Barriers to effective practice for health visitors working with asylum seekers and refugees.

The objective of this study was to determine the barriers to effective practice that health visitors experience when working with refugees and asylum seekers. This was a qualitative study based on the analysis of in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 14 health visitors describing their experiences working with refugees and asylum seekers. These were analysed using the Framework process, a thematic matrix-based analytical method.

Safeguarding vulnerable families: work with refugees and asylum seekers.

This paper will highlight one of the key findings of a qualitative study based on the analysis of in-depth interviews with 14 health visitors describing their experiences working with refugees and asylum seekers. Despite changes in government legislation to improve children's services in order to prevent harm to children, this recent study demonstrated that health visitors were working with the complexities of needs among refugees and asylum seekers related to safeguarding both children and vulnerable women. The health visitors often worked with families and individuals with no support from other professional services, they worked with failed asylum seekers who were unable to access other forms of support and they worked with women and children who were caught in a cycle of domestic abuse due to their immigration status.