Copyright

Sandra Schiller; Angelika Roschka; Kathrin Weiss;

Published On

2025-09-09

Page Range

pp. 229–260

Language

  • English

Print Length

32 pages

10. Culturally Responsive Practice in Refugee Health

Chapter of: Interprofessional Approach to Refugee Health: A Practical Guide for Interdisciplinary Health and Social Care Teams(pp. 229–260)
The health of persons with refugee experience is a multifaceted issue, strongly influenced by culture, diversity, and the principles of health equity. This chapter explores these dimensions by introducing key concepts and providing examples of practical applications in the context of refugee health. The first section introduces the constructivist understanding of culture and shifts the focus from merely understanding cultural nuances to appreciating diversity as a critical component of health equity in a diverse society. To illustrate the practical relevance of this approach, in the following section Angelika Roschka describes the role of occupational therapists in facilitating social inclusion Another important issue is the influence of the cultural backgrounds of both patients and health practitioners on their perceptions and interpretations of illness and pain, which is discussed in the third section of this chapter. Last but not least, the final section integrates international case stories of individuals with refugee experience and case studies on interprofessional practice. This section emphasizes the collaborative efforts required in culturally-responsive interprofessional practice to effectively address the health needs of persons with refugee experience. Overall, the chapter aims to outline prerequisites for culturally responsive practice as an essential contribution to a more inclusive and equitable healthcare environment for all.

Contributors

Sandra Schiller

(author)
Lecturer and Honorary Professor specialising in Health Humanities at the Faculty of Social Work and Health at University of Applied Sciences and Arts University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5970-6831

Sandra Schiller is a lecturer and honorary professor specialising in Health Humanities at the Faculty of Social Work and Health, HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen (Germany). She completed her studies in Medieval and Modern History, English Literature and Linguistics. Her doctoral research explored the influence of political and cultural discourses on the formation of national identity in the context of the United Kingdom. Since 2008, she has led various (interprofessional) projects supporting health promotion, well-being and health literacy among persons with refugee experience in Hildesheim. She was a founding member of the Occupational Therapy Europe Interest Group on Displaced Persons and currently leads the German Occupational Therapy Association’s Working Group on Community Development, responsible for developing occupational therapy services for persons with refugee experience outside the traditional healthcare sector.

Angelika Roschka

(author)
Lecturer in the Occupational Therapy programme at Ernst Abbe University of Applied Sciences Jena
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6127-9688

Angelika Roschka, M.Sc., an occupational therapist, lecturer in the Occupational Therapy programme at Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena, University of Applied Sciences, and with her company step2diversity she is a trainer and coach for anti bias, democracy and transculture. Angelika has years of experience working with refugees in a small town in Germany. Prior to this, she worked as a community occupational therapist in Kathmandu, Nepal, and then in Cairo, Egypt, conducting and supervising the training of teachers in therapeutic assessment and intervention of children with special needs.

Kathrin Weiss

(author)

Kathrin Weiss, born in 1964, has been an occupational therapist since 1989 and lives in Bremen in northern Germany. Master's degree at the HAWK in Hildesheim on the subject of prevention. She has been teaching for 20 years with a focus on interprofessionalism and professional reasoning.