Funded by: Department of Occupational Health Research, German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the Health and Welfare Services

Project duration: 36 months (2016/01 – 2018/12)

Key terms: cultural competence, workforce migration, live-in caregivers, nurses, immigration background, home nursing care, psychological strains

Website: www.ikoe-pflege.de

Project description:

The German population is growing older, and thus, the amount of people in need of home care is increasing. Since the need of nurses cannot be satisfied with autochthonous healthcare personnel, nurses with immigration background are increasingly being recruited. Not only is the number of nurses with an immigration background growing continuously but also the percentage of foreign-born people in Germany is on the rise.

Nurses are most frequently affected by psychological and physical strains among all healthcare professionals. Nurses with an immigration background additionally experience cultural and verbal barriers that not only impede their everyday work, but also impair their health and thus their ability to work.

Due to missing data, the question remains unanswered whether nurses with immigrant background experience more or other psychosocial and health-related strains in the workplace when compared to their autochthonous colleagues. The study represents a move towards identifying and quantifying stressors as well as resources of nurses with immigrant background in the workplace.

Thus, following subprojects are being conducted:

• A qualitative analysis of the health and working conditions of nurses with and without immigration backgrounds
• A qualitative analysis of live-in caregivers working conditions and health
• An organizational analysis of homecare providers in the context of cross-cultural opening
• A quantitative frequency analysis of the stressors and resources of nurses with and without immigration background

An interdisciplinary group of nursing experts supports the project team to critically reflect upon and discuss the ongoing research process. In identifying and quantifying occupational stressors of nurses with immigrant background, this projects aims to further develop the quality of processes and structures in home nursing care.

Project team details:

• Mike Mösko, Dr. phil., Dipl.‐Psych., Principal investigator, mmoesko@uke.de
• Benjamin Schilgen, B.A. Pflege, MHS, GuKP, PhD candidate, b.schilgen@uke.de
• Albert Nienhaus, Prof. Dr. med., MPH, Cooperation partner, Albert.Nienhaus@bgw-online.de
• Holger Schulz, Prof. Dr. phil., Dipl.-Psych., Cooperation partner, schulz@uke.de