Safety and stability are the cornerstones of integration
Integration
4 Oct 2024
It is easier to function, integrate, and contribute to society when you feel welcome and able to make long-term plans. This is the key argument from Maria Marti-Castaner, a member of the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum, who urges Nordic countries to adopt more inclusive immigration policies.
– Stability and safety are fundamental human rights. When we feel secure and stable, we can plan for the future and work towards our goals. Maria Marti-Castaner is an associate professor at the Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity, and Health (MESU), and also serves as vice chairman of the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum. Together with other integration experts in the forum, she contributed to the joint presentation of policy recommendations to the Nordic integration ministers in the autumn of 2023.
As an expert on public mental health working on issues related to migration and mental health, Maria Marti-Castaner laid out her recommendations as follows: Create clear and accessible pathways to permanent residence. Facilitate family reunification. Ensure that rights and dignity of migrants are protected.
– In my own work, as well as in the work of other colleagues in the field of migration and mental health, we consistently observe how the challenges and discrimination faced by migrants affect both their psychological and social well-being. These challenges can include language barriers, struggles to find jobs, substandard living conditions, social exclusion or racism, which can contribute to mental health struggles.
Harsh government policies threaten migrant well-being
– It’s striking that while social organisations, NGOs, and parts of civil society are working to support newly arrived migrants, governments are becoming stricter, especially with certain migrant groups such as asylum seekers, by focusing on deterrence.
Maria Marti-Castaner highlights policies that have a negative impact on migrants’ well-being. One such example is the strict family reunification rules, which place considerable stress on families trying to build a life together when one partner is from outside the EU/EEA. Another example is the use of dispersal policies. (1)
– With the exception of Ukrainians, refugees in Denmark cannot choose where they live when they get their first residence permit; they are assigned to a municipality. Recent evidence shows that refugees allocated to highly disadvantaged neighbourhoods have a greater risk of psychiatric disorders and an increased use of psychiatric medication compared to those placed in more affluent areas.
Maria Marti-Castaner also highlights the reduction in state welfare benefits for refugee families in Denmark. While this change led to increased employment, it also resulted in more women leaving the workforce, a decline in children’s enrolment in childcare or preschool, and poorer performance in language tests and education levels. (2)
– These examples suggest that, in order to improve the well-being of migrants, we need to carefully investigate the effects of immigration and integration policies on migrants wellbeing and change harmful policies.
Migrant parenting and cultural identity in new societies
The Nordic Migrant Expert Forum is made up of individuals who were all born outside the Nordic region and have migrated to a Nordic country. Maria Marti-Castaner left her native Spain 15 years ago and has lived and worked in New York before settling in Copenhagen.
– In New York, I was working with various organisations that supported migrant communities, particularly focusing on migrant mothers, especially from Latin America. I also became a mother while I was in the US, far from home, and I think that experience helped me connect with them, even though we had different realities, contexts, and backgrounds, and made me become more interested in maternal mental health in the context of migration.
After moving to Copenhagen five years ago, Maria Marti-Castaner continued working on similar issues within a Danish context.
– I am still very interested in understanding what it means to migrate and become a parent in a foreign country, navigating new landscapes and societies while also maintaining some elements of your own culture. I wanted to explore how this experience shapes the way you see yourself and your children in a new society and the mental health of parents.
Maria Marti-Castaner says that while people with a migrant background are a highly diverse group, as parents, they often have more in common than what sets them apart. Everyone wants the best for their children. However, being a migrant can bring added challenges, such as lacking a support network while navigating new environments, or for some groups having to comply with strict requirements to obtain permanent residence.
– You must balance the demands of work, learning a new language, all while navigating unfamiliar aspects of your children’s lives, such as understanding the Danish school system, its expectations, and the role of parental involvement.
Social disadvantage hinders access to health care
Research shows that migrants, particularly those from low- and middle-income countries, are more likely to face challenging circumstances that impact their health, such as lower incomes.
– When they require healthcare, migrants often face additional challenges navigating the system and accessing the care they need. They may also experience greater social disadvantages, which can further impact their health.
Maria Marti-Castaner refers to research by her colleagues at MESU, Maj R. Nielsen and Signe S. Jervelund, who found that 1 in 5 migrants attending language schools in Denmark reported difficulties accessing quality healthcare due to financial constraints, communication barriers, and a lack of knowledge about the healthcare system. Refugees and their families, in particular, were more likely to encounter these challenges. (3)
– In my own work, we have also observed that migrant women experiencing postpartum depression symptoms are less likely to access mental health support. These findings highlight the need to improve both access to and the quality of care for people with migrant backgrounds. Access to good quality healthcare is a fundamental human right. (4)
Where state policy falls short, community initiatives thrive
In her policy recommendations to the Nordic integration ministers, Maria Marti-Castaner highlighted the need to reverse current migration policies that harm migrants’ well-being and emphasised the importance of policies that make it easier for migrants to feel welcome, safe, and able to make long-term plans in their new home country.
While challenges are prompting the need for reform at the state level within the Nordic countries, there are also promising strategies emerging at the community level.
– For instance, community group interventions like MindSpring, which focus on helping refugees cope with psychosocial stress, have been shown to improve their well-being. However, further evidence is needed to confirm its effectiveness and sustainability. (5)
Maria Marti-Castaner also highlights another successful example: Denmark’s Health Nurses Integration programme, implemented
between 2015 and 2017. (6)
– In this programme, home visiting nurses received training to better understand the needs of refugee families, spend more time addressing their needs, provide additional visits, and connect them with other municipal services.
Text: Sebastian Dahlström
Photo: Martin Thaulow
Sources:
(1): Neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage and psychiatric disorders among refugees: a population-based, quasi-experimental study in Denmark | Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (springer.com)
(2): EconStor: Lowering Welfare Benefits: Intended and Unintended Consequences for Migrants and their Families
(3): Experiences of access to healthcare among newly arrived immigrants in Denmark: Examining the role of residence permit – Maj R. Nielsen, Signe S. Jervelund, 2024 (sagepub.com)
(4) Santia, P., de Montgomery, C. J., & Marti-Castañer, M. (2022). Mental health care in the post-partum: differences between Danish-born, migrants and descendants. European Journal of Public Health, 32(Supplement_3), ckac130-212.
(5): Prevention of trauma-related mental health problems among refugees: A mixed-methods evaluation of the MindSpring group programme in Denmark – Husby – 2020 – Journal of Community Psychology – Wiley Online Library
(6): Sundhedsplejersker i banebrydende integrationsprojekt | VIA