays an important role in protecting the rights of these individuals, through a set of human rights. Requests for interim measures under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court also have great importance. In cases involving illegal migrants and asylum-seekers, Court was often in difficult position, given the contradictions that could arise from the protection of human rights and the legitimate aim of the Contracting States to control the entry, residence and expulsion of aliens. Recent Courts judgment in case of M. S. S. against Belgium is particularly important, because of its remarkable influence on the perception of a common asylum system in the EU, as well as the judgment in the case of Jama Hirsi and Others v. Italy.

  13. The Refugee Health Nurse Liaison: a nurse led initiative to improve healthcare for asylum seekers and refugees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McBride, Jacquie; Russo, Alana; Block, Andrew

    2016-12-01

    Asylum seekers and refugees experience a range of barriers to health service access and competent use. The Refugee Health Nurse Liaison initiative was piloted at a hospital in a high-settlement region of Victoria, Australia. This initiative aimed to build capacity within the health sector to more effectively respond to the needs of asylum seekers and refugees. A mixed-methods evaluation was undertaken to: describe issues encountered by asylum seekers and refugees within the hospital setting; capture the nature of the Refugee Health Nurse Liaison position; and document key outputs. Throughout the pilot period, 946 patients were referred to the role, of which 99% received an assessment of physical, mental, and social health. Refugee Health Nurse Liaisons effectively provided clinical support, advocacy, education, referrals, and both formal and informal capacity building. Learnings from this model are transferable to services in high-settlement regions, and could have application in improving patient care more broadly.

  14. Health services for asylum seekers and refugees in Europe: consequences for policymaking.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Devillé, W.; Goosen, S.

    2006-01-01

    Reception and integration of asylum seekers and refugees are high on the political agenda in most European countries. Reception conditions, including the provision of health care, differ considerably between countries. The European Commission tries to harmonise the reception standards in the

  15. Adult Asylum Seekers from the Middle East Including Syria in Central Europe: What Are Their Health Care Problems?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmen Andrea Pfortmueller

    Full Text Available Forced displacement related to persecution and violent conflict has reached a new peak in recent years. The primary aim of this study is to provide an initial overview of the acute and chronic health care problems of asylum seekers from the Middle East, with special emphasis on asylum seekers from Syria.Our retrospective data analysis comprised adult patients presenting to our emergency department between 01.11.2011 and 30.06.2014 with the official resident status of an "asylum seeker" or "refugee" from the Middle East.In total, 880 patients were included in the study. Of these, 625 (71.0% were male and 255 (29.0% female. The median age was 34 (range 16-84. 222 (25.2% of our patients were from Syria. The most common reason for presentation was surgical (381, 43.3%, followed by medical (321, 36.5% and psychiatric (137, 15.6%. In patients with surgical presentations, trauma-related problems were most common (n = 196, 50.6%. Within the group of patients with medical presentation, acute infectious diseases were most common (n = 141, 43.9%, followed by neurological problems (n = 70, 21.8% and gastrointestinal problems (n = 47, 14.6%. There were no differences between Syrian and non-Syrian refugees concerning surgical or medical admissions. The most common chronic disorder of unclear significance was chronic gastrointestinal problems (n = 132, 15%, followed by chronic musculoskeletal problems (n = 108, 12.3% and chronic headaches (n = 78, 8.9%. Patients from Syria were significantly younger and more often suffered from a post-traumatic stress disorder than patients of other nationalities (p<0.0001, and p = 0.05, respectively.Overall a remarkable number of our very young group of patients suffered from psychiatric disorders and unspecified somatic symptoms. Asylum seekers should be carefully evaluated when presenting to a medical facility and physicians should be aware of the high incidence of unspecified somatic symptoms in this patient population

  16. Stool screening of Syrian refugees and asylum seekers in Germany, 2013/2014: Identification of Sabin like polioviruses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Böttcher, Sindy; Neubauer, Katrin; Baillot, Armin; Rieder, Gabriele; Adam, Maja; Diedrich, Sabine

    2015-10-01

    Germany is a partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Assurance of polio free status is based on enterovirus surveillance, which focuses on patients with signs of acute flaccid paralysis or aseptic meningitis/encephalitis, representing the key symptoms of poliovirus infection. In response to the wild poliovirus outbreak in Syria 2013 and high number of refugees coming from Syria to Germany, stool samples from 629 Syrian refugees/asylum seekers aged Syrian refugees and asylum seekers at that time. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  17. Asylum seekers, violence and health: a systematic review of research in high-income host countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalt, Anne; Hossain, Mazeda; Kiss, Ligia; Zimmerman, Cathy

    2013-03-01

    We performed a systematic review of literature on violence and related health concerns among asylum seekers in high-income host countries. We extracted data from 23 peer-reviewed studies. Prevalence of torture, variably defined, was above 30% across all studies. Torture history in clinic populations correlated with hunger and posttraumatic stress disorder, although in small, nonrepresentative samples. One study observed that previous exposure to interpersonal violence interacted with longer immigration detention periods, resulting in higher depression scores. Limited evidence suggests that asylum seekers frequently experience violence and health problems, but large-scale studies are needed to inform policies and services for this vulnerable group often at the center of political debate.

  18. Contact tracing using DNA fingerprinting in an asylum seeker with pulmonary tuberculosis.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Loenhout-Rooyackers, J.H. van; Sebek, M.M.; Verbeek, A.L.M.

    2002-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of tuberculosis in asylum seekers is followed by contact tracing, which is routinely performed by the Municipal Health Service (MHS). We investigated cases of tuberculosis whose symptoms became apparent after closure of regular contact tracing. METHODS: Analysis of data

  19. 78 FR 19077 - Forwarding of Asylum Applications to the Department of State

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-29

    ... officers can better utilize their time and resources toward accomplishing their asylum responsibilities... form of post-traumatic stress or depression that affects long-term memory, making credibility... specific protection claims will allow DOS to better focus its limited resources. The existing process is...

  20. Pro-asylum Advocacy in the EU: Challenging the State of Exception

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    H.M. Hintjens (Helen); R. Kumar (Rajiv); A. Pouri (Ahmed)

    2011-01-01

    textabstractIntroduction. This chapter explores examples of how pro-asylum advocates challenge the harsh measures used to punish those who try to enter or reside in the EU illegally, taking examples from The Netherlands and the UK. We explore organized resistance to the ‘3-Ds’, which are so typical

  1. 8 CFR 1240.33 - Applications for asylum or withholding of deportation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... immigration judge shall: (1) Advise the alien that he or she may apply for asylum in the United States or..., DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS PROCEEDINGS TO DETERMINE REMOVABILITY OF ALIENS IN THE UNITED... determination of excludability from the United States pursuant to this subpart, and the alien has not been...

  2. Harming asylum seekers’ chances through poor use of human rights treaties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen Meili

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Over the past decade, UK courts and administrative tribunals havebecome increasingly comfortable relying on international human rightstreaties in cases where non-citizens claim asylum or other means ofprotection from persecution. However, this trend does not mean thatthese treaties have always been deployed by refugee lawyers in wayswhich benefit their clients.

  3. Involuntary sterilization among HIV-positive Garifuna women from Honduras seeking asylum in the United States: Two case reports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atkinson, Holly G; Ottenheimer, Deborah

    2018-05-01

    Voluntary sterilization is one of the most widely used forms of contraception by women worldwide; however, involuntary sterilization is considered a violation of multiple human rights and grounds for asylum in the United States. Women have been disproportionately affected by this practice. We report two cases of involuntary sterilization in HIV-positive Garifuna women from Honduras who sought asylum in America and were medically evaluated at the request of their attorneys. Key lessons can be drawn from these cases with regard to the importance of medical evaluations in establishing persecution. These include the need for a detailed account of the events surrounding sterilization, radiologic proof of tubal blockage if at all possible, and confirmation of significant and enduring mental distress as a result of the involuntary sterilization. Immigration attorneys and medical evaluators need to be attuned to the possibility of a history of involuntary sterilization among at risk women seeking asylum in the United States. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  4. The asylum-jihadism nexus: non-government actors and detection of jihadism among asylum seekers. : A case study of the Dutch Refugee Council and the guardianship organization for unaccompanied minors (Nidos).

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Wijk, J.; Bolhuis, M.P.

    2017-01-01

    This article explores why, how and to what extent two non-government organizations working with asylum seekers in the Netherlands engage in the detection of jihadism. It concludes that the organizations acknowledge the importance of sharing possible signs of jihadism with relevant governmental

  5. Sexual health is dead in my body: participatory assessment of sexual health determinants by refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in Belgium and The Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keygnaert, Ines; Vettenburg, Nicole; Roelens, Kristien; Temmerman, Marleen

    2014-05-01

    Although migrants constitute an important proportion of the European population, little is known about migrant sexual health. Existing research mainly focuses on migrants' sexual health risks and accessibility issues while recommendations on adequate sexual health promotion are rarely provided. Hence, this paper explores how refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in Belgium and The Netherlands define sexual health, search for sexual health information and perceive sexual health determinants. Applying Community-based Participatory Research as the overarching research approach, we conducted 223 in-depth interviews with refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in Belgium and The Netherlands. The Framework Analysis Technique was used to analyse qualitative data. We checked the extensiveness of the qualitative data and analysed the quantitative socio-demographic data with SPSS. Our results indicate that gender and age do not appear to be decisive determinants. However, incorporated cultural norms and education attainment are important to consider in desirable sexual health promotion in refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in Belgium and The Netherlands. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that these migrants have a predominant internal health locus of control. Yet, most of them feel that this personal attitude is hugely challenged by the Belgian and Dutch asylum system and migration laws which force them into a structural dependent situation inducing sexual ill-health. Refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in Belgium and The Netherlands are at risk of sexual ill-health. Incorporated cultural norms and attained education are important determinants to address in desirable sexual health promotion. Yet, as their legal status demonstrates to be the key determinant, the prime concern is to alter organizational and societal factors linked to the Belgian and Dutch asylum system. Refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants

  6. Discrepancies in autobiographical memories— implications for the assessment of asylum seekers: repeated interviews study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herlihy, Jane; Scragg, Peter; Turner, Stuart

    2002-01-01

    Objective To investigate the consistency of autobiographical memory of people seeking asylum, in light of the assumption that discrepancies in asylum seekers' accounts of persecution mean that they are fabricating their stories. Design Repeated interviews. Setting England, 1999 and 2000. Participants Community sample of 27 Kosovan and 12 Bosnian refugees. Main outcome measures Discrepancies in repeated descriptions of one traumatic and one non-traumatic event, including specific details, rated as central or peripheral to the event. Self report measures of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Results Discrepancies between an individual's accounts were common. For participants with high levels of post-traumatic stress, the number of discrepancies increased with length of time between interviews. More discrepancies occurred in details peripheral to the account than in details that were central to the account. Conclusion The assumption that inconsistency of recall means that accounts have poor credibility is questionable. Discrepancies are likely to occur in repeated interviews. For refugees showing symptoms of high levels of post-traumatic stress, the length of the application process may also affect the number of discrepancies. Recall of details rated by the interviewee as peripheral to the account is more likely to be inconsistent than recall of details that are central to the account. Thus, such inconsistencies should not be relied on as indicating a lack of credibility. What is already known on this topicDiscrepancies between accounts of an event are often used to judge the credibility of asylum seekersWhat this study addsDiscrepancies arise between two accounts of the same event even when there is no reason for fabricationRefugees with high levels of post-traumatic stress are more likely to give inconsistent accounts if they have a long time to wait between interviewsInterviewees are more likely to be inconsistent in details that they rate as peripheral

  7. Refugees, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants and the experience of parenthood: a synthesis of the qualitative literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merry, Lisa; Pelaez, Sandra; Edwards, Nancy C

    2017-09-19

    To synthesize the recent qualitative literature and identify the integrative themes describing the parenthood experiences of refugees, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants. We searched seven online databases for the period January 2006 to February 2017. We included English and French published peer-reviewed articles and graduate-level dissertations, which qualitatively examined the parenthood experiences of refugees, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants. We summarized study characteristics and performed a thematic analysis across the studies. One hundred thirty eight studies met inclusion criteria. All but three were conducted in high-income countries, mainly in the US. Migrants studied were mostly undocumented from Latin America and refugees from Sub-Saharan Africa. Almost all studies (93%) included mothers; about half (47%) included fathers; very few (5%) included extended family members. We identified three integrative themes: 1) experiencing hardship and/or loss in the context of precarious migration and past traumas; 2) building resilience and strength by bridging language, norms and expectations; and 3) living transnationally: obligations, challenges and resources. Each theme contributed to shaping the parenthood experience; the transnationalism theme intersected with the themes on hardship and loss and resilience and strength. More research is needed with fathers, extended family members, asylum-seekers and in the LMIC context. A transnational lens needs to be applied to programs, policies and future research for refugee, asylum-seeker and undocumented migrant parents. Addressing transnational concerns (family separation and reunification), acknowledging transnational resources, fostering a transnational family identity and conducting transnational and longitudinal studies are potentially pivotal approaches for this sub-population of parents.

  8. Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Immigrant Women Mental Health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ayse Devrim Basterzi

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Social situation, social networks, power relationships, socioeconomic conditions, education and physical environment of people affect to encounter with trauma and disasters. These social factors also have an effect on traumatized people’s mental health. Gender roles are affected these entire social context and mental disorders. War and migration frequently lead to increasing inequality between men and women. This article reviews the studies about refugee, asylum seeker and immigrant’s women mental health and gender roles. [Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychiatry 2017; 9(4.000: 379-387

  9. Asylum Seekers Crisis in Europe 2015: Debating Spaces of Fear and Security in Latvia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lulle Aija

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we analyse emerging discourses of fear on the one hand and safety and security on the other. In the context of rupture - sudden, unprecedented asylum flows as well as the historical context of the fear and experience of losing the state’s freedom, we pose the following research question: Where do insecurities and fear come from and how are spaces of security and safety carved out through public discourses? We argue that, instead of singling out political discourses in Eastern European as filled with hatred towards other ethnicities and races or an inability to show solidarity with human suffering, we have to open up a far more deep reaching debate on the interplay of fear and the willingness to create safer, more secure futures. We illustrate this with examples from media debates in Latvia, in late 2015.

  10. The Asylum-Seeker and Refugee Experience - An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Interview Data Elicited Through the Use of Artefacts

    OpenAIRE

    Allan, J; Williams, G; Charura, D; Cohen, E; Meth, F; Shaw, M; Taylor, S

    2017-01-01

    Theme 3: Protection of the ‘most vulnerable’ - children, young people growing up in ‘austerity’ older people, migrants Background: There is a pressing need to understand the experiences of those who undertake forced migration. The UNHCR (2016) has reported that “one in every 113 people globally is now either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced or a refugee” - this is at its highest level since the Second World War. Aims: This study sought to explore the lived experiences of asylum-seekers ...

  11. The Impact of Detention on the Health of Asylum Seekers: A Systematic Review

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Filges, Trine; Montgomery, Edith; Kastrup, Marianne

    2015-01-01

    and relevant reviews were also searched. SELECTION CRITERIA All study designs that used a well-defined control group were eligible for inclusion. Studies that utilized qualitative approaches were not included. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS The total number of potential relevant studies constituted 11,376 hits....... A total of nine studies, consisting of 12 papers, met the inclusion criteria and were critically appraised by the review authors. The final selection comprised nine studies from four different countries. Two studies reported on the same sample of asylum seekers in Australia at different time points after...... detained, and one study provided data less than a year after release. The total number of participants in these three studies was 359. We performed analyses separately for these time points. All outcomes were measured such that a negative effect size favours the detained asylum seekers, i.e. when an effect...

  12. Seeking asylum in Australia: immigration detention, human rights and mental health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newman, Louise; Proctor, Nicholas; Dudley, Michael

    2013-08-01

    The article aims to discuss the impact of mandatory detention and human rights violations on the mental health of asylum seekers and the implications for psychiatrists and health professionals. Advocacy for human rights and engagement in social debate are core ethical and professional responsibilities. Clinicians need to maintain a focus on ethical obligations.

  13. Finding "hard to find" literature on hard to find groups: A novel technique to search grey literature on refugees and asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enticott, Joanne; Buck, Kimberly; Shawyer, Frances

    2018-03-01

    There is a lack of information on how to execute effective searches of the grey literature on refugee and asylum seeker groups for inclusion in systematic reviews. High-quality government reports and other grey literature relevant to refugees may not always be identified in conventional literature searches. During the process of conducting a recent systematic review, we developed a novel strategy for systematically searching international refugee and asylum seeker-related grey literature. The approach targets governmental health departments and statistical agencies, who have considerable access to refugee and asylum seeker populations for research purposes but typically do not publish findings in academic forums. Compared to a conventional grey literature search strategy, our novel technique yielded an eightfold increase in relevant high-quality grey sources that provided valuable content in informing our review. Incorporating a search of the grey literature into systematic reviews of refugee and asylum seeker research is essential to providing a more complete view of the evidence. Our novel strategy offers a practical and feasible method of conducting systematic grey literature searches that may be adaptable to a range of research questions, contexts, and resource constraints. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  14. Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Refugee Children’s Forced Repatriation: Social Workers’ and Police Officers’ Health and Job Characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sundqvist, Johanna; Hansson, Jonas; Ghazinour, Mehdi; Ögren, Kenneth; Padyab, Mojgan

    2015-01-01

    During the past ten years the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children has dramatically increased in Sweden. Some of them are permitted to stay in the receiving country, but some are forced back to their country of origin. Social workers and police officers are involved in these forced repatriations, and such complex situations may cause stressful working conditions. This study aimed to bridge the gap in knowledge of the relationship between general mental health and working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children who are due for forced repatriation. In addition, the role of psychosocial job characteristics in such relationships was investigated. A questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics, the Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire, and the 12-item General Mental Health Questionnaire were distributed nationally. Univariate and multivariable regression models were used. Poorer mental health was associated with working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children among social workers but not among police officers. Psychological job demand was a significant predictor for general mental health among social workers, while psychological job demand, decision latitude, and marital status were predictors among police officers. Findings are discussed with special regard to the context of social work and police professions in Sweden. PMID:26153185

  15. The Wright Institute Sanctuary Project: Development and Proposed Evaluation of a Graduate Training Program Providing Clinical Services to Asylum Seekers in the Bay Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padilla, Brenda Lisa

    2012-01-01

    This study highlights the development of a graduate training program at The Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA, which provides assessment services for undocumented immigrants seeking asylum. This program focuses on the needs of a general asylum seeking population, with a specific relevance to some of the populations that may be served in the…

  16. 76 FR 67099 - Forwarding of Asylum Applications to the Department of State

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-31

    ... #0;notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in #0;the rule making prior to... Immigration Review 8 CFR Parts 1208 and 1240 [EOIR Docket No. 173; AG Order No. 3307-2011] RIN 1125-AA65 Forwarding of Asylum Applications to the Department of State AGENCY: Executive Office for Immigration Review...

  17. An exploration of the connection between two meaning perspectives: an evidence-based approach to health information delivery to vulnerable groups of Arabic- and Somali-speaking asylum seekers in a Swedish context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ekblad, Solvig; Linander, Andrea; Asplund, Maria

    2012-09-01

    The right to health care is significant for asylum seekers, particularly as many of them have experienced traumatic life events in their home country, during flight or in their host country. Post-migration living conditions have more impact than pre-migration conditions on ill health among asylum seekers, which underscores the importance of health care-related refugee reception policies. The purpose of this article is to explore the perceived meaning of comprehensive health information provided by a nurse to Arabic- and Somali-speaking adult asylum seekers, in a Swedish context, during its introduction at the Migration Board. In our study, the endpoint was whether asylum seekers found such health information relevant, understandable and respectful. Following an oral presentation, participants filled in a questionnaire consisting of three close-ended questions. A total of 39 groups of presentation attendees included 626 asylum seekers (415 Arabic- and 211 Somali-speaking). Data were analysed with descriptive statistics. Comments underwent content analysis. We also present some socio-demographic data on these asylum seekers. Independently of gender and language, the participants expressed their gratitude for and the meaningfulness of receiving professional, fact-based information, as well as being treated with concern and respect. They indicated a great need for this and felt relieved by being listened to. They liked the pedagogic group method, the opportunity for dialogue and to practice exercising their rights. These promising results indicate that exercising the asylum-seekers' right to receive such health information would improve future reception policies not only in Sweden, but throughout the EU. A renewed focus on communication and pedagogic skills, instead of just cultural training, should be considered for health care professionals assisting asylum seekers.

  18. Case Report: Access to Personal Data and the Right to Good Governance during Asylum Procedures after the CJEU’s YS. and M. and S. judgment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brouwer, E.R.; Zuiderveen Borgesius, F.J.

    2015-01-01

    In the YS. and M. and S. judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on three procedures in which Dutch judges asked for clarification on the right of asylum seekers to have access to the documents regarding the decision on asylum applications. The judgment is relevant for

  19. Awareness Trainings and Detecting Jihadists among Asylum Seekers: A Case Study from the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Wijk, J.; Bolhuis, M.P.

    2017-01-01

    Dutch frontline professionals who work with asylum seekers receive awareness training to assist them in identifying possible signs of jihadist convictions. During these training sessions, they are provided with a complex, ambiguous, and multi-interpretable advice on how to detect such convictions.

  20. Language Analysis in the Context of the Asylum Process: Procedures, Validity, and Consequences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reath, Anne

    2004-01-01

    In 1993, the language section of the Swedish Migration Board initiated the production of documents they called "language analyses" to aid in the processing of asylum seekers. Today, 11 years later, 2 privately owned companies in Stockholm produce these documents. These companies have produced language analyses not only for the Swedish…

  1. [Germany's unique panoptical asylum--an appreciation of the first Bavarian mental home in Erlangen].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braun, B; Kornhuber, J

    2013-03-01

    There are only two edifices left that represent one of the most impressive cultural monuments of mental homes in Middle Europe. Government and institutions are removing these historical buildings to establish a modern "Translational Research Centre". Our objective is to illustrate the significance of the asylum in the history of psychiatric architecture. In the context of the history of psychiatry we analysed and interpreted relevant primary sources, secondary literature and selected illustrations. Several panoptical asylums were built in Great Britain. In France, Italy and Germany, a unique example was realised. The entire ward could be checked from a central room. This ensured the optimal surveillance of the patients and enabled the minimisation of staff. In contrast to the vicinal emergent industrial cities Erlangen disposed of enough building ground. There, Johann Michael Leupoldt (1794-1874) gave lectures dealing only with psychiatry. Thanks to his advice, the first Bavarian mental home was completed within only 12 years. The cruciform floor plan was supplemented by cross buildings. This constituted a relevant modification of the panoptical system. Although the "H-design" has been evaluated as more adequate, the obsolete architectural "concept of rays" was chosen for the asylum in Erlangen. Did financial distress play a decisive role? Neither the files nor Leupoldt's autobiography take a firm stand on this point. As the TRC-project may serve as a document for future medical progress, it is important to remember the "Kreis-Irrenanstalt Erlangen" as a milestone in the evolution of psychiatric architecture. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  2. Communities of belonging in the temporariness of the Danish Asylum System: Shalini’s anchoring points

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Verdasco, Andrea

    2018-01-01

    Refugees often find themselves in a protracted situation of temporariness, as applications for asylum are processed, deportations negotiated and possible extensions of temporary protection status considered within the context of increasingly restrictive governmental policies across Europe. Through...

  3. Adult Asylum Seekers from the Middle East Including Syria in Central Europe: What Are Their Health Care Problems?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfortmueller, Carmen Andrea; Schwetlick, Miriam; Mueller, Thomas; Lehmann, Beat; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis Konstantinos

    2016-01-01

    Forced displacement related to persecution and violent conflict has reached a new peak in recent years. The primary aim of this study is to provide an initial overview of the acute and chronic health care problems of asylum seekers from the Middle East, with special emphasis on asylum seekers from Syria. Our retrospective data analysis comprised adult patients presenting to our emergency department between 01.11.2011 and 30.06.2014 with the official resident status of an "asylum seeker" or "refugee" from the Middle East. In total, 880 patients were included in the study. Of these, 625 (71.0%) were male and 255 (29.0%) female. The median age was 34 (range 16-84). 222 (25.2%) of our patients were from Syria. The most common reason for presentation was surgical (381, 43.3%), followed by medical (321, 36.5%) and psychiatric (137, 15.6%). In patients with surgical presentations, trauma-related problems were most common (n = 196, 50.6%). Within the group of patients with medical presentation, acute infectious diseases were most common (n = 141, 43.9%), followed by neurological problems (n = 70, 21.8%) and gastrointestinal problems (n = 47, 14.6%). There were no differences between Syrian and non-Syrian refugees concerning surgical or medical admissions. The most common chronic disorder of unclear significance was chronic gastrointestinal problems (n = 132, 15%), followed by chronic musculoskeletal problems (n = 108, 12.3%) and chronic headaches (n = 78, 8.9%). Patients from Syria were significantly younger and more often suffered from a post-traumatic stress disorder than patients of other nationalities (pSyria when compared to other nationalities of asylum seekers from the Middle East.

  4. Responses to language barriers in consultations with refugees and asylum seekers: a telephone survey of Irish general practitioners.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    MacFarlane, Anne

    2008-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Refugees and asylum seekers experience language barriers in general practice. Qualitative studies have found that responses to language barriers in general practice are ad hoc with use of both professional interpreters and informal interpreters (patients\\' relatives or friends). However, the scale of the issues involved is unknown. This study quantifies the need for language assistance in general practice consultations and examines the experience of, and satisfaction with, methods of language assistance utilized. METHODS: Data were collected by telephone survey with general practitioners in a regional health authority in Ireland between July-August 2004. Each respondent was asked a series of questions about consulting with refugees and asylum seekers, the need for language assistance and the kind of language assistance used. RESULTS: There was a 70% (n = 56\\/80) response rate to the telephone survey. The majority of respondents (77%) said that they had experienced consultations with refugees and asylum seekers in which language assistance was required. Despite this, general practitioners in the majority of cases managed without an interpreter or used informal methods of interpretation. In fact, when given a choice general practitioners would more often choose informal over professional methods of interpretation despite the fact that confidentiality was a significant concern. CONCLUSION: The need for language assistance in consultations with refugees and asylum seekers in Irish general practice is high. General practitioners rely on informal responses. It is necessary to improve knowledge about the organisational contexts that shape general practitioners responses. We also recommend dialogue between general practitioners, patients and interpreters about the relative merits of informal and professional methods of interpretation so that general practitioners\\' choices are responsive to the needs of patients with limited English.

  5. A Home at the End of the World: Eritrean and Sudanese Asylum Seekers in Tel Aviv, Israel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Clinton Wills

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores the ways in which national culture intersects with urban environs to produce multinational subjectivity. Specifically, this paper shows the activity of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers in Tel Aviv, Israel, as particularly generative of the life world building of Southern Tel Aviv (known as Little Africa. Juxtaposing these spaces of urban life, this paper also looks at the Holot Detention Facility as a space of life as well, situating the asylum seeker along various, migratory paths towards citizenship. With the near-total recreation of African life, this paper examines the Neve Sha’anan neighborhood as supportive of the LGBT and migrant communities, evidencing the flourishing of national culture outside of traditional boundaries. Particularly, this paper looks at “The Prevention of Infiltration Law” to discuss ideas of “infiltrators” using frameworks from Foucault, Merleau-Ponty, Levinas, Jean-Luc Nancy and Achille Mbembe. Examining ideas of space, place, ethics, embodiment, law, the body, street art, border fences, architecture, and minimalism, this paper juxtaposes BLM (Black Lives Matter and BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions from a transnational perspective of world-building, asking the question of where can one call a place, home.    Keywords: Tel Aviv, Eritrea, Sudan, asylum seekers, infiltration

  6. "What if No One Had Spoken out Against this Policy?" The Rise of Asylum Seeker and Refugeee Advocacy in Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diane Gosden

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the rise of an asylum seeker and refugee advocacy movement in Australia in recent years. It situates this phenomenon within Alberto Melucci's understanding of social movements as variable and diffuse forms of social action involved in challenging the logic of a system. Following this theoretical framework, it explores the empirical features of this particular collective action, as well as the struggle to redefine the nature of the relationship between citizens of a sovereign state and 'the other' in the personage of asylum seekers and refugees.

  7. The moderating role of socially desirable responding in implicit-explicit attitudes toward asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Joel R

    2017-07-04

    Implicit and explicit attitudes correlate under certain conditions and researchers are interested in the moderating factors of this relationship. This paper explored the role of socially desirable responding in this relationship by testing the hypothesis that impression management (IM; i.e., deliberate response modification) and self-deceptive enhancement (SDE; i.e., positive self-bias) play moderating roles in the relationship of implicit-explicit attitudes toward asylum seekers in Australia. Seventy-four students responded to a battery of measures and the results revealed that IM (but not SDE) moderated this relationship to the extent that higher IM scores weakened the correspondence between implicit and explicit attitude scores. This suggests that attitudes toward asylum seekers might be susceptible to socially desirable response tendencies and in combination with the finding that IM was negatively related to explicit attitudes, it is argued that self-presentation concerns result in the deliberate attenuation of reported negative explicit attitudes. © 2017 International Union of Psychological Science.

  8. Seeking asylum in Denmark: Refugee children's mental health and exposure to violence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Montgomery, Edith; Foldspang, Anders

    2005-01-01

    Aims: The aim of this study was to compare profiles of present mental health and previous exposure to violence among refugee children from the Middle East, whose asylum seeking families either did or did not obtain permission to stay in Denmark. Methods: Shortly after arrival in Denmark, the pare......Aims: The aim of this study was to compare profiles of present mental health and previous exposure to violence among refugee children from the Middle East, whose asylum seeking families either did or did not obtain permission to stay in Denmark. Methods: Shortly after arrival in Denmark...... in a refugee camp, and seven out of 10 had witnessed violence. Half of the children had a tortured parent. Considerably more children of families who did not get a residence permit had lost a parent (30.6% versus 13.7%; P , 0.001). In both groups about two-thirds suffered from anxiety and about 30% from sleep...... exposure to violence and their present mental health. There seems to be good reason to systematically integrate evidence on the children of refugee families in the treatment of applications for permission to stay....

