Diskriminierung geflüchteter Kinder bei der Nicht-Ausstellung von Geburtsurkunden
Martha Engelhardt | Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin (ASH) | Germany

Racism in public health authorities – a narrative scoping review
Dr. Yudit Namer | Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften, Universität Bielefeld | Germany

 

Background:
While racism in health care services is increasingly well-researched, public health services and public health authorities (PHA) have been neglected as relevant contexts. Yet, public health authorities play an essential role in protecting and promoting population health at a local and national level.

Method:
With a scoping review, we systematically mapped the academic discourse on racism in PHA. We searched in PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO and CINAHL as well as the reference list of included academic literature. Eligible literature assessed racism in interactions between all stakeholders involved or in the actions (not) taken by PHA, while we excluded literature that exclusively focused on health care facilities.

Findings:
We included 13 sources that included survey and intervention studies as well as opinion pieces and conference abstracts. Most of the literature focused on the US, Australia and New Zealand. The Tuskegee experiment has been discussed extensively acknowledging the political and sociocultural elements of the racist, inhumane practices and policies in PHA. More recent literature explores anti-racism approaches and how they can facilitate access for racialised, multiple socially stigmatised groups (e.g. screening uptake in racialised queer people).

Discussion:
The literature on racism in PHA is very limited, mostly processing historical policies. Studies on how racism affects equitable access to PHA and the associated health inequities were lacking. Public health research on racism needs to extend the scope from health care services to the under researched public health services and authorities.

Racialized "Othering" consequences on forced migrant women's mental health in the postnatal period: A Qualitative study – [A critical psychology perspective]
Razan Al Munjid | Alice Salomon Hochschule (ASH) | Germany

Background:
Little research, both internationally and in Germany, emphasizes forced migrant (FM) new mothers’ mental health (MH) in the postnatal period. The existing studies mostly fail to acknowledge the structural aspects of MH and focus on the individual one. The study’s aim is to attain knowledge for action on how to enhance FM women’s postnatal MH based on their conceptions and needs.

Methods:
For this qualitative study 15 individual problem-centred interviews and 6 focus groups discussion were carried out in Arabic with FM new mothers living in Germany within the postnatal period to 1 year postpartum. FM new mothers were invited via snow ball and purposive sampling method. The transcripts were translated into English and analysed using the Framework Analysis. Within a participatory approach, the results were discussed and analysed with FM new mothers.

Result:
FM new mothers described emotional symptoms that could signify experiencing postpartum depression, whereas some cited the physical symptoms as a result of psychosocial distress. FM new mothers identified needs related to contextual factors to enhance maternal MH (e.g. uncomplicated baby’s birth certificate issuing) as well as to healthcare system factors (e.g. providing interpreters).

Lessons learned:
The study adopts critical approaches to MH that contrast the mainstream approach. Acknowledging the impact of social and structural factors alongside the psychological ones on FM new mothers' MH is thus fundamental for more effective intervention planning. We advocate establishing a responsive and inclusive health care system that caters to FM new mothers’ needs.