Immigrant Patients Adapt to the Culture of Admission and Experience Less Safety in Forensic Psychiatric Care

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Larissa Titze¹  Michael Büsselmann¹  Maximilian Lutz¹  Judith Streb¹  Manuela Dudeck¹ 

[1] Department of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Ulm

关键词: acculturation;    migration background;    forensic psychiatry;    ward climate;    integration;    experienced safety;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.701544

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Patients with an immigrant background are overrepresented in forensic psychiatric hospitals. As a result, daily work is impeded by language barriers and cultural differences. Furthermore, general therapy processes have not yet been adapted to this special patient population, and little reliable knowledge is available. All immigrants go through an acculturation process, which is related to their mental well-being. Four acculturation strategies exist: integration, separation, assimilation, and marginalization. The strategy chosen depends on the extent of someone’s orientation toward their country of origin and the country of admission. The current study aimed to expand knowledge of forensic patients with a migration background in Germany by evaluating their self-reported acculturation processes and associated individual and social factors, e.g., the ward climate. Therefore, we studied forensic patients with a migration background from 11 forensic hospitals in Bavaria, Germany. Besides completing the Frankfurter Acculturation Scale (FRACC) and Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES), the participants provided information on their clinical and biographical history. We recruited 235 patients with a migration background and found that the participants oriented themselves more toward the culture of admission and less toward the country of origin than the reference sample did. Moreover, the patients experienced significantly less safety on the ward than the forensic reference sample did. A possible explanation for the patients’ orientation is the lack of possibilities to adhere to their cultural traditions. Patients may feel less safe because of their limited knowledge of German and cultural misunderstandings.

【 授权许可】

CC BY