  9. "If I speak English, what am I? I am full man, me": Emotional impact and barriers for refugees and asylum seekers learning English.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvo, Tania; de C Williams, Amanda C

    2017-01-01

    Lack of proficiency in the language of the host country predicts distress among refugees, but many refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom have less than functional English. This study examined how learning English affected refugees' and asylum seekers' lives, particularly their emotional wellbeing, to explore what factors, particularly psychological ones, facilitated or impeded their learning English. We recruited 16 refugees and asylum seekers from an inner-city National Health Service trauma service and from a charity providing one-to-one English classes. All participants were interviewed in English. Interview data were analysed using thematic analysis from a critical realist perspective. Interviewees provided consistent accounts of their efforts to learn English, integrated into often unsettled and difficult lives. The analysis generated six themes in two domains. The impact of learning English was mainly positive, associated with autonomy, sense of achievement, and aspirations. Barriers to learning English consisted of other problems affecting refugees' capacity to learn, limited opportunities to speak English, and a sense of shame associated with perceived lack of English language competence. Findings highlight the need to provide adequate psychological support for refugees and asylum seekers learning English, recognising its importance in promoting both their integration in the UK and their individual psychological well-being.

  10. Review of infectious diseases in refugees and asylum seekers—current status and going forward

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eiset, Andreas Halgreen; Wejse, Christian

    2017-01-01

    (up to 11%), and hepatitis B (up to 12%). The same population had low prevalence of malaria (7%) and hepatitis C (up to 5%). There have been recent case reports from European countries of cutaneous diphtheria, louse-born relapsing fever, and shigella in the asylum-seeking and refugee population...

  11. Mental health and trauma in asylum seekers landing in Sicily in 2015: a descriptive study of neglected invisible wounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crepet, Anna; Rita, Francesco; Reid, Anthony; Van den Boogaard, Wilma; Deiana, Pina; Quaranta, Gaia; Barbieri, Aurelia; Bongiorno, Francesco; Di Carlo, Stefano

    2017-01-01

    In 2015, Italy was the second most common point of entry for asylum seekers into Europe after Greece. The vast majority embarked from war-torn Libya; 80,000 people claimed asylum that year. Their medical conditions were assessed on arrival but their mental health needs were not addressed in any way, despite the likelihood of serious trauma before and during migration. Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), in agreement with the Italian Ministry of Health, provided mental health (MH) assessment and care for recently-landed asylum seekers in Sicily. This study documents mental health conditions, potentially traumatic events and post-migratory living difficulties experienced by asylum seekers in the MSF programme in 2014-15. All asylum seekers transiting the 15 MSF-supported centres were invited to a psycho-educational session. A team of psychologists and cultural mediators then provided assessment and care for those identified with MH conditions. Potentially traumatic events experienced before and during the journey, as well as post-migratory living difficulties, were recorded. All those diagnosed with MH conditions from October 2014 to December 2015 were included in the study. Among 385 individuals who presented themselves for a MH screening during the study period, 193 (50%) were identified and diagnosed with MH conditions. Most were young, West African males who had left their home-countries more than a year prior to arrival. The most common MH conditions were post traumatic stress disorder (31%) and depression (20%). Potentially traumatic events were experienced frequently in the home country (60%) and during migration (89%). Being in a combat situation or at risk of death, having witnessed violence or death and having been in detention were the main traumas. Lack of activities, worries about home, loneliness and fear of being sent home were the main difficulties at the AS centres. MH conditions, potentially traumatic events and post-migratory living difficulties are

  12. Post-traumatic stress disorder among asylum seekers and refugees in Istanbul may be predicted by torture and loss due to violence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tufan, Ali Evren; Alkin, Melis; Bosgelmez, Sukriye

    2013-06-01

    Turkey is both a source and target for asylum seekers seeking refugee status in countries of European Union. There is a scarcity of research on the mental health issues of asylum seekers and refugees residing in Turkey. This study aimed: 1) to provide clinical and demographic information on asylum seekers and refugees receiving mental health services from a non-governmental refugee support program in Istanbul between 2005 and 2007, and 2) to evaluate the differences between patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with those who did not meet criteria. The study was conducted at the Mental Health Division of the Refugee Advocacy Support Group. Between July 2005 and February 2007, 1209 asylum seekers applied to the support group; 75 of these individuals (6.2%) were referred for psychiatric evaluation while 57 were diagnosed as having a psychopathology. The number of analyzed subjects was 57. PTSD and major depressive disorder were the most common diagnoses (55.2% for both). The most common criteria of PTSD reported were problems in concentration and social isolation (97.3% for both). Suffering torture and losing a significant other due to violence were found to be associated with a diagnosis of PTSD. This study is the first of its kind to be conducted on a mixed refugee population residing in Turkey and focusing on their mental health problems. Our results should be tested within larger samples of refugees residing in different cities of Turkey.

  13. Public Opinion and Foreign Policy: Analysing Nigerian Reactions to ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2005-07-05

    On July 5, 2005, exactly two years after the asylum offer to Charles Taylor in Nigeria became public knowledge, President Obasanjo was at the Assembly of the 5th Ordinary Session of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, in Sirte, Libya, calling for protection against the harassment of Nigeria by some ...

  14. Negotiating Narratives, Accessing Asylum: Evaluating Language Policy as Multi-Level Practice, Beliefs and Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith-Khan, Laura

    2017-01-01

    Theories of language policy increasingly emphasise focusing on the specific contexts in which language management occurs. In government settings, policy seeks to shape how individuals interact with officials. Australian asylum procedure is an area where policy aims at tight control. I examine how communication is managed in this setting, in which…

  15. Being Able to Play: Experiences of Social Inclusion and Exclusion Within a Football Team of People Seeking Asylum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Darko Dukic

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Australian policy makers and funding organisations have relied heavily on sport as a vehicle for achieving the goals of social cohesion and social inclusion. The generally accepted premise that sport includes individuals in larger social contexts, and in doing so creates positive social outcomes, remains largely untested and uncontested. This article considers the ways in which playing in an asylum seeker football team, located in Melbourne, Australia, facilitates both inclusive and exclusive experiences for its participants. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, life histories, and policy analysis, this article identifies the often-ignored importance of a sporting habitus and physical capital in individuals’ experiences of playing. The success or failure of the asylum seeker team to foster social inclusion is somewhat tenuous as the logic of competition can create conditions counter to those that would be recognised as inclusive. Further, such programmes are faced with sustainability problems, as they are heavily reliant on individuals within the organisation and community to “make things happen”. However, we suggest that for many men, the asylum seeker team provides an important site for the development and appreciation of ‘poly-cultural’ capital that contributes to forms of resilience and the achievement of other indicators of social inclusion.

  16. An outbreak of chickenpox in an asylum seeker centre in Italy: outbreak investigation and validity of reported chickenpox history, December 2015–May 2016

    OpenAIRE

    Vairo, Francesco; Di Bari, Virginia; Panella, Vincenzo; Quintavalle, Giuseppe; Torchia, Saul; Serra, Maria Cristina; Sinopoli, Maria Teresa; Lopalco, Maurizio; Ceccarelli, Giancarlo; Ferraro, Federica; Valle, Sabrina; Bordi, Licia; Capobianchi, Maria Rosaria; Puro, Vincenzo; Scognamiglio, Paola

    2017-01-01

    An outbreak of chickenpox occurred between December 2015 and May 2016 among asylum seekers in a reception centre in Latium, Italy. We describe the epidemiological and laboratory investigations, control measures and validity of reported history of chickenpox infection. Serological screening of all residents and incoming asylum seekers was performed, followed by vaccine offer to all susceptible individuals without contraindication. Forty-six cases were found and 41 were associated with the outb...

  17. Sexual and gender-based violence in the European asylum and reception sector: a perpetuum mobile?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keygnaert, I.; Dias, S.F.; Degomme, O.; Devillé, W.; Kennedy, P.; Kovats, A.; Meyer, S. de; Vettenburg, N.; Roelens, K.; Temmerman, M.

    2015-01-01

    Background: Refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants are at risk of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and subsequent ill-health in Europe; yet, European minimum reception standards do not address SGBV. Hence, this paper explores the nature of SGBV occurring in this sector and

  18. Sexual and gender-based violence in the European asylum and reception sector: a perpetuum mobile?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keygnaert, I.; Dias, S.F.; Degomme, O.; Devillé, W.; Kennedy, P.; Kováts, A.; De Meyer, S.; Vettenburg, N.; Roelens, K.; Temmerman, M.

    2014-01-01

    Background: Refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants are at risk of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and subsequent ill-health in Europe; yet, European minimum reception standards do not address SGBV. Hence, this paper explores the nature of SGBV occurring in this sector and

  19. Sexual and gender-based violence in the European asylum and reception sector : A perpetuum mobile?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keygnaert, Ines; Dias, Sonia F.; Degomme, Olivier; Devillé, Walter; Kennedy, Patricia; Kováts, András; De Meyer, Sara; Vettenburg, Nicole; Roelens, Kristien; Temmerman, Marleen

    2015-01-01

    Background: Refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants are at risk of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and subsequent ill-health in Europe; yet, European minimum reception standards do not address SGBV. Hence, this paper explores the nature of SGBV occurring in this sector and

  20. 'This excellent observer ...': the correspondence between Charles Darwin and James Crichton-Browne, 1869-75.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearn, Alison M

    2010-06-01

    Between May 1869 and December 1875, Charles Darwin exchanged more than 40 letters with James Crichton-Browne, superintendent of the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Wakefield, Yorkshire. This paper charts their relationship within the context of Darwin's wider research networks and methods; it analyses the contribution that Crichton-Browne made to the writing of Expression, arguing that the information he provided materially affected Darwin's thesis, and that it was partly the need to assimilate this that led Darwin to publish Expression separately from Descent. The letters help to reconstruct Crichton-Browne's early research interests, and document Darwin's little-explored role as a patron. Both men are revealed within a collaborative scientific network, with each of them at various times a beneficiary or a promoter.

  1. ‘I am not very well I feel nearly mad when I think of you’: Male Jealousy, Murder and Broadmoor in Late-Victorian Britain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepherd, Jade

    2017-01-01

    Abstract This article compares the representations of jealousy in popular culture, medical and legal literature, and in the trials and diagnoses of men who murdered or attempted to murder their wives or sweethearts before being found insane and committed into Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum between 1864 and 1900. It is shown that jealousy was entrenched in Victorian culture, but marginalised in medical and legal discourse and in the courtroom until the end of the period, and was seemingly cast aside at Broadmoor. As well as providing a detailed examination of varied representations of male jealousy in late-Victorian Britain, the article contributes to understandings of the emotional lives of the working-class, and the causes and representations of working-class male madness. PMID:29713114

  2. 'I am not very well I feel nearly mad when I think of you': Male Jealousy, Murder and Broadmoor in Late-Victorian Britain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepherd, Jade

    2017-05-01

    This article compares the representations of jealousy in popular culture, medical and legal literature, and in the trials and diagnoses of men who murdered or attempted to murder their wives or sweethearts before being found insane and committed into Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum between 1864 and 1900. It is shown that jealousy was entrenched in Victorian culture, but marginalised in medical and legal discourse and in the courtroom until the end of the period, and was seemingly cast aside at Broadmoor. As well as providing a detailed examination of varied representations of male jealousy in late-Victorian Britain, the article contributes to understandings of the emotional lives of the working-class, and the causes and representations of working-class male madness.

  3. Imprisoned in state care? Life inside Kew Cottages 1925-2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manning, Corinne

    2009-01-01

    Established in 1887, Kew Cottages was Australia's oldest and largest specialised institution for people with intellectual disability. Kew Cottages was originally designed as a place of benevolent care and education for children. However its secluded location, adjacent to a 'Lunatic Asylum,' and its use of physical security measures resulted in its reputation as a place of incarceration. This viewpoint emerged through oral history testimony collected as part of the Kew Cottages History Project during 2005-08. Oral histories, which were recorded from people closely associated with Kew Cottages, reveal that despite the introduction of reforms in the mid-twentieth century to accord residents greater freedoms, poor living conditions, strict regimentation, violence, and abuse, all contributed to a prison-like environment within the institution.

  4. Mental health interventions for traumatized asylum seekers and refugees: What do we know about their efficacy?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Slobodin, O.; de Jong, J.T.V.M.

    2015-01-01

    Background: The prevalence of trauma-related problems among refugees and asylum seekers is extremely high due to adverse experiences associated with forced migration. Although the literature presents a considerable number of guidelines and theoretical frameworks for working with traumatized refugees

  5. "The lunatics have taken over the asylum": A phenomenological perspective on parent-teacher relationships

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jackie Laluvein

    2006-05-01

    Full Text Available Contextualisation My research explores the relationships between the parent/carers of children with special educational needs and their teachers. The section of analysis detailed in this paper draws upon the interviews given by the mother as parent (P and class teacher (T of an 11 year old boy described as having ‘emotional and behavioural difficulties’. Using a phenomenological perspective, microsystems and/or environments are described in terms of how they are perceived or experienced by the participants. The analysis is viewed through two lenses: the sociocultural view of development proposed by Bronfennbrenner’s Ecology of Human Development (1979, in which an ecological approach is taken to the analysis of human relationships, and Wenger’s work on Communities of Practice (1998 which presents a theory of learning as a process of social participation. Abstract: Parent-teacher relationships operate at different points along a continuum of engagement involving two or more participants engaged in common, complementary or independent undertakings. My research has a particular focus upon the (often problematic relationships between the parent/carers of children with special educational needs and their teachers. In this paper, the theories of both Wenger and Bronfenbrenner are discussed and utilised to reflect individuals existing within layers of relationships and influences. The paper highlights the way in which a parent, teacher and child, concurrently involved in more than one community or microsystem at work and at home, are subject to the influence of different ecosystems. The analysis of dyadic interviews is used to demonstrate that both context and setting can be instrumental in explicating parent-teacher relationships. The final section of the paper demonstrates that a workable definition of ‘what matters and what doesn’t matter’ cannot be presumed to be shared by parents and teachers. Negotiation of meaning is an integral part of the informal ‘communities of practice’ formed when people pursue a shared enterprise over time. ‘Communities of practice’, in Wenger’s terms, or ‘joint activity dyads’, in Bronfenbrenner’s terms, are emergent structures resulting from collective learning with both developmental and transformative potential for all involved in the education of children.

  6. 'They first killed his heart (then) he took his own life'. Part 1: a review of the context and literature on mental health issues for refugees and asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Procter, Nicholas G

    2005-12-01

    This is the first in a two-part series of papers examining mental health issues for refugees and asylum seekers. Beginning with the suicide of an asylum seeker in Scotland, the paper emphasizes mental health issues for adult and child asylum seekers, stress and memory, suicide, self-harm, risk and protective factors, compulsory health treatments and the prevention of mental illness. It sets the scene for the second paper by drawing implications for nursing practice in the community. Although most literature on refugee and asylum seeker mental health exists outside of nursing scholarship, a majority of the issues reviewed in this paper are mutual challenges for all in the health and helping professions. Nurses interested in refugee and migration issues face two intertwined challenges: that of how to assist migrants with their diverse mental health needs and how, at the same time, to contribute to a society that can promote mental health for all by taking on both the difficulties and opportunities posed by cultural diversity.

  7. The expected well-being of urban refugees and asylum-seekers in Johannesburg

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Talita Greyling

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The influx of asylum-seekers and refugees from across Africa into democratic South Africa has increased significantly. The aim of this paper is to determine the factors that influences the expect well-being of this unique group. Expected well-being is an important determinant of both the decision to migrate and the choice of a country of destination. Knowledge about this determinant therefore informs refugee policies. The results show that only a few of the factors found in the literature explaining the expected well-being of voluntary migrants also explain the expected well-being of forced migrants. However, a number of factors found in the literature that explain the subjective well-being and well-being in general of refugees and asylum-seekers also went towards explaining the expected well-being of this group. These factors include: government assistance, culture, the time spent in South Africa, economic factors, crime, refugee status, reasons for leaving the home countries and the number of people staying in a house in the receiving country. The findings of this study emphasise the differences between forced and voluntary migrants and highlight the factors that influence the expected well-being of forced migrants. These in turn shed light on migration decisions and the choice of destination countries.

  8. HIV positive refugees/asylum seekers and clinical trials: some ethical issues

    OpenAIRE

    McDonald, Linda

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this thesis was to identify some of the ethical issues of HIV positive asylum seekers and refugees participating in clinical trials in Britain. While all individuals are to some degree vulnerable in clinical trials, I have shown in this thesis that this group is particularly vulnerable in a number of areas. Many will not have English as a first language and while they may be able to understand everyday language, the participant information sheet (PIS) may be difficult to comprehend...

  9. Interviewing to assess credibility in the Swedish asylum procedure: analyzing question style, type and theme

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Veldhuizen, T.S.; Horselenberg, R.; Landström, S.; Granhag, P.A.; van Koppen, P.J.

    2017-01-01

    The aim of the current vignette study is to map the style, type, and themes of questions that are asked when assessing the credibility of asylum seekers' claims. Sixty-five officials from the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket), were asked to respond to one out of four different vignettes

  10. 75 FR 409 - Privacy Act of 1974; United States Citizenship and Immigration Services-010 Asylum Information...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-05

    ... 1974; United States Citizenship and Immigration Services--010 Asylum Information and Pre-Screening... system of records to the Department of Homeland Security's inventory, entitled Unites States Citizenship... Citizenship and Immigration Services (202-272-1663), 20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., 3rd Floor, Washington, DC...

  11. Making Sense of Pain: Delusions, Syphilis, and Somatic Pain in London County Council Asylums, c. 1900

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Louise Hide

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available During the late nineteenth century, a high percentage of male deaths in asylums was attributed to various forms of tertiary syphilis, most notably General Paralysis of the Insane (GPI and tabes dorsalis. It was not unusual for patients to present symptoms of both conditions, the latter of which could be agonizingly painful. Some patients also suffered from persecutory delusions, believing that electricity was running through them or that their limbs were gnawed by lions and wolves at night. Drawing on a theory advanced by a number of key alienists and pathologists of the period, I suggest that these delusions were misinterpretations of felt sensations and, as such, illusions rather than delusions. Despite the well-known problems around using these historical sources, I contend that recorded delusions in asylum case notes can be treated as narratives of pain that provide invaluable insights into patients' subjective experiences.

  12. Non-clinicians' judgments about asylum seekers' mental health: how do legal representatives of asylum seekers decide when to request medico-legal reports?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson-Shaw, Lucy; Pistrang, Nancy; Herlihy, Jane

    2012-01-01

    Procedures for determining refugee status across Europe are being speeded up, despite the high prevalence of mental health difficulties among asylum seekers. An assurance given is that ''vulnerable applicants'' will be identified and excluded from accelerated procedures. Although experts have recommended assessments to be undertaken by experienced clinicians, this is unlikely to happen for political and financial reasons. Understanding how non-clinically qualified personnel perform assessments of mental health issues is timely and crucial. Misrecognition of refugees due to the inappropriate use of accelerated procedures involves the risk of returning the very people who have the right to protection from further persecution. To examine the decision making of immigration lawyers, who are an example of a group of nonclinicians who decide when and whether to refer asylum-seekers for psychiatric assessment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 legal representatives working with people seeking refugee or human rights protection in the United Kingdom. The resultant material was analysed using Framework Analysis. Themes clustered around the legal case, the client, the representative and the systems, all with sub-themes. A mapping exercise integrated these themes to show how representatives brought together questions of (1) evidential reasons for a report, influenced by their legal, psychological and case law knowledge, and (2) perceived evidence of mental distress, influenced by professional and personal experiences and expectations. The legal representatives interviewed were well-informed and trained in psychological issues as well as clearly dedicated to their clients. This helped them to attempt quasi-diagnoses of common mental health problems. They nonetheless demonstrated stereotypical understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder and other possible diagnoses and the role of subjectivity. The study has implications for other groups - particularly those

  13. Non-clinicians’ judgments about asylum seekers’ mental health: how do legal representatives of asylum seekers decide when to request medico-legal reports?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucy Wilson-Shaw

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Background : Procedures for determining refugee status across Europe are being speeded up, despite the high prevalence of mental health difficulties among asylum seekers. An assurance given is that ‘‘vulnerable applicants’’ will be identified and excluded from accelerated procedures. Although experts have recommended assessments to be undertaken by experienced clinicians, this is unlikely to happen for political and financial reasons. Understanding how non-clinically qualified personnel perform assessments of mental health issues is timely and crucial. Misrecognition of refugees due to the inappropriate use of accelerated procedures involves the risk of returning the very people who have the right to protection from further persecution. Objective : To examine the decision making of immigration lawyers, who are an example of a group of nonclinicians who decide when and whether to refer asylum-seekers for psychiatric assessment. Method : Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 legal representatives working with people seeking refugee or human rights protection in the United Kingdom. The resultant material was analysed using Framework Analysis. Results : Themes clustered around the legal case, the client, the representative and the systems, all with sub-themes. A mapping exercise integrated these themes to show how representatives brought together questions of (1 evidential reasons for a report, influenced by their legal, psychological and case law knowledge, and (2 perceived evidence of mental distress, influenced by professional and personal experiences and expectations. Conclusions : The legal representatives interviewed were well-informed and trained in psychological issues as well as clearly dedicated to their clients. This helped them to attempt quasi-diagnoses of common mental health problems. They nonetheless demonstrated stereotypical understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder and other possible diagnoses and the

  14. Health and health care utilisation among asylum seekers and refugees in the Netherlands: design of a study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Devillé Walter

    2004-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background This article discusses the design of a study on the prevalence of health problems (both physical and mental and the utilisation of health care services among asylum seekers and refugees in the Netherlands, including factors that may be related to their health and their utilisation of these services. Methods/Design The study will include random samples of adult asylum seekers and refugees from Afghanistan, Iran and Somali (total planned sample of 600, as these are among the largest groups within the reception centres and municipalities in the Netherlands. The questionnaire that will be used will include questions on physical health (chronic and acute diseases and somatization, mental health (Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 and Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, utilisation of health care services, pre- and post-migratory traumatic experiences, life-style, acculturation, social support and socio-demographic background. The questionnaire has gone through a translation process (translation and back-translation, several checks and a pilot-study and cross-cultural adaptation. Respondents will be interviewed by bilingual and bicultural interviewers who will be specifically trained for this purpose. This article discusses the selection of the study population, the chosen outcome measures, the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the measurement instrument, the training of the interviewers and the practical execution of the study. The information provided may be useful for other researchers in this relatively new field of epidemiological research among various groups of asylum seekers and refugees.

  15. The development of mental hospitals in West Bengal: A brief history and changing trends.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhattacharyya, Ranjan

    2018-02-01

    The communication between G. S Bose and Sigmund Freud is a well-documented fact, and philosophical blend of rich cultural experiences is unique to modification of traditional psychoanalysis in the context of development of psychiatry in West Bengal. The Calcutta lunatic asylum was established at Bhowanipore, and first general hospital psychiatric unit was formed at R. G. Kar Medical College, Calcutta. Prof. Ajita Chakraborty was a pioneer to describe her struggling days in the early career and shared her views with experiences in her autobiography. The volume and quality of research work, especially in the field of epidemiology led by Dr. D. N. Nandi is worth mentioning. A jail had been converted to mental hospital which is the largest in terms of bed strength ( n = 350) at Berhampore, Murshidabad district where Kazi Nazrul Islam and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had spent some period as prisoner during British rules. Bankura was the first district in West Bengal to start District Mental Health program. The various nongovernmental organizations are working together in public-private partnership model or indigenous ways in tandem over years for the betterment of mental health services both at institutional and community level.

  16. Explaining violent behavior against asylum-seekers among border police officers: A Macedonia and Serbia case study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schot, Suzanne; Bruijn, Larissa Michelle

    2017-01-01

    During the 2015 refugee crisis border police officers engaged in violent behavior against asylum-seekers travelling through transit countries to reach the European Union. In Macedonia and Serbia, the violence included beatings, violent assaults, and the use of excessive force in form of stun

  17. Human rights or security? Positions on asylum in European Parliament speeches

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frid-Nielsen, Snorre Sylvester

    2018-01-01

    parties’ general ‘right-left’ preferences, and duration of EU membership. Generally, MEPs from Central and Eastern Europe and the European People's Party take up pro-security stances. Wordfish was effective and valid, confirming the relevance of automated content analysis for studying the EU.......-2014, scaling MEPs along a unidimensional policy space. Debates on asylum predominantly concern positions for or against European Union (EU) security measures. Surprisingly, national party preferences for EU integration were not the dominant factor. The strongest predictors of MEPs' positions are their national...

  18. Exploring physical activity engagement and barriers for asylum seekers in Australia coping with prolonged uncertainty and no right to work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartley, Lisa; Fleay, Caroline; Tye, Marian E

    2017-05-01

    This paper explores the engagement in physical activity as a potential coping strategy for asylum seekers living in the Australian community without the right to work and with prolonged uncertainty, and benefits or barriers to undertaking such activity. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were held with 29 asylum seekers who had arrived to Australia by boat and were living in the community in the cities of Perth, Sydney or Melbourne in July-October 2013 after their release from immigration detention. The ratio of the numbers of men and women interviewed (23 men and 6 women) was comparable to the ratio of men and women who came by boat to Australia seeking asylum in 2012-2013. Nine participants reported that they participated in physical activity as a coping strategy. Seven other participants were so worried about their future and their families that they did not have the mental or physical energy to engage in physical activity. A further six wanted to participate in physical activity but faced a number of barriers to doing so. The seven remaining participants were either not asked about their physical activity engagement because they focused their discussion on other challenges or did not elaborate on why they were not engaging in physical activity. The findings suggest that physical activity, coupled with other coping strategies, are important for some asylum seekers in trying to manage the distress of being denied the right to work and living with prolonged uncertainty. In addition, these findings highlight the critical barrier that government policy plays in disabling engagement in physical activity, which further compounds social exclusion. This includes the lack of welfare support provided, which hinders people's financial ability to access activities and support in the community. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. Policies of exclusion and practices of inclusion: how municipal governments negotiate asylum policies in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kos, S.; Maussen, M.; Doomernik, J.

    2016-01-01

    There is a major gap in Dutch refugee and immigration control policies between its ambitions and outcomes. It results in considerable numbers of rejected asylum seekers who, while they cannot be expelled from the country, are excluded from government support and from opportunities to work in the

  20. Access to Personal Data and the Right to Good Governance during Asylum Procedures after the CJEU’s YS and M. and S. judgment (C-141/12 and C-372/12)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brouwer, E.; Zuiderveen Borgesius, F.

    2015-01-01

    In the YS. and M. and S. judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on three procedures in which Dutch judges asked for clarification on the right of asylum seekers to have access to the documents regarding the decision on asylum applications. The judgment is relevant for

  1. Lunatic Fringe and p53 Cooperatively Suppress Mesenchymal Stem-Like Breast Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wen-Cheng Chung

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Claudin-low breast cancer (CLBC is a poor prognosis molecular subtype showing stemness and mesenchymal features. We previously discovered that deletion of a Notch signaling modulator, Lunatic Fringe (Lfng, in the mouse mammary gland induced a subset of tumors resembling CLBC. Here we report that deletion of one copy of p53 on this background not only accelerated mammary tumor development but also led to a complete penetrance of the mesenchymal stem-like phenotype. All mammary tumors examined in the Lfng/p53 compound mutant mice displayed a mesenchymal/spindloid pathology. These tumors showed high level expressions of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT markers including Vimentin, Twist, and PDGFRα, a gene known to be enriched in CLBC. Prior to tumor onset, Lfng/p53 mutant mammary glands exhibited increased levels of Vimentin and E-cadherin, but decreased expressions of cytokeratin 14 and cytokeratin 8, accompanied by elevated basal cell proliferation and an expanded mammary stem cell-enriched population. Lfng/p53 mutant glands displayed increased accumulation of Notch3 intracellular fragment, up-regulation of Hes5 and down-regulation of Hes1. Analysis in human breast cancer datasets found the lowest HES1 and second lowest LFNG expressions in CLBC among molecular subtypes, and low level of LFNG is associated with poor survival. Immunostaining of human breast cancer tissue array found correlation between survival and LFNG immunoreactivity. Finally, patients carrying TP53 mutations express lower LFNG than patients with wild type TP53. Taken together, these data revealed genetic interaction between Lfng and p53 in mammary tumorigenesis, established a new mouse model resembling CLBC, and may suggest targeting strategy for this disease.

  2. Haiti, insecurity, and the politics of asylum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, Erica Caple

    2011-09-01

    In this article, I seek to show how states of insecurity provoked by ongoing social, economic, and political ruptures in Haiti can disorder individual subjectivity and generate the flight of individuals seeking asylum within and across borders. Nongovernmental actors working in Haiti and with Haitians in the diaspora frequently managed the long-term psychosocial effects of insecurity. Their interventions can range from repressive to compassionate and influence the formation of identity and the embodied experiences of trauma for vulnerable Haitians. The case of a young Haitian refugee who was repatriated to Haiti from the United States in the 1990s demonstrates how insecurity is both an existential state reflecting the disordering of embodied experience, as well as a collective sociopolitical condition the effects of which cannot be managed or contained within national borders. The case is emblematic of the plight of thousands of Haitians affected by the January 12, 2010, earthquake.

  3. [Decision Support for the Therapy Planning for Young Refugees and Asylum-Seekers with Posttraumatic Disorders].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reher, Cornelia; Metzner, Franka

    2016-12-01

    Decision Support for the Therapy Planning for Young Refugees and Asylum-Seekers with Posttraumatic Disorders Due to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and § 6 of the Asylum Seekers' Benefit Act, there are legal and ethical obligations for the care of minor refugees suffering from trauma-related disorders. In Germany, psychotherapeutic care of adolescent refugees is provided by specialized treatment centers and Child and Adolescent psychiatries with specialized consultation-hours for refugees. Treatment of minor refugees is impeded by various legal and organizational barriers. Many therapists have reservations and uncertainties regarding an appropriate therapy for refugees due to a lack of experience. This means that only a fraction of the young refugees with trauma-related disorders find an ambulatory therapist. In a review of international literature, empirical findings on (interpreter-aided) diagnostics and therapy of young refugees were presented. Practical experiences on therapeutic work with traumatized young refugees were summarized in a decision tree for therapy planning in the ambulatory setting. The decision tree was developed to support therapists in private practices by structuring the therapy process.

