Perceived Needs Among Asylum Seekers in Sweden: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

<jats:p>The health and well-being of asylum seekers in high-income countries is a concern from both individual and community perspectives. This study aims to describe the perceived needs of adult asylum seekers in Sweden. A mixed methods study was conducted that combined a non-randomized descriptive cross-sectional assessment of perceived serious needs using the Humanitarian Emergency Settings Perceived Needs Scale (HESPER) Web with 85 adult asylum seekers and focus group discussions with 14 adult asylum seekers in Sweden. Descriptive and comparative statistics were used for the quantitative part, and thematic analysis for the qualitative part. The total number of perceived serious needs reported by respondents ranged from zero to 13 needs per person with a mean of four needs (SD 2.71). The most commonly perceived serious needs were related to income or livelihood, separation from loved ones, being displaced from home, distress, and concerns about accessing adequate health care services. Many of the perceived needs appeared to be related to experiences of being dependent, in limbo, and vulnerable. Addressing people’s current perceived needs can contribute to resilience and well-being and therefore should be considered in health care systems that cater to immigrants.</jats:p>

Health needs and perception of health care quality among Asylum Seekers and Refugees in an Italian local health authority: A qualitative study

“…The barriers in approaching health services identified by our study, were also described in previous literature: linguistic barriers ( 13 , 29 , 69 , 72 ) and lack of cultural mediation ( 73 , 74 ), leading to lack of understanding and adherence to proposed healthcare practices or treatments; ASRs’ perception of discrimination and of “not being treated as human beings” ( 28 ); lack of continuity of care ( 72 ). All these issues can be included in a generic lack of cultural competence of the public health system.…”

“…Therefore, the perception of being stopped in this path may have been hardly acceptable to them. Previous studies described this situation of uncertainty as a “limbo” ( 28 , 29 ) characterized by empty time and long waiting, and influencing men and women wellbeing and health. The asylum application and the following renewal of the residence permit are directly associated with stress and mental health consequences ( 29 , 30 ).…”

The impact of the asylum determination process on mental health in the UK and EU+: A systematic review and thematic synthesis

“…I don´t feel very proud of being dependent on others. (47) The use of detention and reallocations further facilitated a perceived eradication of autonomy.…”

Measurement of perceived needs in humanitarian contexts using the HESPER scale: a scoping study with reflections on the collaboration between researchers and humanitarian actors

“…Half of the studies had used randomised or quota study sampling based on lists [13,16], the randomwalk method [13,15,16], or another method [14,17] (see Table 2). The remaining four studies used a nonrandomised convenience sample [8,19] or did not state whether any randomisation had been used [15,18]. The study sample size varied from 85 to 1000 study participants (mean 440, median 425), leading to a total of 3521 study participants being covered in this review.…”