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The Institute for Transcultural Health Research (ITG) aims, through its research and teaching, to improve health care for people from other cultures. To provide needs-based care for migrants and refugees, it is necessary to integrate cultural aspects into psychosocial support measures. Against this backdrop, the ITG is dedicated to researching various culturally shaped concepts of illness and health, developing culturally sensitive intervention programs both in Germany and abroad, and conducting continuing education courses on transcultural topics for healthcare professionals.

On this platform, we also provided information on culture-specific aspects of psychosocial care for migrants and refugees during the COVID-19 crisis.

The platform—including a Kurdish version for people in northern Iraq—is supported by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts.

Press release on the online platform

The experiences from the “MiMi – Violence Prevention with Migrant Women for Migrant Women – Capacity Building for Violence Prevention, Self-Protection, and Empowerment for Refugee Women and Girls in Germany 2016” (MiMi Violence Prevention) project have shown that information and prevention efforts must target not only women but also men. Based on the concept developed for women, training content and informational materials were therefore developed for men, focusing on a gender-specific perspective on violence and sexuality and how to address these issues.

Men with immigrant backgrounds were trained at various locations nationwide. As intercultural mediators, they now provide culturally, linguistically, and gender-sensitive information on forms of gender-based violence, violence prevention, reinterpreting cultural and structural violence, alternative strategies, as well as protection options and coping strategies. In conjunction with this, a guidebook was developed for refugee and newly arrived men. Volunteers and professionals from the violence prevention system as well as the support system for refugees were trained and connected through a network.

The project was scientifically monitored and evaluated by the DHBW project team, led by Prof. Dr. Dr. Kizilhan. The findings were presented and discussed at a nationwide symposium held in Berlin on December 19, 2018.

Contacts: Prof. Dr. Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan, Claudia Klett, Andreas Sauter

 

Cooperation partner:

Ethnomedizinisches Zentrum e. V.

Funded by: The Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees, and Integration

Link to the MiMi homepage

Link to the learning resource “MiMi Violence Prevention”

As part of the PSYCH-On pilot project, e-learning modules on the topic of “Health—Mental Illness and Rehabilitation” were developed from October 2014 to March 2018 as a supplementary teaching and learning resource for the “Social Work” degree program. The course addressed selected mental disorders from the ICD-10 classification as well as specialized content applicable across various disorders. It consisted of a total of eleven learning units. Together with experienced social workers, recognized experts conveyed their knowledge through video and audio clips, animated graphics, and self-assessment exercises. Thanks to its modular structure, PSYCH-On can be used for both self-study and in blended learning scenarios.

Contacts: Prof. Dr. Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan, Kornelia Schlegel, Christiana Nolte