  4. Politicised Notions of Professional Identity and Psychosocial Practice among Practitioners Working with Asylum Seekers and Refugees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apostolidou, Zoe

    2015-01-01

    This is the first study undertaken in the UK that investigates the notion of professional identity among practitioners who work with asylum seekers and refugees. Drawing on a social constructionist epistemology and a Foucauldian theoretical and methodological framework of power and discourse, I analysed extracts from semi-structured interviews…

  5. The EU-Turkey Deal and the Safe Third Country Concept before the Greek Asylum Appeals Committees

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gkliati, M.

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses the first case law issued on the EU-Turkey deal from April to June 2016, which authoritatively answers the question whether Turkey constitutes a safe third country for refugees. In 390 out of 393 decisions, the Greek Asylum Appeals Committees ruled that Safe Third Country

  6. A Sociological Approach to Institutional Communication: The Public Image in Organizational Administration in Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serpa, Sandro

    2016-01-01

    Acknowledging that the external context visibly affects any organization, this investigation seeks to constitute a specific contribution to the study of the importance of public image in organizational administration. To that end, a collection and documentary analysis of news stories from the newspaper "O Fayalense on the Asylum for the…

  7. Where is the Frame? : Victims and Intruders in the Belgian Press Coverage of the Asylum Issue

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gorp, B. van

    2005-01-01

    In this article an empirically oriented conceptualization of frames is developed, using the issue of asylum and illegal immigration in the Belgian press as a test case. The methodological focus of this study is on the question of how these frames can be detected in the coverage. How can they be

  8. What drives 'soft deportation'? Understanding the rise in Assisted Voluntary Return among rejected asylum seekers in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A.S. Leerkes (Arjen); van Os, R. (Rianne); Boersema, E. (Eline)

    2017-01-01

    textabstractStates experience difficulties in realizing the return of rejected asylum seekers, but migration control policies are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Against this background, we consider explanations for the increase in Assisted Voluntary Return from the Netherlands in the 2005-2011

  9. Health and health care utilisation among asylum seekers and refugees in the Netherlands: design of a study.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gerritsen, A.A.M.; Bramsen, I.; Devillé, W.; Willigen, L.H.M. van; Hovens, J.E.; Ploeg, H.M. van der

    2004-01-01

    BACKGROUND: This article discusses the design of a study on the prevalence of health problems (both physical and mental) and the utilisation of health care services among asylum seekers and refugees in the Netherlands, including factors that may be related to their health and their utilisation of

  10. Could the BIC-Q be a decision-support tool to predict the development of asylum-seeking children?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zijlstra, A. Elianne; Kalverboer, Margrite E.; Post, Wendy J.; Ten Brummelaar, Mijntje D. C.; Knorth, Erik J.

    2013-01-01

    The Best Interest of the Child Questionnaire (BIC-Q) is an instrument to measure the quality of the childrearing environment. We used a sample of asylum-seeking children (N = 79) in the Netherlands to determine the relationship between the quality of the childrearing environment and the child's

  11. A Lie More Disastrous than the Truth: Asylum and the identification of trafficked women in the UK

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abigail Stepnitz

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available This article explores the impact that nationality can have on a person’s experience of being identified as a victim of trafficking in the UK. Responses to individuals and disparities in rates of recognition depending on nationality are cause for great concern. The rhetoric and the response to women who have experienced trafficking varies considerably depending upon the citizenship, residency and documentation status of the individual, particularly highlighting the differential treatment of trafficking cases of British women, European Union nationals, and third-country (non UK, non EU nationals, the majority of whom are also asylum seekers. This differential treatment is played out in multiple ways, many of which result in women’s inability to realise procedural and substantive rights. The article examines the use of official “identification” mechanisms that place women into the administrative category of “victim”, and the central role of the asylum system in all areas of UK anti-trafficking responses.

  12. Lunatic, Manic and Radical Fringe Each Promote T and B Cell Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Yinghui; Kumar, Vivek; Wei, Hua-Xing; Qiu, Ju; Stanley, Pamela

    2015-01-01

    Lunatic, Manic and Radical Fringe (LFNG, MFNG and RFNG) are N-acetylglucosaminyltransferases that modify Notch receptors and regulate Notch signaling. Loss of LFNG affects thymic T cell development and LFNG and MFNG are required for marginal zone (MZ) B cell development. However, roles for MFNG and RFNG in T cell development, RFNG in B cell development, or Fringes in T and B cell activation, are not identified. Here we show that Lfng/Mfng/Rfng triple knockout (Fng tKO) mice exhibited reduced binding of DLL4 Notch ligand to CD4/CD8 double-negative (DN) T cell progenitors, and reduced expression of NOTCH1 targets Deltex1 and CD25. Fng tKO mice had reduced frequencies of DN1/cKit+ and DN2 T cell progenitors and CD4+CD8+ double positive (DP) T cell precursors, but increased frequencies of CD4+ and CD8+ single positive (SP) T cells in thymus. In spleen, Fng tKO mice had reduced frequencies of CD4+, CD8+, central memory T cells and marginal zone (MZ) B cells, and an increased frequency of effector memory T cells, neutrophils, follicular (Fo) and MZ P B cells. The Fng tKO phenotype was cell-autonomous and largely rescued in mice expressing one allele of a single Fng gene. Stimulation of Fng tKO splenocytes with anti-CD3/CD28 beads or lipopolysaccharide gave reduced proliferation compared to controls, and the generation of activated T cells by concanavalin A or L-PHA was also reduced in Fng tKO mice. Therefore, each Fringe contributes to T and B cell development, and Fringe is required for optimal in vitro stimulation of T and B cells. PMID:26608918

  13. Ethics and exclusion: representations of sovereignty in Australia’s approach to asylum-seekers

    OpenAIRE

    Gelber, Katherine; McDonald, Matt

    2006-01-01

    From 2001, the Australian government has justified a hard-line approach to asylum-seekers on the basis of the need to preserve its sovereignty. This article critically evaluates this justification, arguing that the conception of sovereignty as the ‘right to exclude’ involves a denial of responsibility to the most vulnerable in global politics. We particularly focus here on the ways in which the Australian government has attempted to create support for this conception of sovereignty and ethica...

  14. Disciplinary power and the role of the subject at a nineteenth-century Danish asylum

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hamre, Bjørn

    2010-01-01

    the study draws upon Foucauldian concepts like disciplinary power, confession, pastoral power and subjectivation. I will argue that the critique of the patient provides us with an example of the way that disciplinary power works in the case of an informal indictment of the methods and practice at an asylum....... A key issue is whether the critique is not itself a part of the self-legitimation of disciplinary power....

  15. “To be without a home, like a rolling stone”: Anticipating the global management of forced migration flows and the social integration of asylum seekers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Albu, Oana Brindusa

    The study investigates the practices of different forms of anticipatory knowledge of actors involved in the global management of forced migration flows in ‘migration hotspots’ (European Parliament, 2016). The study draws on an ongoing multi-sited study of professionals working in IGOs, NGOs......—all for estimating the movements and framing the choices, freedoms and rights of asylum seekers. The study shows how anticipatory practices constitute asylum seekers as ‘global problems’ which reinforce dominance relations of ‘vulnerability’ and remove individuals’ agency while providing them with life...

  16. Health status of and health-care provision to asylum seekers in Germany: protocol for a systematic review and evidence mapping of empirical studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Christine; Mohsenpour, Amir; Joos, Stefanie; Bozorgmehr, Kayvan

    2014-11-29

    There are more than 100,000 asylum seekers registered in Germany, who are granted limited access to health services. This study aims to provide a systematic overview of the empirical literature on the health status of and health-care provision to asylum seekers in Germany in order to consolidate knowledge, avoid scientific redundance, and identify research gaps. A systematic review and evidence mapping of empirical literature on the health status of and health-care provision to asylum seekers in Germany will be performed. We will apply a three-tiered search strategy: 1. search in databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, IBSS, Sociological Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, CINAHL, Sowiport, Social Sciences Citation Index, ASSIA, MedPilot, DNB), dissertation and theses databases, and the internet (Google); 2. screening references of included studies; 3. contacting authors and civil society organizations for grey literature. Included will be studies which report quantitative and/or qualitative data or review articles on asylum seekers in Germany, published in German or English language. Outcome measures will include physical, mental, or social well-being, and all aspects of health-care provision (access, availability, affordability, and quality). Search results will be screened for eligibility by screening titles, abstracts and full texts. Data extraction comprises information on study characteristics, research aims, and domains of health or health-care services analyzed. The quality of studies will be appraised and documented by appropriate assessment tools. A descriptive evidence map will be drawn by categorizing all included articles by research design and the health conditions and/or domains of health-care provision analyzed. The body of evidence will be evaluated, and a narrative evidence synthesis will be performed by means of a multi-level approach, whereby quantitative and qualitative evidence are analyzed as separate streams and the product

  17. A cross-sectional survey of the mental health needs of refugees and asylum seekers attending a refugee health clinic: a study protocol for using research to inform local service delivery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shawyer, Frances; Enticott, Joanne C; Doherty, Anne R; Block, Andrew A; Cheng, I-Hao; Wahidi, Sayed; Meadows, Graham N

    2014-12-24

    Refugees and asylum seekers have high rates of risk factors for mental disorders. In recent years, Australia has experienced a rapid increase in asylum seeker arrivals, creating new challenges for services in areas with high settlement numbers. This paper describes the design, including analytic framework, of a project set in a refugee health service in the state of Victoria, Australia, as part of their response to meeting the mental health needs of their burgeoning local population of refugees and asylum seekers. In order to assist service planning, the primary aim of this study is to determine: 1) an overall estimate of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders; 2) the specific prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder 3) the perceived need and unmet need for mental health treatment. The secondary aim of the study is to establish matched risk ratios based on an Australian-born matched comparison group from the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. A cross-sectional survey is used to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in refugees and asylum seekers attending a local refugee health service. Measures include the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale-10, the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-8, the General-practice User's Perceived-need Inventory together with service utilisation questions from the National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. Data collected from refugees and asylum seekers (n = 130) is matched to existing data from Australian-born residents drawn from the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being (n = 520) to produce estimates of the risk ratio. The paper describes a prototype for what is possible within regular services seeking to plan for and deliver high quality mental health care to refugees and asylum seekers. A novel project output will be the development and dissemination of an epidemiological methodology to reliably compare mental health status in a relatively small target sample with a matched

  18. Unaccompanied adolescents seeking asylum - Poorer mental health under a restrictive reception : poorer mental health under a restrictive reception

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reijneveld, S.A.; de Boer, J.B.; Bean, T.; Korfker, D.G.

    2005-01-01

    We assessed the effects of a stringent reception policy on the mental health of unaccompanied adolescent asylum seekers by comparing the mental health of adolescents in a restricted campus reception setting and in a setting offering more autonomy (numbers [response rates]: 69 [93%] and 53 [69%],

  19. Getting out of (self-) harm's way: A study of factors associated with self-harm among asylum seekers in Australian immigration detention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedrick, Kyli

    2017-07-01

    The monitoring of self-harm among asylum seekers in Australian immigration detention has not occurred routinely or transparently. Thus whilst concerns regarding rates of self-harm among asylum seekers have been frequently raised, a paucity of systematic information regarding key factors associated with self-harm among asylum seekers exists. The present study was designed therefore to fill a number of gaps in government monitoring by examining the government's own archived self-harm data. Via a descriptive analysis of self-harm incident reports from all operational Australian immigration detention facilities over a 20-month period to May 2011, obtained under Freedom of Information, the present study identified that 959 incidents of self-harm occurred during this period. A gender bias towards men was also found. In addition to this, 10 different methods of self-harm were identified, the four most common being: cutting (47%), attempted hanging (19%), head hitting (12%) and self-poisoning by medication (6%). Seven different precipitating factors for self-harm were also identified, the four most common were: detention conditions (39%), processing arrangements (27%), negative decisions (24%) and family separation (3%). These findings point strongly to the health benefits of considering alternatives to held immigration detention, such as community based processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

  20. A Longitudinal Study of Changes in Asylum Seekers Ability Regarding Activities of Daily Living During Their Stay in the Asylum Center

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morville, Anne-Le; Amris, Kirstine; Eklund, Mona

    2015-01-01

    participated. ADL-ability was measured using Assessment of Motor and Process Skills and questionnaires about exposure to torture, self-reported mental health and pain. ADL motor and process measures, well-being and self-rated health declined from baseline to follow-up. Measures of pain and depression increased......The aim was to assess change in activities of daily living (ADL) ability amongst asylum seekers and if there were any difference between tortured and non-torture following a 10 months post-arrival period, and if self-reported health and exposure to torture were factors related to change in ADL....... Exposure to physical torture and change in ADL motor (r = 0.525) measures were associated, as well as change in current pain and change in ADL process (r = 0.525) measures. Due to preponderance of torture survivors analysis of group difference was not applicable. Health care workers should be aware of ADL...

  1. HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) - Reflections on a new test for sexuality-based asylum claims in Britain

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wessels, J.M.

    2012-01-01

    The case HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] UKSC 31 was celebrated as a 'fundamental shift in asylum law'. In this decision, the UK Supreme Court rejects the 'reasonably tolerable test' that had been applied in the case of the gay men HJ, a 40-year-old

  2. Will a Quota Plan for Asylum Seekers Plan Work —and Why Not?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Seeberg, Peter

    2015-01-01

    The article describes the recent situation in the Mediterranean, where the number of asylum seekers arriving from countries south and east of the Mediterranean Sea is increasing significantly. The European Commission has suggested a plan, “A European Agenda on Migration”, which will redistribute...... later on lead to a common EU migra-tion policy, which are beyond national control and would make it difficult to avoid responsibilities for internal crisis situations emerging in other parts of the Middle East or North Africa in the future....

  3. Three-phase bone scintigraphy: its contribution to diagnosing and staging avascular necrosis of the carpal lunate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kamburov, D.; Klisarova, A.

    1998-01-01

    Thirty-two patients with avascular necrosis of os lunatum (Kienbock's disease) were examined in three groups according to stage of the disease as follows: first - I stage of disease (10 cases); second - II stage (13) and third - III and IV stages (9). All patients underwent three-phase bone scintigraphy after i v injecting of 20 mCi 99m Tc-MDP. Blood pool index and skeletal index were duly calculated (normal value 1.15). Three-phase bone scintigraphy was within normal limits at 3 patients from the first group. Decreased values of perfusion and bone metabolism were obtained at 2 and 3 patients from the second and third group, respectively. Decreased perfusion and increased bone metabolism (skeletal index < 1.20) were found at 4 patients (group one), 6 (group two) and 3 (group three). Increased blood flow and enhanced uptake of tracer in the late phase were observed at one patient (group one), at 4 group two) and at 6 (group three). False negative results were documented in three cases (group one), and false positive - at one patient each from group two and three. The results show a high sensitivity (91%) of the method in Kienbock's disease and proves that three-phase bone scintigraphy may be used for staging avascular necrosis of the lunate bone. (author)

  4. Some Present-Day Asylum Seekers in the U.S.: Machismo and “Women on the Run”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara Eisold

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Following a brief review of international asylum law (The Geneva Conventions, and the role of American mental health professionals in the asylum process, this paper attempts to understand the ways in which the often trauma-creating custom of machismo is transferred across generations in Central American families. Using as background the work of self psychologist Alan Roland (1989,1996, 2005, I have described families from these areas as so powerfully father-centric that children develop a sense of themselves based largely on their ability to sustain their father’s positive regard. In addition, without discussion, they present a positive image of him to the outside world, even when his behavior at home is brutal. To do otherwise would be humiliating. Having no place to reflect on these customs, often they are acted upon/acted out in the next generation. Note:We publish thi paper also tranlated in italian by Francesca Tessitore (Francesca Tessitore, Psychologist, PhD Student in Mind, Gender and Languages, her research fields are the processes of female immigration and motherhood at risk through a psychodynamic framework. francitessitore@gmail.com.

  5. A preliminary qualitative investigation into the relationship between pre-, peri- and post-migration factors/experiences and the psychological well-being of adolescent male Afghani asylum seekers living in the UK.

    OpenAIRE

    Button, Rebecca

    2013-01-01

    This qualitative study explores the influence of pre-, peri- and post-migration experiences on the psychological well-being of adolescent male Afghani asylum seekers living in the UK. It aims to provide a preliminary investigation of these experiences using the participants’ own voice in order to contribute towards addressing a gap in the research field and guide ongoing outreach, social and clinical work with this population, both locally, and nationally. Eight adolescent Afghani asylum seek...

  6. Louse-borne relapsing fever in Finland in two asylum seekers from Somalia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hytönen, Jukka; Khawaja, Tamim; Grönroos, Juha O; Jalava, Anna; Meri, Seppo; Oksi, Jarmo

    2017-01-01

    We report two cases of louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) in young Somali asylum seekers having recently arrived to Finland. They had sought medical attention for a febrile illness. Blood smears were examined for suspected malaria, but instead, spirochete shaped bacteria were observed. The bacteria were confirmed as Borrelia recurrentis by PCR and sequencing. The patients survived, but their treatment was complicated by Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction. We conclude that LBRF must be considered as a diagnostic option in febrile refugees also in the northernmost parts of Europe. © 2016 APMIS. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Gender and offender status predicting treatment success in refugees and asylum seekers with PTSD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Håkon Stenmark

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Current knowledge is limited regarding patient characteristics related to treatment outcome of posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD in refugees and asylum seekers. Objective: Gender, torture status, offender status, level of anger, and level of depression were investigated for possible effects on the treatment outcome. Method: Patient characteristics were explored in 54 refugees and asylum seekers who had completed a treatment program for PTSD. Non-responders (10, those who had the same or higher levels of symptom severity after treatment, were compared with responders, those who had lower symptom severity after treatment (44. Symptom severity was measured by Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale. The non-responders and responders constituted the dichotomous, dependent variable. The independent variables were gender, torture status, offender status, level of anger, and level of depression. T-tests and Exact Unconditional Homogeneity/Independence Tests for 2X2 Tables were used to study the relationship to treatment outcome. Results: Being male and reporting to have been a violent offender were significantly more frequent characteristics among the non-responders compared to the responders. The levels of pretreatment anger, depression and torture status did not affect the treatment outcome. Conclusions: The study adds support to findings that females benefit more from treatment of PTSD than males and that violent offenders are difficult to treat within the standard treatment programs.

  8. Social factors ameliorate psychiatric disorders in community-based asylum seekers independent of visa status.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hocking, Debbie C; Kennedy, Gerard A; Sundram, Suresh

    2015-12-15

    The impact of industrialised host nations' deterrent immigration policies on the mental health of forced migrants has not been well characterised. The present study investigated the impact of Australia's refugee determination process (RDP) on psychiatric morbidity in community-based asylum-seekers (AS) and refugees. Psychiatric morbidity was predicted to be greater in AS than refugees, and to persist or increase as a function of time in the RDP. The effect on mental health of demographic and socio-political factors such as health cover and work rights were also investigated. Psychiatric morbidity was measured prospectively on five mental health indices at baseline (T1, n=131) and an average of 15.7 months later (T2, n=56). Psychiatric morbidity in AS significantly decreased between time points such that it was no longer greater than that of refugees at T2. Caseness of PTSD and demoralisation reduced in AS who gained protection; however, those who maintained asylum-seeker status at T2 also had a significant reduction in PTS and depression symptom severity. Reduced PTS and demoralisation symptoms were associated with securing work rights and health cover. Living in the community with work rights and access to health cover significantly improves psychiatric symptoms in forced migrants irrespective of their protection status. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Respiratory diphtheria in an asylum seeker from Afghanistan arriving to Finland via Sweden, December 2015.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sane, Jussi; Sorvari, Tiina; Widerström, Micael; Kauma, Heikki; Kaukoniemi, Ulla; Tarkka, Eveliina; Puumalainen, Taneli; Kuusi, Markku; Salminen, Mika; Lyytikäinen, Outi

    2016-01-01

    In December 2015, an asylum seeker originating from Afghanistan was diagnosed with respiratory diphtheria in Finland. He arrived in Finland from Sweden where he had already been clinically suspected and tested for diphtheria. Corynebacterium diphtheriae was confirmed in Sweden and shown to be genotypically and phenotypically toxigenic. The event highlights the importance of early case detection, rapid communication within the country and internationally as well as preparedness plans of diphtheria antitoxin availability.

  10. Interviewing asylum seekers : A vignette study on the questions asked to assess credibility of claims about origin and persecution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Veldhuizen, Tanja S.; Horselenberg, Robert; Landström, Sara; Granhag, Pär Anders; van Koppen, Peter J.

    2017-01-01

    The aim of the current vignette study is to map the style, type, and themes of questions that are asked when assessing the credibility of asylum seekers' claims. Sixty-five officials from the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket), were asked to respond to one out of four different vignettes

  11. 'Colour-Evasiveness' and Racism without Race: The Disablement of Asylum-Seeking Children at The Edge of Fortress Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Migliarini, Valentina

    2018-01-01

    This article explores discriminatory discourses articulated by Italian professionals operating in educational, health and social services for refugees in Rome, in relation to the educational and social inclusion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children. It locates such narratives within the historical 'concealment and invisibilisation…

  12. Prevalence of latent tuberculosis, syphilis, hepatitis B and C among asylum seekers in Malta.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padovese, V; Egidi, A M; Melillo, T Fenech; Farrugia, B; Carabot, P; Didero, D; Costanzo, G; Mirisola, C

    2014-03-01

    In the last few years, Malta has witnessed increasing immigration flows from the Libyan coasts. Public health policies are focused on screening migrants for tuberculosis, whereas no systematic actions against STIs are implemented. The aim of this study is to define the epidemiological profile of asylum seekers in Malta as regards syphilis, hepatitis B, C and latent tuberculosis, thus supporting screening policies. Five hundred migrants living in open centres were screened between December 2010 and June 2011. 83.2% of people was from Somalia, 81.2% males, average age 26.5 years. The tuberculin skin test (TST) was positive in 225 migrants (45%). Latent syphilis was diagnosed in 11 migrants, hepatitis C in 3 and 31 migrants were HBsAg positive. Systematic screening for asymptomatic migrants in Malta is not recommended for hepatitis C and syphilis, given the low prevalence observed. On the contrary, it should be considered for hepatitis B. TST could be indicated as the first step of a two step screening for migrants from countries with high TB incidence. Efficacy and cost-effectiveness could be achieved by further targeting screening to specific subgroups at higher risk of reactivation, such as people living with HIV and subjects affected by chronic diseases.

  13. The Importance of Resources and Security in the Socio-Economic Integration of Refugees. A Study on the Impact of Length of Stay in Asylum Accommodation and Residence Status on Socio-Economic Integration for the Four Largest Refugee Groups in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    L. Bakker (Linda); J.M. Dagevos (Jaco); G.B.M. Engbersen (Godfried)

    2013-01-01

    textabstractIn many European countries, including the Netherlands, refugees stay in asylum accommodation pending a decision on their asylum request. While it seems evident that the lack of resources and insecurity about the future experienced during this stay will impact refugees' subsequent ability

  14. Monitoring for Equality? Asylum Seekers and Refugees' Retention and Achievement in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillimore, Jenny

    2011-01-01

    Interest in the integration of refugees has grown with the increase in numbers of asylum seekers dispersed across the UK. The ability to communicate effectively in English is seen as the key priority in facilitating integration, while a lack of English language is seen as one of the major barriers to refugee employment. Some 267 million British…

  15. Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK: The Challenges of Accessing Education and Employment. NIACE Briefing Sheet 91

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, 2009

    2009-01-01

    This briefing paper endeavours to highlight the challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom in accessing education, training and employment. It does not claim to cover all the issues but is intended as a starting point for providers of adult learning and/or advice. It initially sets out the facts about definitions and…

  16. An integrated healthcare service for asylum seekers and refugees in the South-Eastern Region of Melbourne: Monash Health Refugee Health and Wellbeing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McBride, Jacquie; Block, Andrew; Russo, Alana

    2017-09-01

    Asylum seekers and refugees generally have poorer health than the broader Australian population. However, these groups experience a range of barriers to accessing universal health services. Generalist and specialist refugee health services have been established in Australia to improve the health of humanitarian migrant groups. This article describes a refugee health service established in a high-settlement region of Melbourne, Australia, and explores clients' experiences with the service. Client feedback was captured through interviews (n=18) and surveys (n=159). Participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the service, and highlighted the value in having trusting relationships with staff, access to bicultural workers, onsite interpreting services and integrated care. The findings indicate that it is possible to engage asylum seekers and refugees through healthcare delivery that is responsive to the unique needs of this priority population.

  17. Por el bien de la economía nacional: trabajo terapéutico y asistencia pública en el Manicomio de La Castañeda de la ciudad de México, 1929-1932 For the good of the nation's economy: therapeutic work and public assistance at La Castañeda asylum in Mexico City, 1929-32

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Sacristán

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available El Manicomio de La Castañeda de la Ciudad de México, fundado en 1910, enfrentó hacia 1930 el problema de su masificación debido al elevado número de pacientes crónicos que hacían ver a la institución como un depósito de enfermos más que como un espacio terapéutico. Esta circunstancia condujo a la psiquiatría a su primera crisis de legitimidad como ciencia. Con el objetivo de combatir la leyenda negra en torno al manicomio, los médicos de La Castañeda promovieron la difusión en la prensa de un tratamiento de origen decimonónico que proyectaba la imagen pública de que los enfermos mentales podían tener la misma capacidad productiva que el resto de los hombres: la terapéutica por medio del trabajo. Esta propuesta contó con el apoyo del Estado emanado de la revolución mexicana porque el objetivo que guiaba la asistencia pública a los grupos más desprotegidos consistía en lograr su integración a la vida productiva del país a través del mercado, lo que se obtenía en el caso de los enfermos mentales a través de la terapia ocupacional.Founded in 1910, by 1930 Mexico City's La Castañeda insane asylum was grappling with the problem of a massive number of chronic patients, a situation that earned it an image as a warehouse for the sick more than a place of treatment. Psychiatrists endeavored to restore the asylum's legitimacy by publicizing a nineteenth-century treatment which projected the public image that the mentally ill could be as productive as anyone else: work therapy. The government born of the Mexican revolution supported this proposal because the guiding objective behind public assistance for underprivileged groups was to make them part of the country's productive life via the market.

  18. [From the asylums to the community: the reform process of National Colony "Dr. Manuel A. Montes de Oca"].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossetto, Jorge

    2009-01-01

    Since 2004, a profound transformation of the asylum care model, characterized by overcrowding, lack of discharge and absence of rehabilitation programs, and social reinsertion, has been developed at National Colony "Dr. Manuel A. Montes de Oca". During this period, a plan that contemplates several programs and projects aimed at restoring the rights of institutionalized people with mental disabilities and promoting opportunities for social inclusion has been implemented.

  19. Sexual Maltreatment of Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Minors from the Horn of Africa: A Mixed Method Study Focusing on Vulnerability and Prevention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lay, Margaret; Papadopoulos, Irena

    2009-01-01

    Objectives: The study described in this paper sought to identify the social, cultural, and political factors that effect African unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors' (UASM) vulnerability to sexual maltreatment in England. It aimed to illuminate how child protection measures could be strengthened for this highly marginalized group. Methods: A mixed…

  20. Claiming justice: knowing mental illness in the public art of Anna Schuleit's 'Habeas Corpus' and 'Bloom'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Susan E

    2011-05-01

    This study investigates two public art performances by artist Anna Schuleit in the early 2000s commemorating the life and history of two state hospitals ('asylums') in Massachusetts and the people who built, worked, and were patients in them. Public art is made for and sited in the public domain, outside, freely accessible, frequently collaborative, and often ephemeral. This study addresses a series of questions: What can public art 'do' for understanding mental illness? What use is a public art project for those living with (and caring for those who live with) mental illness? How can a public work of art sustain and portray meaning in an expressive way, open up a shared discursive space, and demand witness through embodiment?

  1. A REVIEW OF ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES IN ITALY: WHERE IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH GOING?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesca Tessitore

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, nowadays, 65,3 million individuals have been forcibly displaced worldwide. In Europe, Italy is one of the countries with the highest number of asylum seeker arrivals per year and the emergency nature of the present-day migratory flows are increasingly involving researchers and clinicians to come up with and develop new models of research and interventions. This article aims to conduct a review of the Italian psychological research in the field of forced migration in order to systematise the Italian studies, to compare the Italian situation with the international one and to define limits, resources and future directions of current Italian research. A literature review in the databases Scopus, PubMed and Web of Knowledge for documents published from 2012 to 2017 was conducted. From the analysis, twelve articles emerged principally following two main trajectories of investigation: a clinical and mental health-related trajectory and a psychosocial and community-based one. Compared with the wider international field of research, a general underdevelopment of Italian research emerged. Research into protective factors with regard to the development of psychopathological outcomes and on interventions is highly recommended. Results highlighted support for future research on the theme of asylum seekers and refugees. Some cause for reflection as regards levels of criticality, the direction of future research and specific links between research and Italian social policies were given.

  2. 8 CFR 208.10 - Failure to appear at an interview before an asylum officer or failure to follow requirements for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Failure to appear at an interview before an... WITHHOLDING OF REMOVAL Asylum and Withholding of Removal § 208.10 Failure to appear at an interview before an... scheduled interview without prior authorization may result in dismissal of the application or waiver of the...

  3. Our health and theirs: forced migration, othering, and public health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grove, Natalie J; Zwi, Anthony B

    2006-04-01

    This paper uses 'othering' theory to explore how forced migrants are received in developed countries and considers the implications of this for public health. It identifies a variety of mechanisms by which refugees, asylum seekers and irregular migrants are positioned as 'the other' and are defined and treated as separate, distant and disconnected from the host communities in receiving countries. The paper examines how this process has the potential to affect health outcomes both for individuals and communities and concludes that public health must engage with and challenge this othering discourse. It argues that public health practitioners have a critical role to play in reframing thinking about health services and health policies for forced migrants, by promoting inclusion and by helping shape a narrative which integrates and values the experiences of this population.

