The concept of “intercultural opening”: the development of an assessment tool for the appraisal of its current implementation in the mental health care system

Abstract

The German concept of "intercultural opening" is an approach to facilitating migrants' access to the health care system and improving the care they receive. No data exist concerning the current status of the implementation of this approach in Germany, and the concept has never been analysed in practice. To assess the status of "intercultural opening" in the German mental health care system and to further analyse the concept, we developed a tool by combining pre-existing instruments. In order to review the preliminary tool we combined experts' knowledge by carrying out a consensusoriented, expert-based Delphi process with actual practice by piloting the instrument in each type of institution to be assessed. The assessment tool thus developed(1) is the first one to evaluate the current status of "intercultural opening" in the community mental health care system in Germany from a broad perspective. This paper is intended to present the development process of our assessment tool for demonstrating the benefits of this approach and as a model for future studies, as well as to increase transparency in relation to the current German approach to health care structures in dealing with migrants.

EPA guidance on cultural competence training

“…Cultural competence should be considered at both the individual/clinical level as well as at the institutional level [18,40,43,90,91,102,129].…”

Der Stand der interkulturellen Öffnung in der psychosozialen Versorgung- Ergebnisse einer Studie in einem innerstädtischen Berliner Bezirk

“…B. die Aufnahme der interkulturellen Öffnung in die Konzep tion/ das Leitbild von Einrichtungen, die Initiative zur und Unterstützung der interkulturellen Öffnung durch die Einrichtungsleitung, die Anstellung sowie Verfügbarkeit von Mitarbeitenden mit Migrationshintergrund usw. [12]. Eine Veränderung…”

Refugees and asylum seekers in Europe

“…Based on an awareness of the fact that therapists see each patient in the context of the patient's culture as well as their own cultural values and prejudices, cultural competency comprises cultural sensitivity, cultural empathy and cultural insight (3,32,43). Therefore, it is necessary that cultural competence should be considered both at an individual/clinical level as well as at an institutional level (14,37,39,45). On the institutional level, legal imperatives can lead to proper and prompt change especially when related to languages, monitoring for adherence and availability of culturally appropriate structures such as food and rooms for prayer (43).…”