Acquiring health resources during settlement in rural areas? Refugees' experiences of health infrastructure and leisure practices in Germany

Abstract

Addressing the research desideratum of health status and practices of refugees in the settlement phase as well as rural specificities in dealing with health issues, this article explores refugees’ self-reported health status as well as experiences with health infrastructure. Following a salutogenic approach to health, we consider both disease prevention and health promotion and explicitly take into account leisure practices as a way to acquire health resources. Results firstly show a persistence of self-reported diseases and manifold interactions with the settlement process, e.g. housing or language acquisition. Secondly, we found that refugees are looking for (new) leisure activities at the place of living, which allow to gain sovereignty about everyday lives and thus improve their health status. Based on our results, we suggest to take up post-medicinal and life-course approaches in future research designs for a more profound understanding of migrant health.