  4. Dental Trauma Guide

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasen, Jens Ove; Lauridsen, Eva Fejerskov; Christensen, Søren Steno Ahrensburg

    2012-01-01

    Diagnose and treatment of traumatic dental injuries is very complex due to the multiple trauma entities represented by 6 lunation types and 9 fracture types affecting both the primary and the permanent dentition. When it is further considered that fracture and lunation injuries are often combined...... problems in selecting proper treatment for some of these trauma types. To remedy this situation, an internet based knowledge base consisting of 4000 dental trauma cases with long term follow up is now available to the public and professionals, on the internet using the address www...

  5. 8 CFR 240.68 - Failure to appear at an interview before an asylum officer or failure to follow requirements for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Failure to appear at an interview before an... Removal Under Section 203 of Pub. L. 105-100 § 240.68 Failure to appear at an interview before an asylum... interview without prior authorization may result in dismissal of the application or waiver of the right to...

  6. Assessing the Relationship between Community Education, Political Efficacy and Electoral Participation: A Case Study of the Asylum Seeking Community in Cork

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Clodagh; Murphy, Philip

    2012-01-01

    This paper assesses the relationship between community education and internal political efficacy. In particular it examines the association between voter/civic programmes run in advance of the 2009 local elections in Ireland and internal political efficacy amongst the asylum seeking community in Cork. A survey is used to test this relationship.…

  7. Geographical distribution of torture: An epidemiological study of torture reported by asylum applicants examined at the Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Copenhagen

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Busch, Johannes Rødbro; Hansen, Steen Holger; Hougen, Hans Petter

    2015-01-01

    Using reports from 154 examinations of alleged torture victims among asylum applicants to Denmark conducted by the Department of Forensic Medicine, Univer- sity of Copenhagen, between 2001 and 2013, we have categorized the victims into four geographical regions, as well as according to the conflict...

  8. Public Diplomacy and Refugee Relations Reflections of Turkey’s Refugees Relations on the International Media

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ergün Köksoy

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Public diplomacy is described as a new form of relations and communications between countries and societies in the field of international relations with the process of globalisation. The subject of refugees shown among the priority issues can be solved through international cooperation and solidarity with its results affecting all countries and societies, that’s why becoming part of public diplomacy. Asylum seekers and refugee rights are guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and considered to be an area that the international community needs to take the roles and share responsibilities. In this aspect, it is shown as global responsibilities and part of the humanitarian sensibility of countries and societies. In one hand, asylum seekers and refugees are considered to be the subject of the problem and crisis, on the other hand, due to contributing to the human and cultural interaction between the different communities, these are specified as part of public diplomacy. This article discusses the relationship between public diplomacy and refugees relations which provides the interaction between countries and effects the prestige and perception of them. In the study, to reveal the reflections of Turkey’s Refugees Relations on the International Media, three highest-circulation newspapers (“The Guardian”, “Le Monde”, “Der Spiegel” will be choosen from three important EU countries (United Kingdom, France, Germany. These newspapers’ headlines and news content which related to Turkey and Syrian refugees are going to be analized on three-month period. As a result, Turkish public diplomacy and refugee relations and its implications on the international media in the context of Syrian refugees will be evaluated and some recommendations for the future of Turkish public diplomacy and refugee relations will be provided.

  9. Romulus’ adytum or asylum? A New Exegetical proposal for De lingua Latina 5, 8

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Federica Lazzerini

    2017-05-01

    Molto si è discusso sui quattro livelli progressivi secondo i quali Varrone struttura l’etimologia in ling. 5, 8; a ogni livello è associato un diverso tipo di analisi e si applica a una diversa categoria di parole. Una formulazione criptica ed ellittica, in un passo che nel manoscritto del testo è quasi certamente corrotto, avvolgono il quarto livello in una nube di incertezza e ambiguità. Se alcuni filologi hanno difeso il mantenimento del tradito Quartus, ubi est aditus et initia regis (“Il quarto livello è dove è l’ingresso e le origini del re”, la maggior parte delle interpretazioni moderne opta piuttosto per l’emendazione di aditus in adytum (“santuario” e legge il passo come un riferimento a vari tipi di culti misterici, collocando il quarto livello etimologico in un quadro di esoterismo. Nel presente contributo, si avanza la proposta che nel passo in questione non vi sia alcuna allusione ai misteri, ma un riferimento all’episodio storico-leggendario della fondazione, da parte di Romolo, di un “santuario” sul Campidoglio, destinato all’accoglienza di supplici provenienti da ogni popolo ed estrazione sociale. Questa istituzione portò alla formazione del primo nucleo abitativo di Roma e anche, di conseguenza, del sostrato vernacolare alle origini della lingua latina; come tale, tale episodio converge con gli interessi e le idee di Varrone. L’ipotesi che il quartus gradus etymologiae alluda al santuario di Romolo può essere difesa o dando una nuova interpretazione al termine adytum, o proponendo un’emendazione testuale (aditus > asylum, che produca il testo Quartus, ubi est asylum et initia regis.

  10. Medicolegal reports in asylum applications: a framework for addressing the practical and ethical challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pitman, Alexandra

    2010-03-01

    The clinical care of asylum-seekers may bring clinicians in contact with the immigration authorities. A request for a medicolegal report usually requires the responsible clinician to state their opinion on the risks involved in returning an applicant to their country of origin, taking into account their current condition, the treatments available in that country, and the risks involved in travel. This review draws on clinical experience and a review of the literature to describe the work involved in preparing a medical report requested by immigration authorities. Although the starting point chosen is the psychiatric report, the principles described apply to the preparation of immigration reports in any medical discipline.

  11. Asylum seekers, refugees, and the politics of access to health care: a UK perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Keith

    2009-10-01

    The UK government has recently consulted on proposals to prohibit access to health care for some asylum seekers. This discussion paper considers the wider ethical, moral, and political issues that may arise from this policy. In particular, it explores the relationship between immigration and health and examines the impact of forced migration on health inequalities. It will be argued that it is both unethical and iniquitous to use health policy as a means of enforcing immigration policy. Instead, the founding principle of the NHS of equal access on the basis of need should be borne in mind when considering how to meet the needs of this population.

  12. The impact of direct provision accommodation for asylum seekers on organisation and delivery of local primary care and social care services: a case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pieper, Hans-Olaf; Clerkin, Pauline; MacFarlane, Anne

    2011-05-15

    Many western countries have policies of dispersal and direct provision accommodation (state-funded accommodation in an institutional centre) for asylum seekers. Most research focuses on its effect on the asylum seeking population. Little is known about the impact of direct provision accommodation on organisation and delivery of local primary care and social care services in the community. The aim of this research is to explore this issue. In 2005 a direct provision accommodation centre was opened in a rural area in Ireland. A retrospective qualitative case study was designed comprising in-depth interviews with 37 relevant stakeholders. Thematic analysis following the principles of framework analysis was applied. There was lack of advance notification to primary care and social care professionals and the community about the new accommodation centre. This caused anxiety and stress among relevant stakeholders. There was insufficient time to plan and prepare appropriate primary care and social care for the residents, causing a significant strain on service delivery. There was lack of clarity about how primary care and social care needs of the incoming residents were to be addressed. Interdisciplinary support systems developed informally between healthcare professionals. This ensured that residents of the accommodation centre were appropriately cared for. Direct provision accommodation impacts on the organisation and delivery of local primary care and social care services. There needs to be sufficient advance notification and inter-agency, inter-professional dialogue to manage this. Primary care and social care professionals working with asylum seekers should have access to training to enhance their skills for working in cross-cultural consultations.

  13. The Characteristics of Patients with Intellectual Disabilities Held in Forensic Asylums in Norway: 1915–1987

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erik Søndenaa

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available A significant number of patients with intellectual disability (ID were admitted to forensic mental health asylums during the period 1915–1987. Many of these patients stayed for more than a decade, because of previous offending behaviour. We investigated the daily lives of 262 patients with an ID using casebooks. Two of the patients were studied more in detail. The available documents describe most of these patients as sociable, well-behaved and socially engaged although they missed having contacts outside the hospital. Long-stay patients were studied more in detail.

  14. Post-traumatic stress in asylum seekers and refugees from Chechnya, Afghanistan, and West Africa: gender differences in symptomatology and coping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renner, Walter; Salem, Ingrid

    2009-03-01

    Internationally, a high number of refugees are in need of help as a consequence of post-traumatic stress or acculturation problems. The present study investigated the gender-specific requirements for such interventions taking clinical symptoms as well as coping strategies into account. Five psychometric instruments assessing anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, somatic symptoms, and social adaptation were administered and semi-structured interviews with n = 150 asylum seekers and refugees from Chechnya, Afghanistan, and West Africa were conducted. On the level of total test scores, women reported significantly more somatic symptoms than men but there were no further gender differences. On the item level of the questionnaires as well as with respect to the categories obtained from the interview data, marked gender differences were found. Women, as compared to men, reported more somatic symptoms, emotional outbursts, and loss of sexual interest, while men reported detachment. For women, typical coping strategies were concentrating on their children and various indoor activities, while men preferred looking for work and socializing. Social psychiatric interventions should take gender-specific symptoms and coping strategies into account. For asylum seekers and refugees, same gender client-therapist dyads and groups are highly recommended.

  15. Human lead exposure in a late 19th century mental asylum population

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bower, Nathan W. [Department of Chemistry, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO 80903-3294 (United States)]. E-mail: nbower@coloradocollege.edu; McCants, Sarah A. [Department of Chemistry, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO 80903-3294 (United States); Custodio, Joseph M. [Department of Chemistry, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO 80903-3294 (United States); Ketterer, Michael E. [Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5698 (United States); Getty, Stephen R. [Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, Colorado Springs, CO 80918 (United States); Hoffman, J. Michael [Department of Anthropology, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO 8090-3294 (United States)

    2007-01-01

    Lead isotope ratios and lead (Pb) levels were analyzed in 33 individuals from a forgotten cemetery at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, Colorado dating to 1879-1899. Isotopic ratios from healing bone fractures, cortical bone, and tooth dentine provide information about sources of Pb exposures over a range of time that illuminates individual's life histories and migration patterns. Historical records and Pb production data from the 19th century were used to create a database for interpreting Pb exposures for these African, Hispanic and European Americans. The analysis of these individuals suggests that Pb exposure noticeably impacted the mental health of 5-10% of the asylum patients in this frontier population, a high number by standards today, and that differences exist in the three ancestral groups' exposure histories.

  16. Human lead exposure in a late 19th century mental asylum population

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bower, Nathan W.; McCants, Sarah A.; Custodio, Joseph M.; Ketterer, Michael E.; Getty, Stephen R.; Hoffman, J. Michael

    2007-01-01

    Lead isotope ratios and lead (Pb) levels were analyzed in 33 individuals from a forgotten cemetery at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, Colorado dating to 1879-1899. Isotopic ratios from healing bone fractures, cortical bone, and tooth dentine provide information about sources of Pb exposures over a range of time that illuminates individual's life histories and migration patterns. Historical records and Pb production data from the 19th century were used to create a database for interpreting Pb exposures for these African, Hispanic and European Americans. The analysis of these individuals suggests that Pb exposure noticeably impacted the mental health of 5-10% of the asylum patients in this frontier population, a high number by standards today, and that differences exist in the three ancestral groups' exposure histories

  17. Asylum, Immigration Restrictions and Exploitation: Hyper-precarity as a lens for understanding and tackling forced labour

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hannah Lewis

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The topic of forced labour is receiving a growing amount of political and policy attention across the globe. This paper makes two clear contributions to emerging debates. First, we focus on a group who are seldom explicitly considered in forced labour debates: forced migrants who interact with the asylum system. We build an argument of the production of susceptibility to forced labour through the United Kingdom’s (UK asylum system, discussing the roles of compromised socio-legal status resulting from restrictive immigration policy, neoliberal labour market characteristics and migrants’ own trajectories. Second, we argue that forced labour needs to be understood as part of, and an outcome of, widespread normalised precarious work. Precarity is a concept used to describe the rise of insecure, casualised and sub-contracted work and is useful in explaining labour market processes that are conducive to the production of forced labour. Using precarity as a lens to examine forced labour encourages the recognition of extreme forms of exploitation as part of a wider picture of systematic exploitation of migrants in the labour market. To understand the reasons why forced migrants might be drawn into severe labour exploitation in the UK, we introduce the concept of hyper-precarity to explain how multidimensional insecurities contribute to forced labour experiences, particularly among forced migrants in the global north. Viewing forced labour as connected to precarity also suggests that avenues and tools for tackling severe labour exploitation need to form part of the wider struggle for migrant labour rights.

  18. The impact of direct provision accommodation for asylum seekers on organisation and delivery of local primary care and social care services: A case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clerkin Pauline

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Many western countries have policies of dispersal and direct provision accommodation (state-funded accommodation in an institutional centre for asylum seekers. Most research focuses on its effect on the asylum seeking population. Little is known about the impact of direct provision accommodation on organisation and delivery of local primary care and social care services in the community. The aim of this research is to explore this issue. Methods In 2005 a direct provision accommodation centre was opened in a rural area in Ireland. A retrospective qualitative case study was designed comprising in-depth interviews with 37 relevant stakeholders. Thematic analysis following the principles of framework analysis was applied. Results There was lack of advance notification to primary care and social care professionals and the community about the new accommodation centre. This caused anxiety and stress among relevant stakeholders. There was insufficient time to plan and prepare appropriate primary care and social care for the residents, causing a significant strain on service delivery. There was lack of clarity about how primary care and social care needs of the incoming residents were to be addressed. Interdisciplinary support systems developed informally between healthcare professionals. This ensured that residents of the accommodation centre were appropriately cared for. Conclusions Direct provision accommodation impacts on the organisation and delivery of local primary care and social care services. There needs to be sufficient advance notification and inter-agency, inter-professional dialogue to manage this. Primary care and social care professionals working with asylum seekers should have access to training to enhance their skills for working in cross-cultural consultations.

  19. The Impact of Direct Provision Accommodation for Asylum Seekers on Organisation and Delivery of Local Primary Care and Social Care Services: A Case Study

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Pieper, Hans-Olaf

    2011-05-15

    Abstract Background Many western countries have policies of dispersal and direct provision accommodation (state-funded accommodation in an institutional centre) for asylum seekers. Most research focuses on its effect on the asylum seeking population. Little is known about the impact of direct provision accommodation on organisation and delivery of local primary care and social care services in the community. The aim of this research is to explore this issue. Methods In 2005 a direct provision accommodation centre was opened in a rural area in Ireland. A retrospective qualitative case study was designed comprising in-depth interviews with 37 relevant stakeholders. Thematic analysis following the principles of framework analysis was applied. Results There was lack of advance notification to primary care and social care professionals and the community about the new accommodation centre. This caused anxiety and stress among relevant stakeholders. There was insufficient time to plan and prepare appropriate primary care and social care for the residents, causing a significant strain on service delivery. There was lack of clarity about how primary care and social care needs of the incoming residents were to be addressed. Interdisciplinary support systems developed informally between healthcare professionals. This ensured that residents of the accommodation centre were appropriately cared for. Conclusions Direct provision accommodation impacts on the organisation and delivery of local primary care and social care services. There needs to be sufficient advance notification and inter-agency, inter-professional dialogue to manage this. Primary care and social care professionals working with asylum seekers should have access to training to enhance their skills for working in cross-cultural consultations.

  20. Contested spacing: International non-profit organizations and the mobility of asylum seekers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Albu, Oana Brindusa

    The importance of examining space from an organizational standpoint is timely, not the least because the use of this concept has critical and often unintended social, and political effects (Mengis, Nicolini & Gorli, 2016). The global refugee crisis following the post-2015 Syrian conflict is perhaps...... one indicative situation of the highly contested ways in which international non-profit organizations (INGOs) create spaces for their organizational activities (e.g., build informal settlements to provide emergency aid), and thus affect how individuals (e.g., asylum seekers) get re-settled, confined...... to, or even restricted from living in such spaces. These matters are relevant since in the contexts where both the opportunities to move freely and being at peace are challenged, space is not only a neutral structure in which such contested organizing takes place (Mengis et al., 2016). Rather...

  1. [The psychiatric revolution in Quebec, 1950-1962. From asylum to community psychiatry and the open door].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duprey, Catherine

    2011-01-01

    Psychiatry opens to the world at a time when the very basis of psychiatric practice, namely the asylum, is called into question. Studies appear in Quebec and Canadian journals concurrent to the introduction of new formulas for care, such as the delivery of psychiatric services in general hospitals and clinics, that allow patients to be treated outside the walls of psychiatric hospitals. In addition, postwar psychiatry takes an optimistic view toward the future of children with impairments through the creation of specialized schools and workshops. From the mid-20th century onward, the thinking in psychiatry centres on the open door.

  2. [Systematic review and evidence mapping of empirical studies on health status and medical care among refugees and asylum seekers in Germany (1990-2014)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bozorgmehr, Kayvan; Mohsenpour, Amir; Saure, Daniel; Stock, Christian; Loerbroks, Adrian; Joos, Stefanie; Schneider, Christine

    2016-05-01

    Owing to a lack of routine statistics on the health status and medical care of asylum seekers, empirical studies play a major role in the mapping of these aspects. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the research landscape in this area, synthesizing knowledge from empirical studies and identifying evidence gaps. A three-tiered search strategy included searching for empirical studies in national/international databases and on the internet, screening reference lists, and contacting experts. Studies meeting predefined inclusion criteria were thematically organized and described in a narrative synthesis. The searches generated 1,190 hits; 52 articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 41 were quantitative studies (78.9 %), 10 qualitative (19.2 %), and 1 was a review (1.9 %). A total of 30 primary articles (58.9 %) analyzed mental health aspects, followed by infectious diseases (n = 12, 23.5 %). Qualitative studies, mainly ethnographies and case studies, explored mental health and social determinants of health, providing evidence for the impact of living conditions on health and medical care. Few studies analyzed chronic diseases (n = 3) or childhood illnesses (n = 6). No studies analyzed the health needs or medical care of asylum-seeking women during pregnancy and child birth. In 62.7 % of the primary studies, a single sampling point was used to recruit asylum seekers. Nationwide external validity was given in two quantitative studies. The priority research areas identified are chronic diseases and childhood and maternal health. The divergency and heterogeneity of the studies hamper a comprehensive and comparable acquisition of knowledgeand emphasize the  need for collaborative research to close the existing evidence gaps.

  3. Unaccompanied & Denied: Regional Legal Framework for Unaccompanied Minors Asylum Seekers (UMAS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rohaida Nordin

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Unaccompanied minor asylum seekers are vulnerable and thus, provided special international law protections. However, in reality, they are being mistreated as illegal immigrants and on thereceiving end of ethnic violence, discrimination, restrictions in enjoyment of their rights duly recognised by international human rights law. This article identifies legislative, policy and supportmechanisms which encompass the minimum UMAS guardianship standards at international law and which are evidence-based from best practice models for the provision of guardians for UMASinternationally. It presents situation of UMAS in relation to human rights violations with emphasis on the legal framework and practices in Australia and five ASEAN State Members. This article also highlights the various stands taken by various countries providing better legal framework and practices regarding the terms for protection and enforcement of human rights for UMAS. Finally, this article provides recommendations for Australia and ASEAN Member States to adopt in order to realise the international human rights of UMAS with respect to guardianship.

  4. Representation of Refugees, Asylum-Seekers and Refugee Affairs In Hungarian Dailies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lilla VICSEK

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available How does the press in Hungary write about refugees, asylum-seekers and refugee affairs? We sought to answer this question. Articles appearing in 2005 and 2006 in two leading national Hungarian dailies were examined with quantitative content analysis. The results show that the articles analyzed often treat refugee affairs as an “official” political matter. The high proportion of legislation and political positions conveys the image that refugee affairs are a state or intergovernmental matter, an “official”, legal, political issue rather than for example a humanitarian question. Most of the articles published in both papers write about problems and conflicts in connection with refugee affairs. The negative media image has different significance for different topics. We argue that the question of refugee affairs is a topic where the image shown by the media is of great relevance: the media can be a more important source of information on this subject than personal contacts.

  5. Hunger strikers: historical perspectives from the emergency management of refugee camp asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burkle, Frederick M; Chan, Jimmy T S; Yeung, Richard D S

    2013-12-01

    The treatment of hunger strikers is always contentious, chaotic and complex. The management is particularly difficult for health professionals as it raises unprecedented clinical, ethical, moral, humanitarian, and legal questions. There are never any easy answers. The current situation of prisoners from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars currently at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in Cuba demands unprecedented transparency, accountability and multilevel coordination to ensure that the rights of the strikers are properly met. There are scant references available in the scientific literature on the emergency management of these tragedies. This historical perspective documents the complex issues faced by emergency physicians in Hong Kong surrounding refugee camp asylum seekers from Vietnam in 1994 and is offered as a useful adjunct in understanding the complex issues faced by emergency health providers and managers.

  6. Differences in the prevalence of hospitalizations and utilization of emergency outpatient services for ambulatory care sensitive conditions between asylum-seeking children and children of the general population: a cross-sectional medical records study (2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Célina Lichtl

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive (ACS conditions are established indicators for the availability and quality of ambulatory care. We aimed to assess the differences between asylum-seeking children and children of the general population in a German city with respect to (i the prevalence of ACS hospitalizations, and (ii the utilization of emergency outpatient services for ACS conditions. Methods Using anonymous account data, all children admitted to the University Hospital Heidelberg in 2015 were included in our study. A unique cost unit distinguished asylum seekers residing in a nearby reception center (exposed from the children of the general population. We adapted international lists of ACS conditions and calculated the prevalence of ACS hospitalizations and the utilization of emergency outpatient services for ACS conditions, attributable fractions among the exposed (Afe and the population attributable fraction among total admissions (PAF for each outcome. Differences in the prevalence of each outcome between exposed and controls were analyzed in logistic regression models adjusted for sex, age group and quarterly admission. Results Of the 32,015 admissions in 2015, 19.9% (6287 were from inpatient and 80.1% (25,638 from outpatient care. In inpatient care, 9.8% (622 of all admissions were hospitalizations for ACS conditions. The Afe of ACS hospitalizations was 46.57%, the PAF was 1.12%. Emergency service use for ACS conditions could be identified in 8.3% (3088 of all admissions (Afe: 79.57%, PAF: 5.08%. The odds ratio (OR of asylum-seeking children being hospitalized for ACS conditions in comparison to the control group was 1.81 [95% confidence interval, CI: 1.02; 3.2]. The OR of the asylumseeking population compared to the general population for the utilization of emergency service use for ACS conditions was 4.93 [95% CI: 4.11; 5.91]. Conclusions Asylum-seeking children had significantly higher odds of ACS

  7. Divine service, music, sport, and recreation as medicinal in Australian asylums 1860s-1945.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacKinnon, Dolly

    2009-01-01

    Australian asylum records (circa 1860 to circa 1945) demonstrate that medical staff went to great lengths to provide recreation to suitable patients. This article examines how the demarcation of Australian institutional spaces along gender divisions was also mirrored by the gender-specific recreational activities provided in purpose-built facilities. Using Australian examples I demonstrate how the main forms of recreation-that is divine service, music and dance, and sport-were justified to governments on medical grounds. Some designated recreational spaces even offered select female and male patients the opportunity to mix under medical supervision. Recreation was therapeutic because of its psychological, physical, social, and moral benefits, and government authorities funded the construction of costly chapels, recreation halls, and sports grounds expressly for this medical purpose.

  8. Seeking asylum in Denmark: Refugee children's mental health and exposure to violence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Montgomery, Edith; Foldspang, Anders

    2005-01-01

    Aims: The aim of this study was to compare profiles of present mental health and previous exposure to violence among refugee children from the Middle East, whose asylum seeking families either did or did not obtain permission to stay in Denmark. Methods: Shortly after arrival in Denmark......, the parents of 311 Middle-Eastern children answered a structured interview on their children’s exposure to organized violence and their mental health. The families were followed-up as concerns receipt of a residence permit. Results: At arrival in Denmark, the children’s patterns of previous exposure...... to violence and present mental health was generally similar irrespective of the family getting a residence permit, as was the case for 90 families (60.4%) with 190 children (61.1%). In both groups an overwhelming majority, eight to nine out of 10 children, had been exposed to conditions of war and had stayed...

  9. Science and the common good: indefinite, non-reviewable mandatory detention of asylum seekers and the research imperative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steel, Zachary; Silove, Derrick

    2004-10-01

    Despite a strong historical record of resettling and providing care for refugee populations, the Australian Federal Government has increasingly implemented harsh and restrictive policies regarding the treatment and management of asylum seekers. Most controversial of these has been the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, a policy applied indiscriminately and without discretion where individual cases have not been subject to judicial review or time constraints. From the outset health professionals have raised concerns about the possible adverse mental health impacts of prolonged detention. In contrast, government representatives have characterized conditions in detention as benign and comfortable, and have consistently contested criticism of detention, often citing a lack of scientific evidence as tacit support for the continuation of the policy. Nevertheless, requests for access to the detention centres to undertake rigorous scientific investigations have gone unheeded. In this context we argue that the Australian Government has failed to uphold its commitment to good governance by allowing transparency, openness and a willingness to have the impact of its policies scrutinized by scientists. The manifest conflict of interest in the government position leads to a breach in the normal social contract between mental health researchers and those responsible for the policy of detention. There is, we argue, a legitimate moral imperative in such situations for clinical researchers to breach the walls of enforced silence and give a voice to those who are afflicted. This imperative, however, must be carefully balanced against the risks that may face detainees agreeing to participate in such research.

  10. [Habitus, capital and fields: the search for an acting head of the Hamburg Asylum Friedrichsberg in 1897].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sammet, Kai

    2005-01-01

    In 1897 Hamburg was in search of an Oberarzt for the asylum Friedrichsberg who should function as the acting head of the head Wilhelm Reye (1833-1912). This search was part of the intended reformation of the outmoded psychiatric care in Hamburg. During this application procedure the Hamburg Physikus John Wahncau examined all possible candidates and applicants. The article explores the election process by using some sociological categories developed by Pierre Bourdieu (habitus, capital, field). The author argues that not only meritocratic attributes led to the choice of one candidate, but also his functional "fitting" into the field in Hamburg.

  11. A cross-sectional survey on gender-based violence and mental health among female urban refugees and asylum seekers in Kampala, Uganda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morof, Diane F; Sami, Samira; Mangeni, Maria; Blanton, Curtis; Cardozo, Barbara Lopes; Tomczyk, Barbara

    2014-11-01

    To assess gender-based violence and mental health outcomes among a population of female urban refugees and asylum seekers. In a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study conducted in 2010 in Kampala, Uganda, a study team interviewed a stratified random sample of female refugees and asylum seekers aged 15-59 years from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. Questionnaires were used to collect information about recent and lifetime exposure to sexual and physical violence, and symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Among the 500 women selected, 117 (23.4%) completed interviews. The weighted lifetime prevalences of experiencing any (physical and/or sexual) violence, physical violence, and sexual violence were 77.5% (95% CI 66.6-88.4), 76.2% (95% CI 65.2-87.2), and 63.3% (95% CI 51.2-75.4), respectively. Lifetime history of physical violence was associated with PTSD symptoms (Pviolence (P=0.014). Overall, 112 women had symptoms of depression (weighted prevalence 92.0; 95% CI 83.9-100) and 83 had PTSD symptoms (weighted prevalence 71.1; 95% CI 59.9-82.4). Prevalences of violence, depression, and PTSD symptoms among female urban refugees in Kampala are high. Additional services and increased availability of psychosocial programs for refugees are needed. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  12. FLYKTNINGEKONVENSJONEN ARTIKKEL 1 C-F. Folkerettslig og komparativ studie av eksklusjons- og opphørsgrunnene

    OpenAIRE

    Einarsen, Terje; Skaar, Elin; Vevstad, Vigdis

    2006-01-01

    Public faith in the asylum system is based, among other things, on whether authorities involved in the asylum process are able to distinguish ordinary refugees from asylum-seekers who have committed crimes against humanity or other serious crimes. This report, commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion in 2004, examines certain provisions of the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees that gives receiving states the possibility of excluding or ex...

  13. ‘One of the Best Fathers until He Went Out of His Mind’: Paternal Child-Murder, 1864–1900

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepherd, Jade

    2013-01-01

    Current scholarship suggests that when a mother murdered her child in Victorian England she was treated sympathetically by the press and in the courtroom. It is argued that because the crime was considered antithetical to womanhood it was viewed as an indication of insanity. This article examines newspaper reports, trial transcripts, medical literature and popular works on fatherhood, in order to explore the cases of sixty men committed to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum between 1864 and 1900 for the murder of their children. It questions two assumptions of the literature on infanticide: first, the idea that it was only women who were thought to be going against nature if they killed their child; and second, that it was only women who regularly successfully pleaded insanity in such cases. The Broadmoor case studies not only demonstrate Victorian attitudes towards paternal child-murder but also provide valuable material illustrating affectionate models of Victorian fatherhood. In trial and press reports detailing the crimes it is clear that fathers were expected, and expected themselves, to be temperate, provide for, and protect their children. PMID:24764747

  14. [Asylum Law and Mental Health: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Coaction of Medical and Legal Aspects].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanewald, Bernd; Gieseking, Janina; Vogelbusch, Oliver; Markus, Inessa; Gallhofer, Bernd; Knipper, Michael

    2016-04-01

    Interdisciplinary analysis of the consequences of laws and legal practice for mental health conditions of asylum seekers and psychiatric care. Based on the case study of a Kurdish woman with complex trauma-related psychiatric disorder, who had been in psychiatric hospital care for 25 months, the legal and medical facts are exposed, followed by a discussion referring to theoretical approaches from medical anthropology. Immigration laws and legal practice can have harmful consequences, which can be interpreted as "structural violence". In case of traumatized refugees, the coaction of legal and medical aspects has to be acknowledged seriously by the medical, legal and political parts involved. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  15. [Psychiatric reform, federalism, and the decentralization of the public health in Brazil].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Nilson do Rosário; Siqueira, Sandra Venâncio; Uhr, Deborah; Silva, Paulo Fagundes da; Molinaro, Alex Alexandre

    2011-12-01

    This study examines the relationships between Brazilian psychiatric reform, the adoption of the Centers for Psychosocial Care (CAPS) and the development of the Unified Health System (SUS). The adherence of municipal governments was a variable determinant for the spread of reform, especially due to the continental scale and fragmentation of the Brazilian federation. The article demonstrates the institutional stability of psychiatric reform in Brazil over two decades. The institutional nature of the decision-making process in the public arena has permitted the implementation of new organizational formats through imitation and financial incentives. The psychiatric reform was successful in defending the advantages of CAPS in relation to the asylum and hospital model dominant in past decades. The inductive policies, strengthened and upheld by Law 10.216/2001, transformed the agenda of psychiatric reform, limited to pioneering cities in a national public policy.

  16. Exposure to Traumatic Experiences Among Asylum Seekers from Eritrea and Sudan During Migration to Israel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakash, Ora; Langer, Benjamin; Nagar, Maayan; Shoham, Shahar; Lurie, Ido; Davidovitch, Nadav

    2015-08-01

    Little is known about the experiences of displaced individuals en route to destination countries. We investigated the reported prevalence of exposure to traumatic experiences during migration among a consecutive sample of adult asylum seekers (n = 895 Eritrean, n = 149 Sudanese) who sought health services in the Physicians for Human Rights Open-Clinic in Israel. Percentage of Eritrean and Sudanese men and women who reported witnessing violence (Eritrea: men: 41.3 %, women: 29.3 %; Sudan: men: 16.8 %, women: 22.2 %) and/or being a victim of violence (Eritrea: men: 56.0 %, Women: 34.9 %; Sudan: men: 51.9 % women: 44.4 %) during migration varied by gender and country of origin. Findings highlight the need for a well-coordinated international cooperation to document and prevent these transgressions.

  17. Performing Home in Barcelona: A Practice-Based Photo Essay

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pons, Esther Belvis

    2018-01-01

    During the winter of 2016, I carried out an artistic project in Barcelona entitled 'Performing Home' that aimed to explore the affective and social challenges that artists in political asylum or refuge cope with. The project began with a simple question: "where in public spaces do artists in asylum feel 'at home'?" It explored how public…

  18. Hearing Voices: Lessons from the History of Psychiatry in Ireland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, B D

    2017-03-10

    The history of psychiatry is a history of therapeutic enthusiasm, with all of the triumph and tragedy, hubris and humility that such enthusiasm brings. During the 1800s and early 1900s, Ireland-s public asylums were routinely overcrowded, unhygienic and, quite commonly, fatal. The asylums became all-too-convenient options for a society with an apparently insatiable hunger for institutions, incarceration and control. The emergence of clinical professionals, both medical and nursing, was inevitably a factor in this complex mix, but the effects of any search for professional prestige were dwarfed by asylum doctors' clear outrage at what the asylum system became. There were powerful, non-medical, vested interests in keeping large asylums open. Irish society consistently failed to generate solutions to real human suffering (mental illness, disability, disease, poverty, ill fortune) other than the extraordinary network of institutions that characterised so much of Irish history: orphanages, industrial schools, reformatories, workhouses, laundries, borstals, prisons and asylums. As a result, Ireland's remarkable asylum system was primarily a social creation rather than a medical one. Notwithstanding this complex history, Ireland's mental health services have been transformed over the past five decades, although real challenges remain, especially in relation to the homeless mentally ill, the mentally ill in prison, and providing meaningful support to families.

  19. Measuring the health impact of human rights violations related to Australian asylum policies and practices: a mixed methods study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, Vanessa; Allotey, Pascale; Mulholland, Kim; Markovic, Milica

    2009-02-03

    Human rights violations have adverse consequences for health. However, to date, there remains little empirical evidence documenting this association, beyond the obvious physical and psychological effects of torture. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether Australian asylum policies and practices, which arguably violate human rights, are associated with adverse health outcomes. We designed a mixed methods study to address the study aim. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 71 Iraqi Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) refugees and 60 Iraqi Permanent Humanitarian Visa (PHV) refugees, residing in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to a recent policy amendment, TPV refugees were only given temporary residency status and had restricted access to a range of government funded benefits and services that permanent refugees are automatically entitled to. The quantitative results were triangulated with semi-structured interviews with TPV refugees and service providers. The main outcome measures were self-reported physical and psychological health. Standardised self-report instruments, validated in an Arabic population, were used to measure health and wellbeing outcomes. Forty-six percent of TPV refugees compared with 25% of PHV refugees reported symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of clinical depression (p = 0.003). After controlling for the effects of age, gender and marital status, TPV status made a statistically significant contribution to psychological distress (B = 0.5, 95% CI 0.3 to 0.71, p basic human rights, culminated in a strong sense of injustice. Government asylum policies and practices violating human rights norms are associated with demonstrable psychological health impacts. This link between policy, rights violations and health outcomes offers a framework for addressing the impact of socio-political structures on health.

  20. Post Traumatic Avascular Necrosis of the Proximal Carpal Row--A Case Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manohara, Ruben; Sebastin, Sandeep Jacob; Puhaindran, Mark Edward

    2015-10-01

    We report a case of avascular necrosis of the scaphoid, lunate and triquetrum in a young 21-year-old patient, after a purely ligamentous peri-lunate dislocation of the wrist. He presented with a Mayfield III peri-lunate dislocation after a road traffic accident and underwent an open reduction and internal fixation. Post-operatively, the scapho-lunate gap widened after removal of the temporary K-wires, and he gradually developed avascular necrosis of the scaphoid, lunate and triquetrum, and osteoarthritis of his wrist. We present this unusual case of simultaneous avascular necrosis of multiple carpal bones and discuss the possible risk factors and subsequent management plans for this complex injury. Our patient has no identifiable contributing factors to developing avascular necrosis. We suspect that the violence of the injury and surgery may have compromised the circulation, and advise caution when treating and counseling these patients pre-operatively.

  1. Refugee, Asylum, and Related Legislation in the US Congress: 2013–2016

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tara Magner

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Members of Congress have introduced numerous pieces of legislation in recent years related to refugees, asylum seekers, and other populations of migrants seeking protection in the United States. These bills were drafted in reaction to dramatic events within the United States, at its borders, and around the world. For example, roughly 400,000 children traveling alone and mothers with children have arrived at the southern US border since 2013, many seeking protection from organized crime, gang violence, and threats of human trafficking. Similarly, more than a million refugees from the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia sought to reach safety on the European continent in 2015 alone. Terrorist attacks fueled attempts to curtail the US commitment to offer protection to those fleeing persecution, even when those attacks had no connection to refugees or only tenuous links. And yet existing US law has been left virtually unchanged throughout this tumultuous period. This article describes the significant attempts to enact legislation related to refugees and international migrants since 2013 and examines the reasons why those attempts have not succeeded. It also describes American attitudes toward refugees and assesses whether those attitudes affected the fate of legislation.

  2. Social Support from Sponsorships as a Moderator of Acculturative Stress: Predictors of Effects on Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renner, Walter; Laireiter, Anton-Rupert; Maier, Marco J

    2012-01-01

    N = 63 refugees and asylum seekers, 27 women and 36 men with a mean age of 33.08 years (SD = 10.3) from Chechnya and Afghanistan were granted sponsorships for six months and were randomized to an intervention and a waiting-list control group. Only participants with a history of traumatization benefited from the intervention. For the traumatized sub-sample, sponsorships led to a significant and stable decrease in anxiety, depression, and psychological problems as compared to the control group, with effect sizes comparable to those of psychotherapy. The effects being rather palliative than instrumental, however, sponsorships did not instigate improvements in acculturation, societal contact, or coping capability. Women benefited more from the intervention than men, and Afghans more than Chechen.

  3. Magnetic resonance imaging of ulnocarpal abutment syndrome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Imaeda, Toshihiko; Nakamura, Ryogo; Shionoya, Kaori; Kato, Hitoshi; Makino, Naoki

    1996-01-01

    Ulnocarpal abutment syndrome (UAS) is the impingement between lunate and ulnar head. Twenty-two wrists of 19 patients were diagnosed as UAS arthroscopically after having undergone MRI examination. Ten wrists had MRI both before and after ulnar recession arthroplasty. Spin-echo pulse sequences were taken. T1-weighted and T2-weighted images were obtained. On T1-weighted images, the focal signal intensity of the ulnar part of the lunate was decreased in 18 wrists. On T2-weighted images, the focal signal intensity of the ulnar aspect of the lunate were from high to low in 18 wrists. There was focal and abnormal signal intensity of the triquetrum found in 10 wrists and was abnormal signal intensity of the ulnar head in two wrists. After the operation, on the T1-weighted image signal intensity of the lunate shifted from low through slightly low to iso. On the T2-weighted images it shifted from low to high or iso. Focal low signal intensity of the lunate on T1-weighted images is diagnostic of ulnocarpal abutment syndrome. The intensity of the signal from the lunate on T2-weighted images may indicate the severity of the disease. (author)

  4. Measuring the health impact of human rights violations related to Australian asylum policies and practices: a mixed methods study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mulholland Kim

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Human rights violations have adverse consequences for health. However, to date, there remains little empirical evidence documenting this association, beyond the obvious physical and psychological effects of torture. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether Australian asylum policies and practices, which arguably violate human rights, are associated with adverse health outcomes. Methods We designed a mixed methods study to address the study aim. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 71 Iraqi Temporary Protection Visa (TPV refugees and 60 Iraqi Permanent Humanitarian Visa (PHV refugees, residing in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to a recent policy amendment, TPV refugees were only given temporary residency status and had restricted access to a range of government funded benefits and services that permanent refugees are automatically entitled to. The quantitative results were triangulated with semi-structured interviews with TPV refugees and service providers. The main outcome measures were self-reported physical and psychological health. Standardised self-report instruments, validated in an Arabic population, were used to measure health and wellbeing outcomes. Results Forty-six percent of TPV refugees compared with 25% of PHV refugees reported symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of clinical depression (p = 0.003. After controlling for the effects of age, gender and marital status, TPV status made a statistically significant contribution to psychological distress (B = 0.5, 95% CI 0.3 to 0.71, p ≤ 0.001 amongst Iraqi refugees. Qualitative data revealed that TPV refugees generally felt socially isolated and lacking in control over their life circumstances, because of their experiences in detention and on a temporary visa. This sense of powerlessness and, for some, an implicit awareness they were being denied basic human rights, culminated in a strong sense of injustice. Conclusion Government asylum policies

  5. The National Asylum for the Insane in the Rio de Janeiro press (1903-1911

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Teresa A. Venancio

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available During the first decade of the twentieth century, the press of the republican capital disseminated representations and helped to form opinions about the National Hospice of Alienated Persons (HNA, the first Brazilian psychiatric institution, which began to function in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1852. For this investigation we have analyzed the news about the hospice in two newspapers - O Paiz and Correio da Manhã. We follow here the most recent Brazilian historiography, as well as the history of psychiatry in Ibero-American countries, to discuss the emphasis given to the social control function of the asylum and to point out its hybrid and multifaceted character in the news that circulated in the press of the federal capital. In the two newspapers, the varied set of references to the HNA puts into circulation three points of view: the first two express how the institutional life, in its different aspects (administrative, welfare, scientific is described and portrayed by the press; while the third point of view brings together the situations in which the hospice is considered as a solution for events that disturb the life of the city.

  6. Erving Goffman's asylums and institutional culture in the mid-twentieth-century United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gambino, Matthew

    2013-01-01

    Sociologist Erving Goffman based his seminal work Asylums (1961) on a year of field research at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC. Goffman described the mental hospital as a "total institution," in which regimentation dominated every aspect of daily life and patients were denied even the most basic means of self-expression; rather than promote recovery, such conditions produced the sorts of disordered behavior for which men and women were ostensibly admitted. A closer look at the changes transforming St. Elizabeths around the time of Goffman's research reveals a far richer portrait of institutional culture. Group therapy, psychodrama, art and dance therapy, patient newspapers, and patient self-government-each of which debuted at the hospital in the 1940s and 1950s-provided novel opportunities for men and women to make themselves heard and to take their fate into their own hands. While these initiatives did not reach all of the patients at St. Elizabeths, surviving documentation suggests that those who participated found their involvement rewarding and empowering. Goffman explicitly set out to describe "the social world of the hospital inmate." His failure to appreciate fully the capacities of his subjects, however, appears to have led him to underestimate the importance of these developments.

  7. Alfred Walter Campbell's return to Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macmillan, Malcolm

    2018-01-01

    Alfred Walter Campbell (1868-1937) established the basic cytoarchitectonic structure of the human brain while he was working as a pathologist at the Rainhill Lunatic Asylum near Liverpool in the United Kingdom. He returned to Australia in 1905 and continued doing research while establishing a neurological practice. His research over the next 17 years focused on four topics: (a) localisation in the cerebellum, (b) the neuroses and psychoses in war, (c) localisation in the cerebral cortex of the gorilla, and (d) the causes and pathology of the mysterious Australian "X" Disease (later known as Murray Valley encephalitis). In this article, I elaborate on his research in these areas, which provided evidence (a) against Louis Bolk's thesis that variation in the size of the cerebellar cortex reflected variation in the amount of cortex controlling various groups of muscle, (b) against the view that the neuroses and psychoses in war were different from those in civilian life, (c) for a parcelation of the cortex of the gorilla brain that supported his earlier findings in the higher apes, and (d) on the cause and pathophysiology of Australian "X" disease. Much of this research was overlooked, but it remains of considerable value and historical significance.

  8. CT-based three-dimensional kinematic comparison of dart-throwing motion between wrists with malunited distal radius and contralateral normal wrists

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, S.; Kim, Y.S.; Park, C.S.; Kim, K.G.; Lee, Y.H.; Gong, H.S.; Lee, H.J.; Baek, G.H.

    2014-01-01

    Aim: To compare motion of the capitate, scaphoid, and lunate in wrists with a malunited distal radius and contralateral normal wrists during dart-throwing motion (DTM) by three-dimensional kinematic studies using computed tomography (CT) images. Materials and methods: CT was performed simultaneously on both wrists in six patients with a unilateral distal radius malunion at three stepwise positions simulating DTM. Using volume registration technique, the kinematic variables of helical axis motion of the capitate, scaphoid, and lunate were calculated and compared between both wrists. The helical motion of the capitate was also evaluated in a scaphoid- and lunate-based coordinate system. Results: Among the average rotation and translation of the scaphoid, lunate, and capitate during DTM, only the average rotation of the capitate was significantly different between the uninjured (88.9°) and the injured (70°) wrist (p = 0.0075). Rotation of the capitate relative to the scaphoid (26.3° versus 37.8°, p = 0.029) or lunate (39.2° versus 59.3°, p = 0.028) was smaller in the malunited wrist. The centres of helical axis motion of the three carpal bones were located more dorsally and radially in the injured wrist. Conclusions: The present study showed that decreased DTM in wrists with a distal radius malunion resulted from decreased midcarpal motion. The present study of the capitate, scaphoid, and lunate in wrists with distal radius malunion might be the first to present a 3D kinematic analysis of the effect of distal radius malunion on the carpal bones

  9. The politics of death in Mexico: dislocating human rights and asylum law through hybrid agents.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ariadna Estévez

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available In 2006 Mexico’s then-president Felipe Calderón declared war on drug trafficking. The human toll was devastating with the loss of over 95,000 lives and the forced disappearance of more than 27,000 people. In addition, two percent of the Mexican population was displaced with families forced to flee their homes in the face of criminal violence. This article offers an explanation of how death, forced disappearances, persecution and exile are in essence the specific effects of governmentalization of the Mexican state. This govern­mentalization includes the shared use, by criminals and authorities, of techniques for dominating the population and controlling the conduct of citizens through the practices of death, that is, by employing the politics of death (necropolitics. The article goes on to discuss how the objectives, rationality and governmentalization of the State serve to dislocate human rights discourse in such a way that its truth politics excludes people suffering serious human rights violations, such as Mexican asylum seekers. This is accompanied by a new mode of subjectivity produced by Mexico's politics of death – the Endriago subject – which operates as a hybrid perpetrator of human rights violations.

  10. Roundway, Wiltshire County Asylum attendants and nurses, 1881-1905: a window onto Victorian sobriety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russell, D

    2000-01-01

    The only detailed surving Male and Female Registers of Roundway provide a rich documentary glimpse of nineteenth century mental health care staff. An analysis is made of what constituted desirable behavior and problems occurring in the workplace. More primary source material has been gathered from visitors books, medical superintendents' reports, patient case records, admission/discharge registers and account books. An attempt will be made to show how the dominant characteristics of Victorianism shaped the lives of the staff. Religion, morality and personal qualities appear more influential than scientific inquiry in determining the pattern of events. The 'Asylum for the Pauper Insane of the County of Wiltshire' later came to be called 'Roundway Hospital'. It is commonly remembered as 'Roundway' and that is how it is referred to here. The nursing staff changed their titles in minor ways during the period considered, but for convenience the dominant titles - 'attendants' for men and 'nurses' for women - are used. The period chosen, 1881-1905, begins from when Dr John Bowes was appointed Medical Superintendent and started to write in the new Staff Registers. The period finishes when he ceased to make entries. There are no detailed registers for any other nineteenth century period.

  11. Assessing Hungary’s Stance on Migration and Asylum in Light of the European and Hungarian Migration Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juhász Krisztina

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The European Union and its member states are facing one of their biggest challenges in recent years due to the surge in migration. This crisis saw more than a million migrants and refugees cross into Europe in 2015. Solutions and policies have been advanced at both the European and national levels, keeping in mind that migration policy is an area of shared competence under Article 4 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU. On 13 May 2015, the EU adopted the European Agenda on Migration, which set out immediate and medium-term actions designed to tackle the crisis more effectively. Earlier, in October 2013, the Hungarian government adopted its own migration strategy. The first part of this study provides some insight into the aims and measures contained in the European and Hungarian migration strategies. In the second part, I focus on the steps taken by the Hungarian government regarding asylum policy and crisis management. I conclude that the actions and communications of the Hungarian government are contrary to both these strategic documents.

  12. Public Diplomacy in Prime Time: Exploring the Potential of Entertainment Education in International Public Diplomacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Sheila T; Hether, Heather J; Felt, Laurel J; de Castro Buffington, Sandra

    2012-01-01

    Can stories succeed where traditional forms of diplomacy have faltered? This study examined whether a primetime drama could impact American viewers' knowledge, attitudes, and behavior with respect to U.S. foreign policy and funding by surveying 173 viewers of an episode of Law & Order: SVU ("Witness"). Additionally, this study sought to uncover which theoretical construct - involvement with a specific character or involvement with the narrative more generally (transportation) - best predicted impact. The fictional character in question was Nardelie, a woman forced to flee the Democratic Republic of the Congo after repeated rape by militias vying for "conflict minerals," so named because control of these valuable minerals has triggered numerous conflicts. Separate regression analyses suggested a positive relationship between impact of the storyline and both theoretical constructs. However, when both constructs were entered into a single regression, involvement with Nardelie was the stronger predictor of knowledge (e.g., conflict minerals, sexual violence, and asylum issues) and current or future behavior (i.e., discussing global health) while transportation was the stronger predictor of attitudes (i.e., support for aid). This suggests that, while correlated, these constructs do not completely overlap. Implications of these results and the use of entertainment education in public diplomacy are discussed.

  13. Public Diplomacy in Prime Time: Exploring the Potential of Entertainment Education in International Public Diplomacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Sheila T.; Hether, Heather J.; Felt, Laurel J.; de Castro Buffington, Sandra

    2014-01-01

    Can stories succeed where traditional forms of diplomacy have faltered? This study examined whether a primetime drama could impact American viewers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior with respect to U.S. foreign policy and funding by surveying 173 viewers of an episode of Law & Order: SVU (“Witness”). Additionally, this study sought to uncover which theoretical construct — involvement with a specific character or involvement with the narrative more generally (transportation) — best predicted impact. The fictional character in question was Nardelie, a woman forced to flee the Democratic Republic of the Congo after repeated rape by militias vying for “conflict minerals,” so named because control of these valuable minerals has triggered numerous conflicts. Separate regression analyses suggested a positive relationship between impact of the storyline and both theoretical constructs. However, when both constructs were entered into a single regression, involvement with Nardelie was the stronger predictor of knowledge (e.g., conflict minerals, sexual violence, and asylum issues) and current or future behavior (i.e., discussing global health) while transportation was the stronger predictor of attitudes (i.e., support for aid). This suggests that, while correlated, these constructs do not completely overlap. Implications of these results and the use of entertainment education in public diplomacy are discussed. PMID:24489980

  14. Vicarious resilience and vicarious traumatisation: Experiences of working with refugees and asylum seekers in South Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puvimanasinghe, Teresa; Denson, Linley A; Augoustinos, Martha; Somasundaram, Daya

    2015-12-01

    The negative psychological impacts of working with traumatised people are well documented and include vicarious traumatisation (VT): the cumulative effect of identifying with clients' trauma stories that negatively impacts on service providers' memory, emotions, thoughts, and worldviews. More recently, the concept of vicarious resilience (VR) has been also identified: the strength, growth, and empowerment experienced by trauma workers as a consequence of their work. VR includes service providers' awareness and appreciation of their clients' capacity to grow, maintaining hope for change, as well as learning from and reassessing personal problems in the light of clients' stories of perseverance, strength, and growth. This study aimed at exploring the experiences of mental health, physical healthcare, and settlement workers caring for refugees and asylum seekers in South Australia. Using a qualitative method (data-based thematic analysis) to collect and analyse 26 semi-structured face-to-face interviews, we identified four prominent and recurring themes emanating from the data: VT, VR, work satisfaction, and cultural flexibility. These findings-among the first to describe both VT and VR in Australians working with refugee people-have important implications for policy, service quality, service providers' wellbeing, and refugee clients' lives. © The Author(s) 2015.

  15. The isotopic and chemical evolution of Mount St. Helens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halliday, A.N.; Fallick, A.E.; Dickin, A.P.; Mackenzie, A.B.; Stephens, W.E.; Hildreth, W.

    1983-01-01

    Isotopic and major and trace element analysis of nine samples of eruptive products spanning the history of the Mt. St. Helens volcano suggest three different episodes; (1) 40,000-2500 years ago: eruptions of dacite with ??{lunate}Nd = +5, ??{lunate}Sr = -10, variable ??18O, 206Pb/204Pb ??? 18.76, Ca/Sr ??? 60, Rb/Ba ??? 0.1, La/Yb ??? 18, (2) 2500-1000 years ago: eruptions of basalt, andesite and dacite with ??{lunate}Nd = +4 to +8, ??{lunate}Sr = -7 to -22, variable ??18O (thought to represent melting of differing mantle-crust reservoirs), 206Pb/204Pb = 18.81-18.87, variable Ca/Sr, Rb/Ba, La/Yb and high Zr, (3) 1000 years ago to present day: eruptions of andesite and dacite with ??{lunate}Nd = +6, ??{lunate}Sr = -13, ??18O ???6???, variable 206Pb/204Pb, Ca/Sr ??? 77, Rb/Ba = 0.1, La/Yb ??? 11. None of the products exhibit Eu anomalies and all are LREE enriched. There is a strong correlation between 87Sr/86Sr and differentiation indices. These data are interpreted in terms of a mantle heat source melting young crust bearing zircon and garnet, but not feldspar, followed by intrusion of this crustal reservoir by mantle-derived magma which caused further crustal melting and contaminated the crustal magma system with mafic components. Since 1000 years ago all the eruptions have been from the same reservoir which has displayed a much more gradual re-equilibration of Pb isotopic compositions than other components suggesting that Pb is being transported via a fluid phase. The Nd and Sr isotopic compositions lie along the mantle array and suggest that the mantle underneath Mt. St. Helens is not as depleted as MORB sources. There is no indication of seawater involvement in the source region. ?? 1983.

  16. “The way the Irish asylum system turns people into un-human is my problem”: An Interview with Ifedinma Dimbo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara Martín-Ruiz

    2015-03-01

    Ifedinma Dimbo currently lives in Dublin, where she works and researches for her PhD in Medical Sociology. The Nigerian-born, Irish-based writer was kind enough to answer my questions via e-mail between the months of August and October 2014, with some final elaboration in January 2015. Ifedinma Dimbo’s writing, as well as her answers in this interview, are an invaluable testimony to a reality that is currently taking place in Ireland and has often been silenced. Now that Irish society is beginning to be aware of the unfair treatment that refugees and asylum seekers receive at the hands of the Irish system, it is high time to let people who, like Ifedinma Dimbo, have made Ireland their home, have their voices heard in the field of Irish Studies. In this interview, Ifedinma Dimbo very sharply shares her views on writing, immigration, religion and Irish society.

  17. Race, Apology, and Public Memory at Maryland's Hospital for the 'Negro' Insane

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zosha Stuckey

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available To respond to a recent demand of the ACLU of Maryland, and to augment theories from Disability Incarcerated (2014 about the convergence of race, disability, and due process (or lack thereof, this essay analyzes the extent to which racism informed the creation of Maryland's Hospital for the 'Negro' Insane (Crownsville Hospital. In order to understand the extent of racism in Crownsville's earlier years, I will take into account 14 categories within conditions of confinement from 1921-1928 and compare them to the nearby, white asylum. Ultimately, the hospital joins the ranks of separate and unequal (Plessy vs. Ferguson institutions founded alongside a rhetoric of fear that the Baltimore Sun daily paper deemed "a Black invasion" of the city of Baltimore. Even more, I add to public memory of this racialized space invoking the rhetorical frame, as Kendall Phillips advises, of responsibility and apology (versus absolution within the context of present-day racial justice movements.

  18. The Self in Movement: Being Identified and Identifying Oneself in the Process of Migration and Asylum Seeking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watzlawik, Meike; Brescó de Luna, Ignacio

    2017-06-01

    How migration influences the processes of identity development has been under longstanding scrutiny in the social sciences. Usually, stage models have been suggested, and different strategies for acculturation (e.g., integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization) have been considered as ways to make sense of the psychological transformations of migrants as a group. On an individual level, however, identity development is a more complex endeavor: Identity does not just develop by itself, but is constructed as an ongoing process. To capture these processes, we will look at different aspects of migration and asylum seeking; for example, the cultural-specific values and expectations of the hosting (European) countries (e.g., as identifier), but also of the arriving individuals/groups (e.g., identified as refugees). Since the two may contradict each other, negotiations between identities claims and identity assignments become necessary. Ways to solve these contradictions are discussed, with a special focus on the experienced (and often missing) agency in different settings upon arrival in a new country. In addition, it will be shown how sudden events (e.g., 9/11, the Charlie Hebdo attack) may challenge identity processes in different ways.

  19. [The written nursing reports of the asylum "Paolo Pini" of Milan, from 1944 to 1947].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negri, Marina; Marchesini, Vanna; De Valerio, Silvio; Soro, Emiliana

    2017-01-01

    The work provides the analysis of the nursing reports written by the nursing staff on duty at the asylum "Paolo Pini" from 1944 to 1947. description of the nursing report evolution, analyses of the quantitative and qualitative matters. Study of the evolution of the records: enhancement of the description of the patient, integration between medical and nursing assistance, assumption of responsi- bility (for instance through the signature). A sampling of 355 medical records has been analysed. The nursing records have been identified according to the theoretical model of Marisa Cantarelli. They have been compared with the current standard reported in literature. If recognizable signatures were present, they have been checked in the archives of the Province of Milan. 219 records concerning nursing assistance have been selected. The record changed during the years assuming a definite structure, and became a pre printed form; its use spread in all the wards of the hospital. The record deals with nursing assistance needs, and improves during the years becoming more and more detailed and regular. During the analysed time frame, the nursing reports at "Paolo Pini" improve and become more exhaustive and regular; they prove to be part of the medical record, showing a good integration between doctors and nurses activities. The evolution of this tool confirms the need of highlighting and improving the assistance practice.

  20. A group-based approach to stabilisation and symptom management in a phased treatment model for refugees and asylum seekers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mary E. A. Robertson

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Traumatised asylum seekers and refugees may present with significant and complex mental health problems as a result of prolonged, extreme, and multiple traumatic events. This is further complicated by ongoing complex social circumstances. Concepts: In our work at the Traumatic Stress Clinic (TSC, the understanding afforded by the concept of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD together with the related notion of a phased treatment model, provides a useful framework for organising our work with this population. Clinical Applications: An explication of complex PTSD as it applies to our client group is presented, followed by a description of our phased treatment model and an outline of the core principles, which guide our clinical approach. Our symptom management and stabilisation groups have been developed and refined over time and draw on techniques from a variety of cognitive behavioural therapies. These are described in some detail with illustrative clinical case vignettes. Conclusion: This paper concludes with some reflections on the challenges inherent to working with this complex client group.

  1. The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena V. Gorb

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The slippery zone in pitchers of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes alata bears scattered prominent lunate cells and displays continuous epicuticular crystalline wax coverage. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of the surface anisotropy, caused by the shape of lunate cells, on insect attachment ability. Traction tests with ladybird beetles Coccinella septempunctata were performed in two types of experiments, where surface samples of (1 intact pitchers, (2 chemically de-waxed pitchers, and (3 their polymer replicas were placed horizontally. Beetle traction forces were measured when they walked on test surfaces in either an upward (towards the peristome or downward (towards the pitcher bottom direction, corresponding to the upright or inverted positions of the pitcher. On intact pitcher surfaces covered with both lunate cells and wax crystals, experiments showed significantly higher forces in the direction towards the pitcher bottom. To distinguish between the contributions, from claw interlocking and pad adhesion, to insect attachment on the pitcher surfaces, intact versus claw-ablated beetles were used in the second type of experiment. On both de-waxed plant samples and their replicas, intact insects generated much higher forces in the downward direction compared to the upward one, whereas clawless insects did not. These results led to the conclusion that, (i due to the particular shape of lunate cells, the pitcher surface has anisotropic properties in terms of insect attachment, and (ii claws were mainly responsible for attachment enhancement in the downward pitcher direction, since, in this direction, they could interlock with overhanging edges of lunate cells.

  2. Between boats and telegrams: the crisis of diplomatic asylum after the end of the Brazilian Naval Revolt (1894

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João Júlio Gomes dos Santos Júnior

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The Brazilian Naval Revolt ended on March 13th of 1894 with the diplomatic asylum of more than five hundred fighters in two Portuguese warships. This episode originated a contest between Brazil and Portugal based on different interpretations of the international law of that time. While the negotiation was happening both corvettes went away from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires, where a new boat would be rented to take the asylees until Portuguese territory. The Portuguese commanders, following political instructions, have denied to the refugees the right to disembark to complete the quarantine time at Martin Garcia’s lazaretto. The discontent with the overcrowding, the fear of some epidemic on board, plus the Portuguese government's discordance to allow the disembark, were the main reasons to refugee's flee and a diplomatic contest between Portugal and Argentina. Later on, both Portuguese corvettes went to Montevideo where a similar process ended with a large escape of asylees. The Brazilian government, extremely disturbed with the escapes, decided to break the international relations with Portugal. All the process was followed by the intense telegram's exchange between diplomats, warships commanders and foreign ministers.

  3. The psychiatrist, the historian and The Christian Watt Papers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beveridge, Allan; Watson, Fiona

    2006-06-01

    The publication in the 1980s of The Christian Watt Papers brought to public attention the life of a previously unknown, long-term inmate of the Aberdeen Royal Asylum. Christian Watt's story inspired a play and a television documentary. This paper examines what the historical records reveal about Watt's life and how this compares with her own account.

  4. Typologie azylové politiky EU ve vztahu k žadatelům o azyl

    OpenAIRE

    Musil, Zbyněk

    2010-01-01

    The aim of the thesis is an outline of the evolution of European asylum policy of asylum policies towards asylum seekers within seven EU member countries since 1990. The brief description of common trends in asylum policy in European Union and EFTA (European Free Trade Zone) member countries and outline of current policy towards asylum seekers, where current living conditions are part of it. Also the position of asylum seekers in specific spheres such as education, right to work, financial an...

  5. Genitourinary medicine/HIV services for persons with insecure immigration or seeking asylum in the United Kingdom: a British Co-operative Clinical Group survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajamanoharan, Sasikala; Monteiro, Eric F; Maw, Raymond; Carne, Christopher A; Robinson, Angela

    2004-08-01

    Over the past three years many genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics have anecdotally reported large numbers of persons with insecure immigration or seeking asylum (PIISA) attending their facilities. We conducted a national survey to assess the prevalence and demographic background of PIISA who were attending GUM clinics in the UK during 2001 and 2002 and the effect on service provision. A questionnaire was circulated in April 2003 to 182 consultants in the UK of whom 128 (70%) responded. Amongst those centres that responded, 89 (69%) had provided GUM/HIV services for PIISA in 2002. One-third of clinics had accurate data collection systems and less than a quarter used computerized databases in order to identify the associated workload. Of the HIV-positive patients attending these clinics during 2002, 1140 (42%) were identified as PIISA. Eighty-two (95.3%) and 62 (48.8%) clinics had cared for PIISA from Africa and Europe respectively. Co-infection with HIV and tuberculosis was higher in patients from the PIISA group compared with the non-PIISA group (85% vs 15%, P = 0.001) for both 2001 and 2002. Clinics reported many problems associated with the service for PIISA. Forty-five percent of the clinics reported difficulties with funding for the increased workload associated with PIISA. The survey shows that GUM services have an important role in the management of PIISA and that the programme of dispersal is having a significant impact on the workload of clinics outside London. Services report that they are significantly overstretched and underfunded. An immediate investment in GUM services is necessary to improve the health of this client group. Any delay in diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections and HIV will have implications for public health and acute services.

  6. From Leros asylum to community-based facilities: levels of functioning and quality of life among hostel residents in Greece.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zissi, A; Barry, M M

    1997-01-01

    The pattern of mental health care in Greece is undergoing a major transformation. The Leros Projects I and II supported the development of 13 community hostels located throughout the Greek mainland. These hostels provide residential care to more than 100 former psychiatric inpatients, mainly from Leros asylum. The present study evaluates the impact of the resettlement process on the residents' perceived quality of life (QoL) together with an examination of the residents' psychiatric and behavioural functioning four years after the move from hospital. The target sample (n = 99) comprised of individuals who may be considered 'chronic' psychiatric patients with a long history of institutionalisation and many are socially deprived with few family ties. The residents' functioning profile indicates a range of different levels of abilities. The QoL findings show that the majority of residents (70%) perceived the movement from the traditional hospital regime to the community hostels as being a positive change and expressed their satisfaction (74%) with the new living situation. This study demonstrates that even the most dependent, chronic psychiatric patients in Greece can be maintained in community settings and are able to articulate generally reliable and valid responses concerning the impact of service changes.

  7. The material consumptive: domesticating the tuberculosis patient in Edwardian England

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mooney, Graham

    2013-01-01

    The proliferation of general and specialist hospitals, lunatic asylums, and workhouse infirmaries in the nineteenth century challenged the popular perception of the home as a suitable site of health care. Amidst the emergence of yet another type of institution, the tuberculosis sanatorium, tuberculosis control in the Edwardian period was re-sited and re-scaled to accommodate what might be termed a ‘preventive therapy’ of domestic space. Three interlinked perspectives demonstrate why and how this happened. First, I explore the role of the national and local state in legitimating domestic space as a scale and a site for the regulation of tuberculosis patients and prevention of the disease. Second, I investigate how tuberculosis self-help manuals promoted a technology of the self that was founded largely on the principles of sanatorium therapy but was necessarily reconfigured to reflect the social relations of domestic space. Third, I assess the marketing of consumer goods to the domiciled tuberculosis sufferer through the pages of the British Journal of Tuberculosis. It is suggested that a common tubercular ‘language’ of material consumption was fashioned in order to normalise the accumulation of possessions for use in the home. These arguments are situated in relation to recent historical research on material culture and identity at the turn of the twentieth century, which has stressed the cultivation of individuality and that the right sort of possessions appropriately arranged in domestic space signified well-regulated morality. PMID:24882921

  8. Alfred Walter Campbell and the visual functions of the occipital cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macmillan, Malcolm

    2014-07-01

    In his pioneering cytoarchitectonic studies of the human brain, Alfred Walter Campbell identified two structurally different areas in the occipital lobes and assigned two different kinds of visual functions to them. The first area, the visuosensory, was essentially on the mesial surface of the calcarine fissure. It was the terminus of nervous impulses generated in the retina and was where simple visual sensations arose. The second area, the visuopsychic, which surrounded or invested the first, was where sensations were interpreted and elaborated into visual perceptions. I argue that Campbell's distinction between the two areas was the starting point for the eventual differentiation of areas V1-V5. After a brief outline of Campbell's early life and education in Australia and of his Scottish medical education and early work as a pathologist at the Lancashire County Lunatic Asylum at Rainhill near Liverpool, I summarise his work on the human brain. In describing the structures he identified in the occipital lobes, I analyse the similarities and differences between them and the related structures identified by Joseph Shaw Bolton. I conclude by proposing some reasons for how that work came to be overshadowed by the later studies of Brodmann and for the more general lack of recognition given Campbell and his work. Those reasons include the effect of the controversies precipitated by Campbell's alliance with Charles Sherrington over the functions of the sensory and motor cortices. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Allbutt of Leeds and Duchenne de Boulogne: Newly discovered insights on Duchenne by a British neuropsychiatrist.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reynolds, E H; Broussolle, E

    2018-02-01

    It is well-established that Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne (1806-1875), and Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) were the founding fathers of Parisian and French neurology during the second half of the 19th century, although much more is known about Charcot than about his "master" Duchenne. In Britain, Thomas Clifford Allbutt (1836-1925) was Leeds' most distinguished physician of the 19th century, eventually becoming Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge. Allbutt's 1860-1861 year of postgraduate study in Paris and his friendship with Duchenne profoundly influenced his own contributions to nervous system and mental diseases, partly in collaboration with his colleague James Crichton-Browne (1840-1938) at the nearby West Riding Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield, Yorkshire. The present report briefly recalls the careers of Duchenne and Allbutt, and also presents a unique account by Allbutt of Duchenne in action at the height of his powers, investigating and defining the previously uncharted field of neuromuscular diseases with the aid of his localized electrization techniques. This account is discussed in relation to: Duchenne's personality and pioneering neurological achievements; the origins of French neurology; and the development of Anglo-French neurological relationships during the 19th century. Interestingly, both Duchenne and Crichton-Browne separately made important and much-appreciated contributions to the third major book by Charles Darwin (1809-1882), The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, published in 1872. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  10. Perilunate Dislocation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Jiao

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available History of present illness: A 25-year-old female presented to the emergency department with left wrist pain following a fall off a skateboard. The patient fell on her outstretched left wrist with the wrist dorsiflexed and reported immediate sharp pain to her left wrist that was worse with movement. She denied other trauma. Significant findings: In the left lateral wrist x-ray, the lunate (outlined in blue is dislocated from the rest of the wrist bones (yellow line but still articulates with the radius (red line. The capitate (yellow line does not sit within the distal articulation of the lunate and is displaced dorsally. Additionally, a line drawn through the radius and lunate (green line fails to intersect with the capitate. This is consistent with a perilunate dislocation. This is compared to a lunate dislocation, where the lunate itself is displaced and turned ventrally (spilled teacup and the proximal aspect does not articulate with the radius. Discussion: A perilunate dislocation is a significant closed wrist injury that is easily missed on standard anterior-posterior imaging. These dislocations are relatively rare, involving only 7% of all carpal injuries and are associated with high-energy trauma onto a hyperextended wrist, such as falls from a height, motor vehicle accidents, and sports injuries.1 An untreated perilunate dislocation is associated with high risk of chronic carpal instability and post-traumatic arthritis. If the mechanism of injury is sufficient to suspect perilunate dislocation, multiple radiographic views of the wrist should be ordered. Patients should receive prompt orthopedic consultation for open reduction and ligamentous repair. Even after successful identification and subsequent surgical repair, median nerve neuropathy and post-traumatic arthritis are frequent.2-3

  11. [Bavarian mental health reform 1851. An instrument of administrative modernization].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burgmair, Wolfgang; Weber, Matthias M

    2008-01-01

    By 1850 the reformation of institutional psychiatric care in Bavaria was given the highest priority by monarchy and administration. Cooperating with experts, especially the psychiatrist Karl August von Solbrig, they provided for new asylums to be established throughout Bavaria in a surprisingly short period of time. It was, however, only at personal intervention of King Max II. that the administrative and financial difficulties which had existed since the beginning of the 19th century could be overcome. The planning of asylums done by each administrative district of Bavaria vividly reflects rivalry as well as cooperation between all governmental and professional agencies involved. Modernization of psychiatry was publicly justified by referring to scientism, the need for a more progressive restructuring of administration, and the paternalistic care of the monarchy, whereas, from an administrative point of view, aspects of psychiatric treatment, like what kind of asylum would be best, were rather insignificant. The structures established by means of the alliance between state administration and psychiatric care under the rule of King Max II. had a lasting effect on the further development of Bavaria.

  12. The role of social support in the acculturation and mental health of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oppedal, Brit; Idsoe, Thormod

    2015-04-01

    There is a lack of knowledge about psychosocial resources that may sustain post-resettlement psychological adjustment among unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of social support from family abroad and friends on acculturation, discrimination, and mental health among these vulnerable children and youth. Questionnaire data were collected from a population-based multi-ethnic sample involving 895 unaccompanied minors resettled in municipalities in all regions of the country. They met in groups in their local communities. The informants were on average 18.6 years, and had an average length of stay in Norway of 3.5 years. The findings showed that the participants suffered from high levels of ongoing war related intrusive symptoms and depression. Still, at the same time they engaged in adaptation processes that are normative to youth with immigrant backgrounds, in terms of constructing supportive networks and developing culture competence. In accordance with the main effect hypothesis, social support had direct effects on depression and indirect effects by increasing culture competence that may aid the young refugees in dealing with discrimination. However, there were no effects of social support on symptoms of PTSD. The findings give direction to areas of interventions, beyond dealing with the sequel of the traumas the unaccompanied minors have been exposed to, not only for clinicians, but also social workers and school personnel. © 2015 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Kienböck’s Disease: Case Report - Case Report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hayal Güler

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Osteonecrosis is defined as the death of bone due to interruption of the blood supply to the bone. Kienböck’s disease is osteonecrosis of lunate bone as a result of heavy repetitive loading on wrist. We planned to present a 39-year-old patient having pain, swelling and limitation of range of motion (ROM in right wrist, because Kienböck’s disease should be into account in differential diagnosis of such patients. X-ray of the right wrist of patient demonstrated sclerosis, cystic appearance and irregularity in lunate bone. Irregularities, loss of volume and diffuse low-intensity appearance were observed in lunate bone on T1-weighted MR images. T2-weighted fat-saturated MR images demonstrated diffuse hyperintensity in the same areas which is suggested bone-marrow edema. These findings were determined as the changes with related osteonecrosis of the lunate bone. Resting splint and antiinflammatory treatment were given to the patient. The patient was consulted to the department of orthopedics and traumatology. Patient refused operation. Pain, swelling and limitation of ROM of the patients improved after 3 weeks. In conclusion, Kienböck’s disease should be into account in the differential diagnosis of patients having pain, swelling and limitation of ROM in wrist. (From the World of Osteoporosis 2009;15:26-8

  14. Asylansøgernes livssituation

    OpenAIRE

    Poulsen, Frida; Pedersen, Dennis; Justesen, Line; Bundgaard, Sidsel Kristín; Ruparelia, Natasha; Nielsen, Caspar

    2012-01-01

    This project is about the Danish asylum system and how being an asylum over time can have psychological consequences. To illustrate our focus we have conducted interviews with two people living in the Danish asylum system and an interview with a staff member of the asylum centre. Through the interviews we analyse the living conditions of Death, Isolation, Freedom and Meaninglessness. These living conditions form the basis of anxiety and through our analysis we show how asylums experience anxi...

  15. State and legal regulation of refugees’ and asylum seekers’ migration in EU as institutional basis of management of international migrations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V.V. Ievdokymov

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available According to the analysis of World Bank data on the dynamics of migration indicators in Europe and Fragile State Index data the authors determine the groups of EU countries in geo-economic risk, which forms the pushing factors in the refugee flow formation. The geographic structure of refugees’ migratory flows to the EU is analyzed and the migration corridor dynamics is determined, in particular, it is found out that the overwhelming majority of refugees arrive to the EU through the Central and Eastern Mediterranean channels. In addition, It is determined that strengthening military and political instability in Africa and the Middle East, the tight policies and institutional mechanisms for crossing the EU's borders cause the increased flows of illegal migrants entering the EU in dangerous ways, in particular through the Mediterranean Sea, where a significant number of such persons, especially women and children, die. In addition, EU countries are structured by their migration policies (views on immigration, using of quantitative restrictions on immigration including highly skilled workers. As a result of the legal document study, the authors establish the system of documents identifying the institutional frameworks for the refugees’ and asylum seekers’ migratory flow management.

  16. The end of the Strecknitz asylum at Lübeck - a contribution to the social history of psychiatry during National Socialism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delius, P; Dilling, H

    1995-09-01

    At a first place the NS-policy of psychiatry is outlined -its global planning as well as its excecution. The picture is supplemented by and contrasted with its local implementation exemplified by the Strecknitz asylum at Lübeck. It becomes clear how much the global concept of the extermination of patients was interwoven with pragmatic plans of local authorities. At Lübeck only the partial identity of these interests led to the deportation of more than 600 patients. They were distributed to several transit camps in Hesse where more than 80% had died by the end of the Second World War. The main causes of death were hunger and infectious diseases - consequences of a deliberate and well-organized neglect. The behaviour and the reactions on the part of the relatives were shaped by supply shortages during the war, by internalized propaganda and by fear. The long-term effects beyond the end of the NS-regime vary a lot. Some of the relatives' coping strategies are portrayed. In some cases the murder of close family members continues to have its effects in the form of family secrets.

  17. 8 CFR 1208.4 - Filing the application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ...)(2) of the Act apply, an asylum officer, in an interview, or an immigration judge, in a hearing... consent of the asylum office director or the Director of Asylum to do so, or (ii) Previously was included.... (iii) In asylum proceedings pursuant to § 1208.2(c)(1) and after the Form I-863, Notice of Referral to...

  18. Political representation for social justice in nursing: lessons learned from participant research with destitute asylum seekers in the UK.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuthill, Fiona

    2016-09-01

    The concept of social justice is making a revival in nursing scholarship, in part in response to widening health inequalities and inequities in high-income countries. In particular, critical nurse scholars have sought to develop participatory research methods using peer researchers to represent the 'voice' of people who are living in marginalized spaces in society. The aim of this paper is to report on the experiences of nurse and peer researchers as part of a project to explore the experiences of people who find themselves destitute following the asylum process in the UK. In seeking to explore social injustice, three challenges are identified: lack of a robust political theory, institutional/professional constraints and an absence of skills to engage with the politics of social (in)justice. Each challenge is presented, opposing voices outlined and some possible solutions are suggested. The work of political theorist Nancy Fraser is used as a conceptual framework, in particular her focus on mis/framing and political representation for social justice. In addition, it is suggested that social justice needs to be further embedded in nursing policy and curriculum. Finally, nurses are encouraged to develop practical political skills to engage with both politics and the media in a neoliberal globalizing world. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. How the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 Has Undermined US Refugee Protection Obligations and Wasted Government Resources

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleanor Acer

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Seeking asylum is a human right, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (“Refugee Convention” and its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (“1967 Protocol” prohibit the United States from returning refugees to persecution, and the 1980 Refugee Act set up a formal process for applying for asylum in the United States. However, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA created a barrage of new barriers to asylum. These impediments have blocked many refugees from accessing asylum in the United States and inserted additional layers of technicalities, screening, and processing, undermining the effectiveness of the US asylum system. The barriers imposed by IIRIRA are significant. They include a filing deadline on asylum applications, which prevents genuine refugees from receiving asylum if they cannot prove they have filed the application within one year of arriving in the United States. IIRIRA also established summary deportation procedures, including “expedited removal” and “reinstatement of removal,” which block asylum seekers from even applying for asylum or accessing an immigration court removal hearing, unless they first pass through a screening process. Finally, IIRIRA imposed “mandatory detention” on certain immigrants, including asylum seekers who are placed in expedited removal proceedings upon their arrival at a US port of entry. Each of these provisions imposed new processes and procedures that have contributed to an increasingly ineffective immigration system. The current backlog in the immigration courts has reached a record high, surpassing half a million cases, while the backlog of affirmative asylum cases before the Asylum Division of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS has increased by a factor of six [check] in just three years. Backlogs, which lead to long delays in adjudication

  20. Unusual microorganisms and antimicrobial resistances in a group of Syrian migrants: Sentinel surveillance data from an asylum seekers centre in Italy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angeletti, Silvia; Ceccarelli, Giancarlo; Vita, Serena; Dicuonzo, Giordano; Lopalco, Maurizio; Dedej, Etleva; Blasi, Aletheia; Antonelli, Francesca; Conti, Alessia; De Cesaris, Marina; Farchi, Francesca; Lo Presti, Alessandra; Ciccozzi, Massimo

    2016-01-01

    Three years of civil war in Syria have caused death and increase of communicable diseases. The suffering population has been forced to migrate creating a fertile condition for epidemic spread of infection within the refugee camps. Forty-eight Syrian migrants, upon their arrival in Italy, were accommodated at the asylum seekers centre of Castelnuovo di Porto. They received a physical examination and were subjected to microbiological surveillance by blood, rectal, pharyngeal and nasal swabs collection and delivering to the Clinical Pathology and Microbiology Laboratory of the University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome. All refugees resulted negative for HBV, HCV and HIV infections. In swabs a large number of unusual gram-negative bacteria species were isolated, such as Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas monteilii, Pseudomonas fulva, Pseudomonas moselii, Aeromonas veronii, Aeromonas caviae, Aeromonas hydrophila, Acinteobacter guilloviae, Acinteobacter lowffii; Acinetobacter johnsonii; Acinteobacter tjernbergae; Pantoea agglomerans; Pantoea calida. Among isolates, strains resistant to carbapenems, ESBL producers and methicillin resistant were found. The microbiological surveillance performed represents a useful action to understand refugees health status and to trace unusual microorganisms movement even carriers of antimicrobial resistance during migrants traveling. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Different findings in bone scintigraphy between ulnar impaction syndrome and Kienbock's disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, J.K.; Lee, H.Y.; Lee, M.C.; Baik, G.H.

    2002-01-01

    Objectives: There is an ethnic variance on the length of the ulnar and radius. In Caucasian the length of the radius is relatively longer than the ulnar, but in Oriental the length of the ulnar is longer. This difference results in the different ethnic prevalence of ulnar impaction syndrome and Kienbock's disease, avascular necrosis of the lunate. It is important to differentiate ulnar impaction syndrome from Kienbock's disease, because they show similar symptoms but need different treatment and different method of operation. Methods: Seventeen patients with the wrist pain were enrolled in this study (mean age: 45+/-13yrs M:F=12:5). Nine patients were diagnosed as Kienbock's disease and Eight patients were diagnosed as ulnar impaction. Three to four hours after injection of 20mCi of Tc-99m MDP, bone scintigraphy images of the both hands were obtained and analyzed visually. Results: In Kienbock's disease, 8 patients showed increased uptake in the lunate with or without other carpal bones. One patient showed photon defect in the lunate. Otherwise in all patients with ulnar impaction syndrome, increased uptakes were found in the lunate, with or without increase uptake in the triquetrum or the distal ulnar, which are related to triangular fibrocartilage complex. Pin hole scintigraphy and pin hole SPECT demonstrated more precise structure of the wrist. Conclusion: We could differentiate ulnar impaction syndrome from Kienbock's disease in bone scan. We should carefully evaluate bone scintigraphic findings in patients with wrist pain

  2. Venezuela: Political Conditions and U.S. Policy

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-01-11

    Testimony of Miguel Diaz , Center for Strategic and International Studies, at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the “The State of...Posada Bid for Asylum,” Miami Herald, May 7, 2005. 143 Department of Homeland Security, Office of Public Affairs, Statement, May 17, 2005. 144 Alicia

  3. Psykisk helbred blandt asylbørn i Danmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Signe Smith; Nørredam, Marie; Christensen, Karen Louise

    2007-01-01

    and behavioural problems were highly prevalent among asylum-seeking children--also in comparison to children in the general population. This is in accordance with former studies. The causes of the children's condition should be reviewed and relevant psychological and psychiatric treatment should be secured......INTRODUCTION: There is growing concern for the mental health of asylum-seeking children due to protracted periods of stay at asylum centres and an increasing need for psycho-social measures. The objective of this study is to survey asylum-seeking children's mental health in Denmark. MATERIALS...... AND METHODS: The population comprised all asylum-seeking children aged 4-16 years living at asylum centres run by the Danish Red Cross. In order to assess their mental health the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was employed along with four questions from the Health Behaviour in School...

  4. The meaning and mental health consequences of long-term immigration detention for people seeking asylum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coffey, Guy J; Kaplan, Ida; Sampson, Robyn C; Tucci, Maria Montagna

    2010-06-01

    The aim of the present research was to examine the experience of extended periods of immigration detention from the perspective of previously detained asylum seekers and to identify the consequences of these experiences for life after release. The study sample comprised seventeen adult refugees (sixteen male and one female; average age 42 years), who had been held in immigration detention funded by the Australian government for on average three years and two months. They were interviewed on average three years and eight months following their release and had been granted permanent visa status or such status was imminent. The study employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to explore detention and post-detention experiences, and mental health some years after release. The qualitative component consisted of semi-structured interviews exploring psychological well-being, daily life, significant events, relationships, and ways of coping throughout these periods. This was supplemented with standardised quantitative measures of current mental health and quality of life. All participants were struggling to rebuild their lives in the years following release from immigration detention, and for the majority the difficulties experienced were pervasive. Participants suffered an ongoing sense of insecurity and injustice, difficulties with relationships, profound changes to view of self and poor mental health. Depression and demoralisation, concentration and memory disturbances, and persistent anxiety were very commonly reported. Standardised measures found high rates of depression, anxiety, PTSD and low quality of life scores. The results strongly suggest that the psychological and interpersonal difficulties participants were suffering at the time of interview were the legacy of their adverse experiences while detained. The current study assists in identifying the characteristics of prolonged immigration detention producing long-term psychological harm

  5. “I Thought We Had No Rights” – Challenges in Listening, Storytelling, and Representation of LGBT Refugees

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine Fobear

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Storytelling serves as a vital resource for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* (LGBT refugees’ access to asylum. It is through telling their personal stories to the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board that LGBT refugees’ claims for asylum are accessed and granted. Storytelling also serves as a mechanism for LGBT refugees to speak about social injustice within and outside of Canada. In this article, I explore the challenges of storytelling and social justice as an activist and scholar. I focus on three contexts where justice and injustice interplay in LGBT refugee storytelling: the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board, public advocacy around anti-queer violence and refugee rights, and oral history research. I describe how in each arena storytelling can be a powerful tool of justice for LGBT refugees to validate their truths and bring their voices to the forefront in confronting state and public violence. I investigate how these areas can also inflict their own injustices on LGBT refugees by silencing their voices and reproducing power hierarchies.

  6. EMDR versus stabilisation in traumatised asylum seekers and refugees: results of a pilot study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rolf J. Kleber

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Traumatised asylum seekers and refugees are clinically considered a complex population. Discussion exists on whether with this population treatment guidelines for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD should be followed and Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR should be applied, or whether a phased model starting with stabilisation is preferable. Some clinicians fear that trauma-focused interventions may lead to unmanageable distress or may be ineffective. While cognitive-behavioural interventions have been found to be effective with traumatised refugees, no studies concerning the efficacy of EMDR with this population have been conducted as yet.In preparation for a randomised trial comparing EMDR and stabilisation with traumatised refugees, a pilot study with 20 participants was conducted. The objective was to examine feasibility of participation in a randomised trial for this complex population and to examine acceptability and preliminary efficacy of EMDR.Participants were randomly allocated to 11 sessions of either EMDR or stabilisation. Symptoms of PTSD (SCID-I, HTQ, depression and anxiety (HSCL-25, and quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF were assessed at pre- and post-treatment and 3-month follow-up.Participation of traumatised refugees in the study was found feasible, although issues associated with complex traumatisation led to a high pre-treatment attrition and challenges in assessments. Acceptability of EMDR was found equal to that of stabilisation with a high drop-out for both conditions. No participants dropped out of the EMDR condition because of unmanageable distress. While improvement for EMDR participants was small, EMDR was found to be no less efficacious than stabilisation. Different symptom courses between the two conditions, with EMDR showing some improvement and stabilisation showing some deterioration between pre-treatment and post-treatment, justify the conduct

  7. Pocket Money

    OpenAIRE

    Larsen, Laura Perregård

    2015-01-01

    Abstract This is a paper studying, the negotiations and expectations, appearin through the exchange of ‘pocket money’, between the Danish state and the asylum seekers in Avnstrup asylum Centre. The paper presents, the practices that surround the ‘pocket money’ in Avnstrup Asylum Centre and how there are perceive. Furthermore it reflects upon the ‘pocket money’ as a tool of identification Finally it explores the reasons and rationalities for the states funding of the asylum seekers. The analys...

  8. 8 CFR 1208.31 - Reasonable fear of persecution or torture determinations involving aliens ordered removed under...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS PROCEDURES FOR ASYLUM AND... provide the alien with an opportunity to correct errors therein. The asylum officer shall create a written... the authority described in § 1208.9(c). (e) Referral to Immigration Judge. If an asylum officer...

  9. Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, October 2017 : Migration and Mobility

    OpenAIRE

    World Bank

    2017-01-01

    Public concerns in Europe and Central Asia over the recent sharp increase in asylum seekers and undocumented migrants seem to reflect a broader anxiety about reduced job security, caused by technological developments and internationalization of production and work. Policy reforms should help both migrants and non-migrants cope with increased and unavoidable flexibility in labor markets.

  10. [Marriage in old age groups (medico-social aspects)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galkin, R A; Hechtt, I A; Larionov, Iu K; Pavlov, V V

    2001-01-01

    Recently married elderly people change attitude to hospital treatment and living in asylums; they prefer care rendered at home and hospital-substituting forms of care; hospitalization and ambulance care are less needed and permanent social workers are required less. All this promotes rational utilization of the potentialities of therapeutic institutions and saving of public health and social protection resources.

  11. Multi-dimensional migration challenges in North Africa

    OpenAIRE

    Johannes van der Klaauw

    2007-01-01

    Facing tighter European border controls, increasing numbers of refugees and asylum seekers from sub-Saharan countries find themselves stranded in North Africa. In the absence of functioning state asylum structures and with a growing caseload of asylum seekers, UNHCR is working to strengthen regional protection capacity, particularly in Morocco.

  12. Kosovan refugees in the UK: the Rolls Royce or rickshaw

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alice Bloch

    1999-08-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the different reception and support entitlements offered to spontaneous asylum seekers from Kosovo and their UNHCR programme counterparts, plus the operation of the Kosovo reception programme. It also discusses the Asylum and Immigration Bill and itsimplications for asylum seekers to the UK.

  13. Agressie-incidenten in de asielopvang : Over de aard van de incidenten en ervaringen van medewerkers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ufkes, Elze Gooitzen; Zebel, Sven; den Besten, Anouk Leanne

    2017-01-01

    In 2015, the Netherlands were confronted with a strong increase in asylum applications. This high number of asylum seekers arriving in the country increased the pressure on the reception centres of The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA). At the same time, an increasing number

  14. New Neighbours in a Time of Change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Birgitte Romme; Whyte, Zachary; Olwig, Karen Fog

    2017-01-01

    Asylum centres in rural areas are an increasingly common mode of managing asylum seekers in Denmark. These centres’ arrival occurs in a context of protracted rural crisis, as demographic and economic changes reshape local communities. Yet, research on these processes remains scarce, as issues...... concerning asylum and the rural are seldom conceived together. At the same time, majority population attitudes towards refugees are often depicted through the opposed poles of xenophobia and humanitarianism. Based on an ethnographic study, this article examines the meanings and consequences of asylum centres...

  15. Multi-dimensional migration challenges in North Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johannes van der Klaauw

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Facing tighter European border controls, increasing numbers of refugees and asylum seekers from sub-Saharan countries find themselves stranded in North Africa. In the absence of functioning state asylum structures and with a growing caseload of asylum seekers, UNHCR is working to strengthen regional protection capacity, particularly in Morocco.

  16. Should Indonesia Accede to The 1951 Refugee Convention and Its 1967 Protocol?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dita Liliansa

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Being a non-party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (“1951 Refugee Convention” and 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (“1967 Protocol”, Indonesia does not have legal obligations to provide permanent resettlement for asylum seeker and/or refugee. However, as a transit country for those seeking shelter in Australia, Indonesia undergoes a myriad of issues resulting from illegal entrance by asylum seeker and/or refugee. Besides having neither legal framework nor domestic mechanism to handle asylum seekers and/or refugee, Indonesia’s immigration law identifies every foreigner including asylum seeker and refugee who unlawfully enter Indonesia’s territory into the same box as illegal migrant. It then leads to the arrest of asylum seeker and/or refugee to be put in an over-capacity detention center or other places. This paper will analyze various issues related to asylum seeker and refugee in Indonesia and to weigh whether it is indispensable for Indonesia to accede to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.

  17. Faith and the politics of resettlement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shoshana Fine

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Those working with asylum seekers and refugees in Turkey have noticed that a growing number of Iranian Shi’ite asylum seekers are converting to Christianity during their migratory passage through Turkey. With apostasy punishable by death in Iran, asylum claims and requests for resettlement can be based on or strengthened by such conversion.

  18. The effects of perceived torture controllability on symptom severity of posttraumatic stress, depression and anger in refugees and asylum seekers: A path analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Lillian; Morina, Naser; Schnyder, Ulrich; Schick, Matthis; Bryant, Richard A; Nickerson, Angela

    2018-03-23

    Torture is associated with greater psychopathology, however, the specific mechanisms underlying the effects of torture remain unclear. Research suggests that the perceived uncontrollable nature of, rather than the exposure to, torture, influences the development of psychological disorders. Perceived distress during torture has also been shown to influence psychological outcomes. This cross-sectional study explored the relationship between perceived torture controllability, emotions (i.e., anger and fear) during torture, and current posttraumatic stress (PTS), depression and anger symptoms, controlling for the effects of post-migration living difficulties. Data were collected from 108 refugees and asylum seekers in treatment at two psychiatric clinics in Zurich, Switzerland. Path analyses revealed negative correlations between PTS, depression and anger symptoms, and perceived torture controllability, and positive correlations with anger and fear during torture. Furthermore, the effects of perceived torture controllability on PTS and depression symptoms were mediated by fear during torture, and on anger symptoms via anger during torture. This was over and above the effects of post-migration living difficulties on psychological symptoms. The study provides preliminary evidence that perceived uncontrollability and distress during torture might be significant risk factors for current mental health of torture survivors. These findings may have implications for informing interventions for torture survivors. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. THE VALUE-BASED NATIONALISM OF PEGIDA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malte Thran

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available In the fall of 2014, the new German grassroots political protest movement “Pegida” emerged. The movement’s targets of criticism include the pronounced ‘failures’ of German asylum and immigration policy, refugees, and a so-called “Islamization.” This contribution is an analysis of Pegida's programmatic publications. Pegida claims to promote national values and already has a positive image of Germany in particular and the nation state in general. Germany is seen as an agency of ‘humanity’ that fulfils a selfless moral mission in granting asylum to refugees. For Pegida, the consequences of this policy include ‘foreign infiltration,’ as well as so-called “Muslim parallel societies,” which are seen as dangerous imports of competing moralities. To save the ‘good order’ that said “patriotic Europeans” imagine as their home, the integration of foreign ‘national identities’ is seen as both necessary and hard to achieve. Therefore, Pegida demands the optimization of state force and its use to establish a requirement of integration and enforce the sanctioning of criminal immigrants and “asylum betrayers.” According to this logic, the preservation of home through a “zero tolerance policy” is a self-purpose, ensuring to prevent negative social consequences like poverty and unemployment. The result of this analysis proposes an explanation approach to the xenophobic logic of Pegida's value-based nationalism.

  20. Narrativ eksponeringsterapi som terapeutisk tilnærming i møte med flyktninger og asylsøkere: en litteraturgjennomgang

    OpenAIRE

    Thomassen, Karoline Rød

    2015-01-01

    Refugees and asylum seekers report a high level of trauma-related mental health problems, compared to the general population. However, research on treatment of traumatized refugees and asylum seekers in a western setting is scarce. Current research indicates that Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) is an effective approach in treating refugees and asylum seekers suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). NET is a standardized and manual-based short-time therapy ini...

  1. Challenges of Combining Perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sundvall, Maria; Titelman, David; Bäärnhielm, Sofie

    2018-02-23

    Asylum seekers have increased risk of suicide and suicidal behavior, with differences related to origin, gender, and age. There are barriers to communication in clinical encounters between asylum seekers and clinicians. There is insufficient knowledge about how communication in the clinical encounter affects the suicide risk in female asylum seekers. To explore the documented communication between female asylum-seeking suicide attempters and clinicians and how it affects treatment. The medical records of 18 asylum-seeking women who had attempted suicide were analyzed with content analysis. Communication between patients and clinicians was affected by: the unbearable realities of the women; difficulties for clinicians in decoding languages of distress, and understanding trauma and subjective meanings of suicide; challenges of combining patients' and clinicians' perspectives; and a sense of shared powerlessness. The medical records did not give direct access to the patient's experience, only to the patient as documented by the clinician. The results suggest that clinicians working with asylum seekers who have attempted suicide need to develop an understanding of social and cultural factors and of trauma issues. A question for further study is how an enhanced integration of context and subjectivity in psychiatric practice would equip clinicians for the specific challenges encountered.

  2. Mental health screening in immigration detention: A fresh look at Australian government data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Peter; Gordon, Michael S

    2016-02-01

    The poor mental health of asylum seekers and refugees in immigration detention has consistently been reported in peer-reviewed literature internationally; however, data on the mental health of asylum seekers and refugees detained in Australian immigration has been very limited. We re-analysed mental health screening data obtained by the Human Rights Commission. Longer time in detention was associated with higher self-reported depression scores, with female individuals being more vulnerable to time in detention than those of male gender. Approximately one-half of the refugee group who agreed to complete the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire had post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. On clinician-rated measures, one-third of the children, adolescents and adults suffered with clinical symptoms requiring tertiary outpatient assessment. This paper consolidates the findings of the 2014 Australian Human Rights Commission report and it provides an argument for public reporting of refugee data. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2016.

  3. Introduction : Common Life at the LiAi

    OpenAIRE

    Altés Arlandis, Alberto; Garriga, Josep

    2015-01-01

    There are various forms of collective housing that propose and rehearse many different forms of sharing functions, spaces and other "things". Social and public housing usually encourage one or other form of sharing in search of affordability. Experiences of cooperative building often include shared facilities and spaces, some times shared activities. Student housing, women dormitories, workers dormitories, elderly homes, asylum homes, camps, monasteries, schools and other situations and forms...

  4. Kyoto or non-Kyoto - people or politics: results of recent public opinion surveys on energy and climate change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ashworth, Peta; Gardner, John; Littleboy, Anna

    2007-01-01

    Full text: We present the results of a survey of an Australian public opinion survey in the area of climate change and energy technologies and compare the results with similar studies conducted in the other major non-Kyoto-adherent party, the United States, as well as to Kyoto-adherent countries including the UK, Japan, Sweden and Spain. We explore some of the differences and similarities in attitudes and understandings. In our survey, Australians place environment, health care and petrol prices as the most important issues facing their country, while in America it is terrorism, health care and the economy and in the UK it is asylum seekers, crime and health care. In many other areas, the differences are considerably smaller and there are some remarkable similarities. Whereas climate change is increasingly cited as the leading environmental issue in most countries surveyed, in Australia, climate change is second to water availability as the top environmental concern. The study examines where climate change and energy technologies fit within these broader national and environmental priorities and identifies the general public's preferred solutions. We find clear support in Australia and the other countries surveyed for renewable energy technologies, particularly solar energy and to a lesser extent wind and biomass energy. We also find considerable disagreement in all countries regarding the future of nuclear power as well as with regard to carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies (albeit the latter with much larger uncertainty). The paper also explores the current knowledge levels of the general public in a number of countries about carbon dioxide emissions and how much as individuals, they are prepared to pay to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. We find that, in general, at a more detailed level in terms of both attitudes and understandings of energy and climate issues there is considerable agreement across disparate countries Gudged on their national

  5. Applying for international protection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Storgaard, Louise Halleskov

    2018-01-01

    The Judicial Analysis aims to provide an analysis of asylum procedures under the recast Asylum Procedures Directive (2013/32/EU) and of the principle of non-refoulement for courts and tribunals of Member States...

  6. Restricted health care entitlements for child migrants in Europe and Australia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Østergaard, Liv Stubbe; Norredam, Marie; Mock-Munoz de Luna, Claire

    2017-01-01

    Background: More than 300 000 asylum seeking children were registered in Europe alone during 2015. In this study, we examined entitlements for health care for these and other migrant children in Europe and Australia in a framework based on United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC......). Methods: Survey to child health professionals, NGO's and European Ombudspersons for Children in 30 EU/EEA countries and Australia, supplemented by desktop research of official documents. Migrant children were categorised as asylum seekers and irregular/undocumented migrants. Results: Five countries....... Twelve European countries have limited entitlements to health care for asylum seeking children, including Germany that stands out as the country with the most restrictive health care policy for migrant children. In Australia entitlements for health care are restricted for asylum seeking children...

  7. TWO-LANE BLACKTOP: REFUGEES & TORTURE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JESÚS GARCÍA CÍVICO

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the right of asylum have, individually considered, an extensive field of application", but it is possible to point out some traits in common. Firsty, in both rights undelie the moral spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At the same time, according to the recent reports of the main human rights organisations, both rights are in deep political crisis. Furthermore, is possible to see that sometimes they cross each other: there is a triple «zone of intersection between the right of asylum and the right not to suffer torture, inhuman or degrading treatment: one of the reasons for escaping from a country is to avoid suffering torture ("refuge after torture" secondly, sometimes inhuman and degrading treatment occur precisely in the process of seeking asylum ("inhuman treatment in the refuge", finally, there are countries with strong deficiencies in their immigration policies and this can produce a perverse effect: the transfer of potential asylum seekers to countries where they are at risk of torture or inhuman treatment again ("torture or inhuman and degrading treatment after asylum".

  8. Psychological distress amongst immigration detainees: a cross-sectional questionnaire study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robjant, Katy; Robbins, Ian; Senior, Victoria

    2009-09-01

    To compare levels of depression, anxiety, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) amongst immigration detainees with a comparison group of asylum seekers living within the community. A cross-sectional questionnaire study. Sixty-seven detained asylum seekers, 30 detainees who had previously been imprisoned within the UK for criminal offences, and 49 asylum seekers living in the community completed the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) and the impact of event scale-revised (IES-R). Demographic information was collected. High levels of anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms were reported by all three groups. Detained asylum seekers had higher scores than asylum seekers living within the community for depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms. There was an interaction between length of detention period and prior exposure to interpersonal trauma (IP trauma) on depression scores. Immigration detainees are highly vulnerable to psychological distress. A review of detention policies is recommended in light of this. Immigration detention may have an independent adverse effect on mental health. It is also possible that individuals with mental health problems may be more likely to be detained. Further research is required to investigate this.

  9. Albania – Europe’s reluctant gatekeeper

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ridvan Peshkopia

    2005-05-01

    Full Text Available Post-communist Albania has become a transit point for refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants. Asylum policies and procedures put in place under UNHCR and EU tutelage are fragile and serve the interests of Europe, not Albania.

  10. České církevní azylové právo 17. a 18. století (Případ Karla Škréty)

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Adamová, Karolina; Lojek, Antonín

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 8, č. 1 (2010), s. 39-50 ISSN 1214-4878 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70680506 Keywords : right of asylum * refugee * application of the right of asylum in the Czech lands Subject RIV: AG - Legal Sciences

  11. Give Me... Your Huddled Masses...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkinson, Ray

    2000-01-01

    Explores the ambiguity in the attitudes of the U. S. and Canadian governments toward what are perceived as "real" refugees and more dubious asylum seekers. Outlines policies toward asylum seekers, points out inconsistencies, and notes some recently proposed changes in immigration law. (SLD)

  12. Role of MR imaging in chronic wrist pain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zanetti, Marco; Saupe, Nadja [University Hospital Balgrist, Department of Radiology, Zurich (Switzerland); Nagy, Ladislav [University Hospital Balgrist, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Zurich (Switzerland)

    2007-04-15

    Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for chronic wrist pain is challenging. Correct assessment of the triangular fibrocartilage, hyaline cartilage, ligaments, and tendons has become mandatory for comprehensive decision making in wrist surgery. The MR technique, potential and limits of MR imaging in patients with chronic wrist pain will be discussed. MR arthrography with injection of gadolinium-containing contrast material into the distal radioulnar joint is suggested for evaluation of the triangular fibrocartilage. The clinically meaningful ulnar-sided peripheral tears are otherwise hard to diagnose. The diagnostic performance of MR imaging for interosseous ligament tears varies considerably. The sensitivity for scapholunate ligament tears is consistently better than for lunotriquetral ligament tears. Gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging is considered to be the best technique for detecting established avascularity of bone, but the assessment of the MR results remains challenging. Most cases of ulnar impaction syndrome have characteristic focal signal intensity changes in the ulnar aspect of the lunate. Avascular necrosis of the lunate (Kienboeck's disease) is characterized by signal changes starting in the proximal radial aspect of the lunate. MR imaging is extremely sensitive for occult fractures. Questions arise if occult posttraumatic bone lesions seen on MR images only necessarily require the same treatment as fractures evident on plain films or computed tomography (CT) images. MR imaging and ultrasound are equally effective for detecting occult carpal ganglia. Carpe bossu (carpal boss) is a bony protuberance of a carpometacarpal joint II and III which may be associated with pain. (orig.)

  13. Role of MR imaging in chronic wrist pain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zanetti, Marco; Saupe, Nadja; Nagy, Ladislav

    2007-01-01

    Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for chronic wrist pain is challenging. Correct assessment of the triangular fibrocartilage, hyaline cartilage, ligaments, and tendons has become mandatory for comprehensive decision making in wrist surgery. The MR technique, potential and limits of MR imaging in patients with chronic wrist pain will be discussed. MR arthrography with injection of gadolinium-containing contrast material into the distal radioulnar joint is suggested for evaluation of the triangular fibrocartilage. The clinically meaningful ulnar-sided peripheral tears are otherwise hard to diagnose. The diagnostic performance of MR imaging for interosseous ligament tears varies considerably. The sensitivity for scapholunate ligament tears is consistently better than for lunotriquetral ligament tears. Gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging is considered to be the best technique for detecting established avascularity of bone, but the assessment of the MR results remains challenging. Most cases of ulnar impaction syndrome have characteristic focal signal intensity changes in the ulnar aspect of the lunate. Avascular necrosis of the lunate (Kienboeck's disease) is characterized by signal changes starting in the proximal radial aspect of the lunate. MR imaging is extremely sensitive for occult fractures. Questions arise if occult posttraumatic bone lesions seen on MR images only necessarily require the same treatment as fractures evident on plain films or computed tomography (CT) images. MR imaging and ultrasound are equally effective for detecting occult carpal ganglia. Carpe bossu (carpal boss) is a bony protuberance of a carpometacarpal joint II and III which may be associated with pain. (orig.)

  14. Magnetic resonance imaging of the wrist in early rheumatoid arthritis: a pictorial essay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stewart, N.R.; Crabbe, J.P.; McQueen, F.M.

    2001-01-01

    This pictorial essay describes the changes seen in the wrist in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on MRI. Magnetic resonance imaging can demonstrate bone erosions, bone marrow signal changes, synovitis and tenosynovitis in early rheumatoid arthritis. Magnetic resonance imaging of the wrist can identify erosions in RA earlier than plain radiographs and can detect more erosions. Common sites include the capitate, lunate and scaphoid. Bone marrow signal changes occur frequently and are most common in the capitate, lunate and triquetrum. Synovial thickening and enhancement are clearly demonstrated with MRI and are most commonly seen in the radiocarpal joint (RCJ). Tenosynovitis can be seen in the wrist in more than half of patients presenting with RA. This most commonly involves the extensor carpi ulnaris tendon and is seen as sheath fluid, thickening and enhancement. Copyright (2001) Blackwell Science Pty Ltd

  15. De wisselvalligheid van de twijfel: ongelijkheid in de uitvoering van het asielbeleid verklaard

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    P. Mascini (Peter)

    2006-01-01

    textabstractThe goal of this research was to identify the factors that account for procedural and substantive inequality in the implementation of asylum law. Ninety-eight caseworkers of the Immigration and Naturalization Service were asked to decide on the same asylum application. These decisions

  16. ORIGINAL ARTICLES

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Department Of Surgery, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZu- lu-Natal. 2Head of .... There were 20 (12%) patients who were infected with HIV .... a specialist-led service for the management of acute gallstone disease.

  17. Health visiting and refugee families: issues in professional practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drennan, Vari M; Joseph, Judy

    2005-01-01

    This paper reports on the perceptions of experienced health visitors working with refugee families in Inner London. Women who are refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom are more likely to experience depression than either non-refugee women or male asylum seekers. Health visitors provide a universal public health service to all women on the birth of a child, or with children aged under five, and as such are well placed to identify emotional and mental health problems of women who are refugees. Despite successive waves of refugees to the United Kingdom in the 20th century, there are no empirical studies of health visiting practice with this vulnerable group. There is also no body of evidence to inform the practice of health visitors new to working with asylum seekers and refugees. An exploratory study was undertaken in Inner London in 2001. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 13 health visitors experienced in working with women and families who are refugees. A range of structural challenges was identified that mediated against the development of a health-promoting relationship between health visitors and refugee women. With refugee families, who were living in temporary accommodation, health visitors were prioritizing basic needs that had to be addressed: in addition, they prioritized the needs of children before those of women. Health visitors were aware of the emotional needs of women and had strategies for addressing these with women in more settled circumstances. Health visitors considered themselves ill-prepared to deal with the complexities of working with women in these situations. This study identifies issues for further exploration, not least from the perspective of refugee women receiving health visiting services. Health visitors in countries receiving refugee women are framing their work with these women in ways that reflect Maslow's theory of a hierarchy of needs. This study suggests ways that public health

  18. Representing Immigration Detainees: The Juxtaposition of Image and Sound in "Border Country"

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melanie Friend

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses the four-year (2003-2007 research process towards my exhibition and publication "Border Country", which focuses on the experience of immigration detainees (appellant or "failed" asylum seekers in the UK's "immigration removal centres". I discuss my earlier exhibition "Homes and Gardens: Documenting the Invisible" which focused on the repression in Kosovo under the Milošević regime, and the difficulties of representing the "hidden violence" which led to the adoption of a particular sound/image structure for the exhibition. I discuss how I then chose to work with a similar sound/image framework for "Border Country" and the aesthetic and conceptual considerations involved. I discuss the decision to expand the focus of the exhibition from one individual detainee to eleven, and to omit the photographic portraits of detainees from the exhibition for ethical and conceptual reasons. I finally produced a juxtaposition of photographs of immigration removal centre landscapes and interiors (devoid of people with a soundtrack of oral testimonies. The voices of individual detainees could be heard at listening stations within the gallery spaces or on the publication's audio CD. Within this research process I also discuss my interview methodology and questions of power imbalance between photographer/artist and incarcerated asylum seekers. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1002334

  19. Refugees and antimicrobial resistance: A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Smalen, Allard Willem; Ghorab, Hatem; Abd El Ghany, Moataz; Hill-Cawthorne, Grant A

    There is a large increase in the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers worldwide and a lack of data on the carriage of antimicrobial resistance in refugee/asylum seeking groups. This article aims to identify the impact of refugees and asylum seekers on the acquisition and transmission of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through a literature search. The databases Embase, Medline, Pubmed, and Web of Science Core Collection were utilised and covered all articles before the 1st of October 2016. In total, 577 articles were identified, and studies were eligible if they met the selection criteria, including observational study design, English language, and AMR strains reported in absolute numbers. In total, 17 articles met the criteria, the majority were from the European region. Articles fitting the selection criteria exclusively reported AMR in bacterial species including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, K. oxytoca, Shigella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecium, and Acinetobacter baumannii. The analyses indicated that a high percentage of AMR strains, have been circulating among refugees and asylum seekers. The displacement of refugees and asylum seekers seem to play a key role in the transmission of AMR. Therefore, improved AMR control measures are essential. A knowledge gap was identified; further research is strongly recommended. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. 28 CFR 65.83 - Assistance required by the Attorney General.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... General. The Attorney General may request assistance from a State or local government in the... of INS, who shall, in turn, certify to the Attorney General, that the number of asylum applications... for asylum in the district. (b) The Attorney General determines that there exist circumstances...

  1. Immigration and Religion in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christoffersen, Lisbet

    2009-01-01

    An overview over legal framework for immigration into Denmark, special clauses on religion as a parameter for residence permit and asylum in churches......An overview over legal framework for immigration into Denmark, special clauses on religion as a parameter for residence permit and asylum in churches...

  2. Students in Action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Insights on Law & Society, 2001

    2001-01-01

    Includes three articles that focus on people affected by immigration: (1) "Locked Up Tight" (Margaret Graham Tebo); (2) "Asylum May Be a Matter of Life and Death" (Mary Meg McCarthy); and (3) "The Next Gideon?" (Siobhan Morrissey). Includes adult detainees, asylum seekers, and refugee minors. (CMK)

  3. Case report

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ebutamanya

    2015-11-16

    Nov 16, 2015 ... Kienböck disease is a condition marked by avascular necrosis of the lunate bone [1]. ... because the degree of necrosis does not change treatment in these ... staging of Kienböck disease, and ruling out alternative diagnoses.

  4. CT arthrography of the wrist using a novel, mobile, dedicated extremity cone-beam CT (CBCT)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Koskinen, Seppo K. [Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of Radiology, HUS Helsinki Medical Imaging Center, Helsinki (Finland); Helsinki University Hospital, Toeoeloe Trauma Center, Department of Radiology, HUS Helsinki Medical Imaging Center, Helsinki (Finland); Haapamaeki, Ville V.; Kortesniemi, Mika [Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of Radiology, HUS Helsinki Medical Imaging Center, Helsinki (Finland); Salo, Jari [Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of Orthopedic and Trauma Surgery, Helsinki (Finland); Kuopio University Hospital, UEF, Department of Orthopedics, Traumatology and Hand Surgery, Kuopio (Finland); Lindfors, Nina C. [Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of Orthopedic and Hand Surgery, Helsinki (Finland); Seppaelae, Lauri [Planmed Oy, Helsinki (Finland); Mattila, Kimmo T. [Turku University Central Hospital, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Turku (Finland)

    2013-05-15

    To evaluate the feasibility and intra- and interobserver agreement of CBCT arthrography of wrist ligaments, triangular fibrocartilaginous complex (TFCC), and to assess the sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), accuracy (ACC), and positive and negative predictive value (PPV, NPV) of CBCT arthrography in the diagnosis of scapholunate (SLL) and lunotriquetral (LTL) ligament tears, TFCC, and cartilage abnormalities of the scaphoid and lunate with their corresponding radial surfaces (scaphoid and lunate fossa) using a novel, mobile, dedicated extremity CBCT scanner. Fifty-two consecutively enrolled subjects (26 M, 26 F, mean age 38 years, range 18-66 years) with suspected wrist ligament tears underwent CBCT-arthrography before normally scheduled MR arthrography.An extremity CBCT was used for imaging with isotropic voxel size of 0.4 x 0.4 x 0.4 mm{sup 3}. Subsequent routine 1.5 T MRI was performed using a dedicated wrist coil.Two observers reviewed the anonymized CBCT images twice for contrast enhancement (CE) and technical details (TD), for tears of the SLL, LTL, and TFCC. Also, cartilage abnormalities of the scaphoid and lunate with their corresponding radial surfaces (scaphoid and lunate fossa) were evaluated. Inter- and intraobserver agreement was determined using weighted kappa statistics. Since no surgery was performed, MRI served as a reference standard, and SE and SP, ACC, PPV, and NPV were calculated. Intra- and interobserver kappa values for both readers (reader 1/reader 2; first reading/second reading) with 95 % confidence limits were: CE 0.54 (0.08-1.00)/ 0.75 (0.46-1.00); 0.73 (0.29-1.00)/ 0.45 (0.07-0.83), TD 0.53 (0.30-0.88)/ 0.86 (0.60-1.00); 0.56 (0.22-0.91)/ 0.67 (0.37-0.98), SLL 0.59 (0.25-0.93)/ 0.66 (0.42-0.91); 0.31 (0.06-0.56)/ 0.49 (0.26-0.73), LTL 0.83 (0.66-1.00)/ 0.68 (0.46-0.91); 0.90 (0.79-1.00)/ 0.48 (0.22-0.74); TFCC (0.72-1.00)/ (0.79-1.00); 0.65 (0.43-0.87)/ 0.59 (0.35-0.83), radius (scaphoid fossa) 0.45 (0.12-0.77)/ 0.64 (0.31-0.96); 0

  5. «EN DEHORS DES MURS». POUR UNE HISTOIRE RENOUVELÉE DES INSTITUTIONS DE LA FOLIE À L’ÉPOQUE CONTEMPORAINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fauvel, Aude

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Following the 1961 famous works by Michel Foucault and Erving Goffman (A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason and Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates, many historians have considered that the medicalization of insanity in the modern age had mostly led to a “great confinement” and a greater segregation of all individuals deemed mentally unfit during the “asylum era”. However, new research demonstrates that this classic narrative of the psychiatric past needs to be revised. It discloses that, ever since the 19th century, a whole other medical culture existed as a challenge to asylums, a culture that advocated the integration of the mad and fought to disassociate psychiatry from the dominant model of confinement all throughout the occidental world. This article aims at presenting the results of these historical works that depict another aspect of the psychiatric history, exploring “boarding out” practices, instead of asylum ones.

  6. THE VALUE-BASED NATIONALISM OF PEGIDA

    OpenAIRE

    Malte Thran; Lukas Boehnke

    2015-01-01

    In the fall of 2014, the new German grassroots political protest movement “Pegida” emerged. The movement’s targets of criticism include the pronounced ‘failures’ of German asylum and immigration policy, refugees, and a so-called “Islamization.” This contribution is an analysis of Pegida's programmatic publications. Pegida claims to promote national values and already has a positive image of Germany in particular and the nation state in general. Germany is seen as an agency of ‘humanity’ that ...

  7. Crawlers, Footers and Runners : Language ideological attribution to adult language learners in a Dutch as an L2 classroom

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Spotti, Max

    2017-01-01

    This paper deals with a volunteer teacher teaching Dutch as an L2 to asylum seekers at a Red Cross asylum seeker centre in West Flanders, Belgium. More precisely, it investigates the practical professional knowledge of this volunteer teacher, taking a peek into her meta-pragmatic judgements about

  8. 78 FR 29768 - Proposed Flood Hazard Determinations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-21

    ... of Towanda Municipal Building, 724 Main Street, Towanda, PA 18848. Borough of Troy Borough Office, 49 Elmira Street, Troy, PA 16947. Borough of Wyalusing Borough Hall, 50 Senate Street, Wyalusing, PA 18853... Township of Armenia, 41 Stoney Ledge Lane, Troy, PA 16947. Township of Asylum Asylum Township Building...

  9. Acute health problems in African refugees: ten years' experience in a Swiss emergency department.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfortmueller, Carmen A; Graf, Fabienne; Tabbara, Malek; Tabarra, Malek; Lindner, Gregor; Zimmermann, Heinz; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K

    2012-09-01

    Over the last two decades, the total number of applications from Africans for asylum in the countries of the European Union has increased from 578,000 to more than 2.9 million. About 20 % (7,196/36,100) of the asylum seekers in Switzerland originate from Africa. The disease profile of African asylum seekers is remarkably different from that of the native population in the country of application. We have therefore conducted an analysis of African asylum seekers presenting themselves to our emergency department. In a retrospective analysis, the central patient registry database was searched for patients originating from Africa admitted from 1 January 2000 to 30 November 2011 and labelled as "Asylbewerber" (asylum seeker) or "Flüchtling" (refugee). Three thousand six hundred and seventy-five African asylum seekers were admitted to our emergency department between 2000 and 2010. Thirty-four percent (n = 1,247) were female and 66 % (n = 2,426) male. Eighty percent (n = 1,940) of the men and 70 % (n = 823) of the women were younger than 40 years. Most of our patients originated from Algeria (n = 612). Forty-five percent (n = 1,628) of all patients presented with internal medical problems, 40 % (n = 1,487) with injuries. 3.5 % (n = 130) of all patients presented with psychiatric problems. Admission for psychiatric problems increased steadily from 2 % (n = 4) in 2001 to 10 % (n = 35) in 2011. The causes of presentation are manifold, including internal medical problems and injuries. Admissions for psychiatric problems are increasing. Establishing simple screening scores for somatization should be a key priority in providing more focused treatment in emergency departments.

  10. Comparison of arthoroscopic findings and high-resolution MRI using a microscopy coil findings for triangle fibrocartilage complex injury

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Satomi, Yoshiaki; Shimizu, Hiroyuki; Arai, Takeshi; Izumiyama, Kou; Beppu, Moroe

    2008-01-01

    Triangle fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) is very small and can be visualized in MRI. We compared image findings acquired by high-resolution MRI using a 47-mm-diameter microscopy coil with arthroscopic findings and reviewed the availability and possibility of application of both these techniques. The subjects were 16 patients who underwent arthroscopy of the radiocarpal joint and MRI for the diagnosis of pain in the ulnar wrist joint. Based on image evaluation, the impaired site was categorized as follows radius attachment, disc proper, triangular ligament (upper lamina), triangular ligament (lower lamina), lunate bone cartilage face, and triquete bone cartilage face; the findings of both techniques for impaired site around part 6 were compared. Joint morphology was assessed by the gradient-recalled echo (GRE) method with T2-weighted images, and the cartilage side was analyzed the fast SE (FSE) method with proton density-weighted image. Three orthopedic surgeons and 1 radiologist interpreted the results. The impaired site was verified in all 16 patients by high-resolution MRI using a microscopy coil. The MRI findings were as follows radius attachment in 2 patients, disc proper in 4, upper lamina in 7, lower lamina in 5, lunate bone cartilage face in 3, and triquete bone cartilage face in 0. The frequency of injury according to arthroscopic findings was as follows: radius attachment in 2 patients, disc proper in 4, lunate bone cartilage face in 6, and triquete bone cartilage face in 0. The sensibility/specificity of arthroscopic findings in comparison with MRI findings was as follows: radius attachment 100%/100%, disc proper 75%/91.7%, lunate bone cartilage face 50%/100%, and triquete bone cartilage face 0%/100%. Eight of 16 patients had depression of TFCC tone, and the sensibility/specificity of arthroscopic findings in comparison with MRI findings for the depression of site and TFCC tone was as follows: upper lamina 75%/87.5% and lower lamina 50%/87.5%. High

  11. The McDonald Observatory lunar laser ranging project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silverberg, E. C.

    1978-01-01

    A summary of the activities of the McDonald lunar laser ranging station at Fort Davis for the FY 77-78 fiscal year is presented. The lunar laser experiment uses the observatory 2.7m reflecting telescope on a thrice-per-day, 21-day-per-lunation schedule. Data are recorded on magnetic tapes and sent to the University of Texas at Austin where the data is processed. After processing, the data is distributed to interested analysis centers and later to the National Space Science Data Center where it is available for routine distribution. Detailed reports are published on the McDonald operations after every fourth lunation or approximately once every 115 days. These reports contain a day-by-day documentation of the ranging activity, detailed discussions of the equipment development efforts, and an abundance of other information as is needed to document and archive this important data type.

  12. The Right to Education of Children and Youngsters from Refugee Families in Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Essomba, Miquel Àngel

    2017-01-01

    The right to education of children and youth from asylum seeker and refugee families is currently being threatened in Europe. Two factors explain this: the sudden and disorganised arrival of large numbers of asylum seeker families, and the inconsistent integration of those seeking refugee status and those who have gained such status. The actual…

  13. Family and Nation: Cherokee Orphan Care, 1835-1903

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Julie L.

    2010-01-01

    On November 17, 1903, fifteen miles from the nearest railway station and fifty miles northwest of the capital of the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, a fire engulfed the Cherokee Orphan Asylum. After the fire the Cherokee Nation relocated the homeless children to the nation's Insane Asylum in Tahlequah, where Sequoyah School stands today. The…

  14. The fractured history of the mental hospital in Delhi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jain, Sanjeev; Sarin, Alok

    2018-02-01

    The history of the mental hospital in Delhi is a fascinating story. Set up in colonial times, the asylum in Delhi seems to reflect the tumultuous and chaotic history of the city itself. It was perhaps established in the early 19 th century, and functions till 1857, when it is ransacked in the Mutiny. It is subsequently merged with the asylum at Lahore in 1861, set up again, and incredibly, closed again at the turn of the century. Subject to the whims of administrators and policy makers, the asylum then ceases to exist till the 1960s when a new avatar appears. In it's non continuity is the story of the neglect of mental illness.

  15. History of Mental Health Services in South Mrica

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    1974-11-16

    Nov 16, 1974 ... 1875 prizes of £20 and £5 were offered for the best designs for a lunatic ... In the interval between the two World Wars an ad- mission block for men ... planting had been actively pursued during that year. In more recent years ...

  16. Psychiatrists, criminals, and the law: forensic psychiatry in Switzerland 1850-1950.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Germann, Urs

    2014-01-01

    Between 1880 and 1950, Swiss psychiatrists established themselves as experts in criminal courts. In this period, the judicial authorities required psychiatric testimonies in a rising number of cases. As a result, more offenders than ever before were declared mentally deficient and, eventually, sent to psychiatric asylums. Psychiatrists also enhanced their authority as experts at the political level. From the very beginning, they got involved in the preparatory works for a nationwide criminal code. In this article, I argue that these trends toward medicalization of crime were due to incremental processes, rather than spectacular institutional changes. In fact, Swiss psychiatrists gained recognition as experts due to their daily interactions with judges, public prosecutors, and legal counsels. At the same time, the spread of medical expertise had serious repercussions on psychiatric institutions. From 1942 onwards, asylums had to deal with a growing number of "criminal psychopaths," which affected ward discipline and put psychiatry's therapeutic efficiency into question. The defensive way in which Swiss psychiatrists reacted to this predicament was crucial to the further development of forensic psychiatry. For the most part, it accounts for the subdiscipline's remarkable lack of specialization until the 1990s. © 2013.

  17. Refugee experiences of general practice in countries of resettlement: a literature review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, I-Hao; Drillich, Ann; Schattner, Peter

    2015-03-01

    Refugees and asylum seekers often struggle to use general practice services in resettlement countries. To describe and analyse the literature on the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers using general practice services in countries of resettlement. Literature review using systematic search and narrative data extraction and synthesis methodologies. International, peer-reviewed literature published in English language between 1990 and 2013. Embase, Ovid MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CSA Sociological Abstracts, and CINAHL databases were searched using the terms: refugee, asylum seeker, experience, perception, doctor, physician, and general practitioner. Titles, abstracts and full texts were reviewed and were critically appraised. Narrative themes describing the refugee or asylum seeker's personal experiences of general practice services were identified, coded, and analysed. From 8722 papers, 85 were fully reviewed and 23 included. These represented the experiences of approximately 864 individuals using general practice services across 11 countries. Common narrative themes that emerged were: difficulties accessing general practice services, language barriers, poor doctor-patient relationships, and problems with the cultural acceptability of medical care. The difficulties refugees and asylum seekers experience accessing and using general practice services could be addressed by providing practical support for patients to register, make appointments, and attend services, and through using interpreters. Clinicians should look beyond refugee stereotypes to focus on the needs and expectations of the individual. They should provide clear explanations about unfamiliar clinical processes and treatments while offering timely management. © British Journal of General Practice 2015.

  18. Statistical descriptions of scaphoid and lunate bone shapes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van de Giessen, Martijn; Foumani, Mahyar; Streekstra, Geert J.; Strackee, Simon D.; Maas, Mario; van Vliet, Lucas J.; Grimbergen, Kees A.; Vos, Frans M.

    2010-01-01

    Diagnosing of injuries of the wrist bones is problematic due to a highly complex and variable geometry. knowledge of variations of healthy bone shapes is essential to detect wrist pathologies, developing prosthetics and investigating biomechanical properties of the wrist joint. In previous

  19. Psychiatric care in restricted conditions for work migrants, refugees and asylum seekers: experience of the Open Clinic for Work Migrants and Refugees, Israel 2006.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lurie, Ido

    2009-01-01

    In the last few decades, the State of Israel has become a target for work migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking, as part of the trend of world immigration. Immigration is a process of loss and change with significant socio-psychological stress, with possible effects on the immigrants' mental health. The Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR) Association operates a psychiatric clinic as part of the Open Clinic for Work Migrants and Refugees. This article will present major clinical issues regarding psychiatry and immigration in Israel according to the data collected at the clinic. Trauma and stress-related psychopathology was found to have a high prevalence in immigrant patients treated at the clinic; prevalence of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in immigrants was high (23%) and even higher in refugees (33%). Female immigrants are at higher risk for psychiatric hospitalization. The relative rate of African patients at the clinic is significantly higher than patients from other continents. A significant association was found between psychiatric hospitalization and suicide attempts. Immigrant patients present a combination of psychiatric, socio-economic and general medical conditions, which demands a holistic view of the patient. The evaluation of an immigrant patient must take into account the stress related to immigration, gender, culture of origin and the risk for suicide and hospitalization. Treatment recommendations include awareness of cultural diversities, acquiring information regarding the pre-immigration history, preferably using cultural consultants with background in the immigrants' culture and community. Decision-making about medication and diagnostic evaluation should be as inexpensive as possible. Basic human needs (food, shelter) and family support should be included in the decisions about treatment.

  20. Psychological Analysis of "Humboldt's Gift" from the Perspective of Lacan's Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiang, Fang

    2017-01-01

    Two protagonists Humboldt and Citrine in "Humboldt's gift" are characterized as restless even lunatic, for they are constantly or madly seeking something such as honor, power or intimate relationship something or other. This thesis intends to analyze Humboldt and Citrine's psychological troubles from the perspective of Lacan's theory and…

  1. The hamatolunate facet: characterization and association with cartilage lesions - magnetic resonance arthrography and anatomic correlation in cadaveric wrists

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pfirrmann, C.W.A. [Department of Radiology, Veterans Administration Medical Center, 3350 La Jolla Village Dr., San Diego, CA 92161 (United States); Orthopedic University Hospital Balgrist, Department of Radiology, Forchstrasse 340, 8008 Zurich (Switzerland); Theumann, N.H.; Chung, C.B.; Trudell, D.J.; Resnick, D. [Department of Radiology, Veterans Administration Medical Center, 3350 La Jolla Village Dr., San Diego, CA 92161 (United States)

    2002-08-01

    The objective of this study was to characterize the appearance of the hamatolunate facet using high-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) arthrography in cadavers and to correlate the presence of this anatomic variant with the presence of osteoarthritis in the wrist. High-resolution MR images of 22 cadaveric wrist specimens were obtained after tri-compartmental arthrography. Two readers in consensus analyzed the MR images and recoded the presence or absence of a hamatolunate facet. Geometric characteristics and cartilage and ligament integrity were analyzed. A third reader, who was blinded to the purpose of the study, recorded cartilage lesions of all the bones of the proximal and distal carpal rows. A hamatolunate facet was present in 11 of 22 wrists (50%). The mean coronal size of the lunate facet at the lunate (type II lunate) was 4.5 mm (range, 2-6 mm). The highest frequencies of cartilage lesions were seen in the scapho-trapezio-trapezoid joint (45.5%) and at the proximal pole of the hamate (54.4% and 40.9% for consensus reading/blinded reading, respectively). In cases with a hamatolunate facet, the frequency of cartilage lesions in the proximal pole of the hamate was 81.8% and 63.6% versus 27.3% and 18.2% without such a facet (chi-squared, P=0.01/P=0.03). No correlation of the presence of a hamatolunate facet with interosseous ligament tears or lesions of the triangular fibrocartilage was seen. In conclusion, the hamatolunate facet is a very common anatomic variant. The presence of a hamatolunate facet is associated with cartilage damage in the proximal pole of the hamate. (orig.)

  2. Tuberculosis and Migration: A Challenge for Medical Staff and Public Health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ines Griesshammer

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available A high number of asylum seekers enter Switzerland every year. They often originate from countries with a high TB prevalence. Our patient from Somalia presented with 2 lipoma-like tumors with pain on palpation on his left chest wall but no symptoms including coughing, fever, night-sweats, or loss of weight. CT scan then showed diffuse infiltrations of his lung and multiple abscesses on his left chest wall. Therefore contagious tuberculosis (TB was suspected and the patient was put in isolation. In the follow-up the diagnosis of open TB was proofed with bronchial secretion and EBUS-guided biopsy that showed acid-fast rods. This particular case shows how difficult the identification of patients with open TB can be, especially if there are no respiratory or systemic symptoms. Therefore awareness of possible infectious disease is paramount for ED Doctors treating patients from countries with high prevalence. Early and strict isolation measures can help to reduce risk of contagion among staff and patients.

  3. Immigration of Roma from Republic of Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatjana Vukelić

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The questions of immigration are topics of high interest for the contemporary migration studies. Particularly relevant for the Western European countries is the immigration of Roma. This study analyzes the case of Roma asylum-seekers from Republic of Serbia to Federal Republic of Germany, which assumed a new dimension following the visa liberation. Focus of this article are the links among the social, economical, transitional and political conditions of Roma asylum-seeking, as well as an analysis of potential networks and knowledge transfer among Roma. In particular is to be understand if there is any transnational networking between Roma in home countries and abroad as well if Roma asylum-seekers have to be seen as perpetrators or rather victims of the political occurrences in the concerning country.

  4. Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences: A pioneer in the field of psychiatry in India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaudhury, Suprakash; Bakhla, Ajay Kumar; Soren, Subhas

    2018-02-01

    Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS; Ranchi Indian Mental Hospital; Ranchi Manasik Aryogyashala) traces its origin from a lunatic asylum for Indian soldiers established at Munghyr in Bihar in 1795 and thus is the first mental hospital in India established by the British purely for Indian patients as well as the second oldest functioning mental hospital in India. The hospital made great strides in improving patients care and using modern methods of assessment and treatment as well as education and research during the tenure of Dr J E Dhunjibhoy the first Indian medical superintendent. As a result the mortality rate was the lowest among the mental hospitals in Indian. There was a shift from custodial care to curative treatment. Since 1930s psychiatric training was given to undergraduate medical students of Patna Medical College and subsequently from Darbhanga and Cuttack. The Institute was affiliated to Universities of London and Edinburgh for Diploma in Psychological Medicine in 1936. The thesis work of the first Indian MD (Psychiatry) was done at this institute. Subsequently many psychiatrists completed their MD (Psychiatry) under the guidance of Dr L.P. Verma at this institute. A number of staff and alumini of the institute held the post of President and office bearers of Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS), starting with Dr J.E. Dhunjibhoy, the first president of the IPS. The Institute declined in the 1980s but after intervention of the Supreme Court it was transformed into an autonomous institute. Under the new dispensation the institution is regaining its vitality. Care and facilities for inpatients has greatly improved. Laboratory and imaging services have been updated. Modern facilities for eye and dental surgery are available. Attendance in outpatient department and especially in satellite clinics is increasing. Postgraduate training in psychiatry, clinical psychology, psychiatric social work and psychiatric nursing has started and

  5. Public Health England's Migrant Health Guide: an online resource for primary care practitioners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crawshaw, A F; Kirkbride, H

    2018-05-01

    Approximately 13% of the UK population in 2015 was born overseas. Most migrants have come to the UK to work or study although there has been a small increase in the number of asylum applications in the UK in recent years, reflective of the ongoing humanitarian situation across Europe. Migrants in the UK tend to be young and healthy, but some may face unique health needs as a result of their experiences before, during and after migration. For these needs to be appropriately recognised and addressed, evidence-based advice is needed for UK professionals. The Migrant Health Guide is a free online tool for healthcare professionals. It was launched in 2011 and is widely used in the UK and internationally. It has four sections: 1) Migrants and the NHS-information on access and entitlements to the National Health Service (NHS); 2) Assessing patients-includes a checklist for initial healthcare assessments and advice for patients travelling abroad to visit friends and relatives; 3) Countries-country-specific advice on infectious diseases, women's health and nutritional and metabolic concerns; and 4) Health topics-information about communicable and non-communicable diseases and other health issues. The guide has undergone an extensive update in 2017. In particular, the pages on mental health and human trafficking have been expanded. A formal evaluation will obtain feedback on the guide and measure changes in awareness, knowledge, opinions, attitudes and behaviour of end users. Findings will inform future revisions and updates to the guide. Public Health England's Migrant Health Guide is a valuable resource for healthcare professionals. The relaunched guide builds on the previous version in raising awareness of key issues and providing evidence-based advice to improve the health of migrants and refugees internationally and in the UK. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Representations and coverage of non-English-speaking immigrants and multicultural issues in three major Australian health care publications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garrett, Pamela W; Dickson, Hugh G; Whelan, Anna Klinken; Whyte, Linda

    2010-01-03

    No recent Australian studies or literature, provide evidence of the extent of coverage of multicultural health issues in Australian healthcare research. A series of systematic literature reviews in three major Australian healthcare journals were undertaken to discover the level, content, coverage and overall quality of research on multicultural health. Australian healthcare journals selected for the study were The Medical Journal of Australia (MJA), The Australian Health Review (AHR), and The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health (ANZPH). Reviews were undertaken of the last twelve (12) years (1996-August 2008) of journal articles using six standard search terms: 'non-English-speaking', 'ethnic', 'migrant', 'immigrant', 'refugee' and 'multicultural'. In total there were 4,146 articles published in these journals over the 12-year period. A total of 90 or 2.2% of the total articles were articles primarily based on multicultural issues. A further 62 articles contained a major or a moderate level of consideration of multicultural issues, and 107 had a minor mention. The quantum and range of multicultural health research and evidence required for equity in policy, services, interventions and implementation is limited and uneven. Most of the original multicultural health research articles focused on newly arrived refugees, asylum seekers, Vietnamese or South East Asian communities. While there is some seminal research in respect of these represented groups, there are other communities and health issues that are essentially invisible or unrepresented in research. The limited coverage and representation of multicultural populations in research studies has implications for evidence-based health and human services policy.

  7. Representations and coverage of non-English-speaking immigrants and multicultural issues in three major Australian health care publications

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    Background No recent Australian studies or literature, provide evidence of the extent of coverage of multicultural health issues in Australian healthcare research. A series of systematic literature reviews in three major Australian healthcare journals were undertaken to discover the level, content, coverage and overall quality of research on multicultural health. Australian healthcare journals selected for the study were The Medical Journal of Australia (MJA), The Australian Health Review (AHR), and The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health (ANZPH). Reviews were undertaken of the last twelve (12) years (1996-August 2008) of journal articles using six standard search terms: 'non-English-speaking', 'ethnic', 'migrant', 'immigrant', 'refugee' and 'multicultural'. Results In total there were 4,146 articles published in these journals over the 12-year period. A total of 90 or 2.2% of the total articles were articles primarily based on multicultural issues. A further 62 articles contained a major or a moderate level of consideration of multicultural issues, and 107 had a minor mention. Conclusions The quantum and range of multicultural health research and evidence required for equity in policy, services, interventions and implementation is limited and uneven. Most of the original multicultural health research articles focused on newly arrived refugees, asylum seekers, Vietnamese or South East Asian communities. While there is some seminal research in respect of these represented groups, there are other communities and health issues that are essentially invisible or unrepresented in research. The limited coverage and representation of multicultural populations in research studies has implications for evidence-based health and human services policy. PMID:20044938

  8. The Creeping Blight of Islamophobia in Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linda Briskman

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available In the latter months of 2014, following events in faraway Iraq and Syria, Australia responded forcefully at home. The manufactured fear of a terrorist attack resulted in police raids, increased counter-terrorism legislation and scare campaigns to alert the public to 'threat'. Although Islamophobia rose in Australia after 2001 it has been latent in recent years. It is on the rise again with collateral damage from government measures including verbal and physical attacks on Australian Muslims. Vitriol is also directed at asylum seekers and refugees. Media, government and community discourses converge to promote Islam as dangerous and deviant.

  9. Μία περίπτωση ἐφαρμογῆς τοῦ βυζαντινοῦ θεσμοῦ τοῦ ἀσύλου στήν Πελοπόννησο: Ἡ προσφυγή τῶν Σλάβων στό ναό τοῦ Ἁγίου Ανδρέα Πατρῶν

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ηλίας ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΤΑΚΗΣ

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Ilias Anagnostakis and Anna LambropoulouAn instance of the implementation of the Byzantine institution of asylum in the Peloponnese: the Slavs seek sanctuary in the Church of St Andrew of PatraiThe events which took place in the Peloponnese in the early ninth century (c. 800 are recorded in later sources, mostly of the tenth century. Following the establishment of the theme system of territorial administration and the securing of ecclesiastical order in the region, the emperor Nikephoros I, in implementing his new fiscal and economic policy, took steps to increase the number of inhabitants by systematically encouraging the settlement of new population groups from outside the area. It was within this general context and during this same period that the rebellion of the Slavs in Achaia, as described by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, needs to be viewed. Clearly, also, the phenomenon needs to be seen within the context of the specific social climate of the region where radical change was taking place and significant breaks with the past were occurring. During the repression of the rebellion the Slavs sought sanctuary in the church of the Apostle Andrew. As a result of this move, however, the rebels were given special treatment as they were viewed as having repented their actions. This was an occurrence whose more general implications are worthy of further study. Looked at from the broader ecclesiastical and political perspective, there are certain characteristic features to be noted in the attitudes towards asylum and the priority ascribed to ecclesiastical over civil law in Constantinople at the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth centuries. At the beginning of the ninth century, during the reign of Nikephoros I and while Tarasios was on the patriarchal throne (784-806, the flight of the defeated Slavs to the Church of St Andrew and the relative leniency that was shown them by the state suggest that here we are dealing with an

  10. A Preliminary Human Rights Analysis of the Working Group Report and Recommendations on Direct Provision

    OpenAIRE

    Thornton, Liam

    2015-01-01

    Overall, the Report contains a mix of significant recommendations on the protection process and processing of asylum claims. However, I argue, there are significant concerns with the recommendations that have emerged as regards direct provision accommodation and supports for asylum applicants. The focus of this working paper relates to categorising some of the recommendations contained in the McMahon Report and providing some initial analysis. This analysis is not an exhaustive exploration...

  11. Effect of Restricting Access to Health Care on Health Expenditures among Asylum-Seekers and Refugees: A Quasi-Experimental Study in Germany, 1994-2013.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kayvan Bozorgmehr

    Full Text Available Access to health care for asylum-seekers and refugees (AS&R in Germany is initially restricted before regular access is granted, allegedly leading to delayed care and increasing costs of care. We analyse the effects of (a restricted access; and (b two major policy reforms (1997, 2007 on incident health expenditures for AS&R in 1994-2013.We used annual, nation-wide, aggregate data of the German Federal Statistics Office (1994-2013 to compare incident health expenditures among AS&R with restricted access (exposed to AS&R with regular access (unexposed. We calculated incidence rate differences (∆IRt and rate ratios (IRRt, as well as attributable fractions among the exposed (AFe and the total population (AFp. The effects of between-group differences in need, and of policy reforms, on differences in per capita expenditures were assessed in (segmented linear regression models. The exposed and unexposed groups comprised 4.16 and 1.53 million person-years. Per capita expenditures (1994-2013 were higher in the group with restricted access in absolute (∆IRt = 375.80 Euros [375.77; 375.89] and relative terms (IRR = 1.39. The AFe was 28.07% and the AFp 22.21%. Between-group differences in mean age and in the type of accommodation were the main independent predictors of between-group expenditure differences. Need variables explained 50-75% of the variation in between-group differences over time. The 1997 policy reform significantly increased ∆IRt adjusted for secular trends and between-group differences in age (by 600.0 Euros [212.6; 986.2] and sex (by 867.0 Euros [390.9; 1342.5]. The 2007 policy reform had no such effect.The cost of excluding AS&R from health care appears ultimately higher than granting regular access to care. Excess expenditures attributable to the restriction were substantial and could not be completely explained by differences in need. An evidence-informed discourse on access to health care for AS&R in Germany is needed; it

  12. Pengakhiran Hukum bagi Pengungsi di Negara Ketiga: Praktik Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fitria Fitria

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Setiap orang selalu berupaya memiliki kehidupan yang aman, damai dan sejahtera dimana hak dan kebebasannya dijamin negara. Sayangnya, sampai saat ini masih terjadi konflik atau kegagalan negara dalam mewujudkan hal tersebut bagi warga negaranya. Hal tersebutlah yang menyebabkan orang-orang yang tidak terpenuhi haknya kemudian mencari suaka ke negara-negara yang dapat memberikan apa yang mereka inginkan, yaitu negara maju. Upaya mencari suaka yang dilakukan dengan segala keterbatasan menyebabkan para pencari suaka dalam perjalanannya terhenti dan bahkan menetap selamanya di negara ketiga. Dalam hukum internasional, perlindungan atas pencari suaka dan pengungsi diakomodasi oleh Konvensi Pengungsi 1951. Permasalahannya negara ketiga yang sering menjadi tempat pemberhentian bahkan penampungan pencari suaka dan pengungsi kebanyakan tidak meratifikasi konvensi tersebut, meskipun setiap negara mengakui prinsip non-refoulement bagi pengungsi dan pencari suaka sebagai kebiasaan internasional, termasuk Indonesia. Tulisan ini mengkaji praktik perlindungan dan tindakan lainnya yang dilakukan Indonesia dalam menangani permasalahan pengungsi di wilayah NKRI sebagai negara non-peratifikasi, termasuk keterlibatan dan kerjasama organisasi internasional seperti IOM dan UNHCR. Abstract Every person tends to strive for having a safe, peaceful, and prosperous life in which their rights and freedom are guaranteed by the state. Unfortunately, conflicts or state failures on realizing its citizens’ rights still occur untill now. This is become the sole reason why people seek asylum in countries that may provide their rights, namely the developed countries. Lack of logistic support caused asylum seekers stop and even settled permanently in a third country. In international law, the protection of asylum seekers and refugees are regulated by the 1951 Refugee Convention. The problem comes up as the third countries which often become shelters or even dismissal places of

  13. English-Macedonian

    OpenAIRE

    Ananiev, Jovan; Ivanovska, Hristina; Sokolova, Snezana; Shumkovski, Aleksandar; Shishkovska-Nikolovska, Nevenka

    2004-01-01

    The English-Macedonian dictionary on Refugee and Asylum Law presents a supplementary edition of the Pocket Dictionary on Refugee and Asylum. The dictionary is prepared by the Center for Refugees and Forced Migration Studies learn at the Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research. We would like to extend warm thanks for the preparation of the dictionary. to Mr:Tihomir Nikolovski, Protection Assistant of the UNHCR branch office, who is the consulting editor and to Mr.Z...

  14. Le réfugié dans le droit international durant la seconde moitié du dix-neuvième siècle

    OpenAIRE

    Rygiel , Philippe

    2016-01-01

    International audience; This chapter deals with asylum and refuge in international law between the 1870’s and the First World War. I will focus on the Institute of International Law, which tackles those issues mainly while discussing the extradition clauses of international treaties. The close observation of the debates shows that the representatives of the major European states agree during this period to fight the definition of asylum right that the refugees could use, while defending the p...

  15. Právní úprava statusu osob se zvláštními potřebami v azylových směrnicích EU

    OpenAIRE

    Neumannová, Jiřina

    2011-01-01

    Legal regulation of the status of persons with special needs in the EU Asylum directives (Abstract) By the very nature of their status, applicants for international protection and recognized refugees are among the most vulnerable persons. Within this group, there is also a subgroup of persons with special problems, risks and needs that make them even more vulnerable. This subgroup of persons with special needs is provided special protection within the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). The...

  16. Report on the lunar ranging at McDonald Observatory, 1 February - 31 May 1976

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palm, C. S.; Wiant, J. R.

    1976-01-01

    The four spring lunations produced 105 acquisitions, including the 2000th range measurement made at McDonald Observatory. Statistics were normal for the spring months. Laser and electronics problems are noted. The Loran-C station delay was corrected. Preliminary doubles data is shown. New magnetic tape data formats are presented. R and D efforts include a new laser modification design.

  17. [From South Tyrol to Württemberg: the "resettlement" of South Tyrolean psychiatric patients within the Germano-Italian Option Agreement of 1939].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiebrandt, Maria; Rüdenburg, Bodo; Müller, Thomas

    2012-01-01

    Object of this article is the procedure of the transport of South Tyrol patients to the South Wuerttemberg asylums Zwiefalten und Schussenried as well as to some extent to the former asylum of Weissenau near Ravensburg in 1940 and 1942. Attention is focused on the pioneering state pre-negotiations, the so-called option treaties between the German Reich and Fascist Italy as part of the general aspect of National Socialist bio-Politics.The treatment of these South Tyrol patients in the asylums themselves, as well as their fate will be put into the context of the resettlement actions at the margins of the "Third Reich", which started in 1939 and widely affected the European continent. By presenting the abuse of medical patients in the aim to solve the political problems having occurred after bio-political goals had been set into practice, this study offers new material to the history of National Socialist psychiatry, as well as to National Socialist Foreign Policy in the case of Italy.

  18. Suffering Has No Race or Nation: The Psychological Impact of the Refugee Crisis in Hungary and the Occurrence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

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    Szabolcs Kéri

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The “European migrant crisis” is one of the greatest social, political, and cultural challenges since World War II. Hundreds of thousands of people exposed to multiple psychological traumas are trying to find shelter in Europe. It would be indispensable to gain more information about the mental health of these individuals. The aim of the present study was to explore the occurrence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among refugees arriving in Hungary. Participants received the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire-Revised (HTQ, which was validated against the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview 6.0 (MINI. We interviewed 450 asylum seekers (332 male, 43% from Syria. There were 189 men (57% and 85 women (72% who received the diagnosis of PTSD. Altogether, 274 asylum seekers (61% met PTSD criteria. Individuals from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq plus other countries displayed similar PTSD rates. The extremely high occurrence of PTSD in asylum seekers suffering from the global crisis calls for immediate attention and efforts to implement integrated solutions in Europe.

  19. Publicity and public relations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fosha, Charles E.

    1990-01-01

    This paper addresses approaches to using publicity and public relations to meet the goals of the NASA Space Grant College. Methods universities and colleges can use to publicize space activities are presented.

  20. O asilo de S. João do Porto : entre a nova pedagogia e o higienismo (1890-1926

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    Maria José Moutinho Santos

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This article explores the uniqueness of a charitable, social solidarity institution for children at risk, the «Asilo de S. João» (St. John’s Asylum, founded by the Freemasonry in 1891, in Porto. It was created within an international context of multidisciplinary discussion on minors at risk, and innovative experiences with regard to schooling. The analysis is based on the documents held in the institution’s archives, examining the guiding principles and various educational practices already embedded in the programming of the «new pedagogy» and public hygiene, showing the modernity of the choices made at the time.