School of Public Health

Duration: 01.01.2025 (?) – jetzt
Head: Prof. Dr. Doreen Reifegerste
Collaborator: Victoria Nastassja Touzel

While there is growing evidence supporting the effectiveness of social prescribing in various populations, there is still need to better understand how these interventions operate within the unique contexts of refugee populations. Refugees often face multiple social and systemic barriers which can exacerbate social isolation, including language barriers, cultural differences, and structurally dictated restrictions to their agency. Their needs in social prescribing contexts likely differ from host populations, and a review of available evidence is critical to support future practice, through interventions design and delivery. 

Social prescribing has become central to UK health policy, positioned as a mechanism for addressing social determinants of health through non-medical interventions. However, little is known about its relevance for refugee populations, whose experiences are shaped by poverty, legal precarity, and systemic exclusion. Limited evidence exists on which delivery models are used in health and refugee-serving initiatives. 

With an international and intersectional approach to research the focus lies on assessing the potentially facilitating role of the social in the health outcomes of vulnerable groups. The research is investigating the topic of social prescribing and examines its potential applications in Germany for refugee populations. It concentrates on exploring how uncertainty phenomena form the conditions for, and actively shape, social experiences for refugee populations. In terms of policy and practice, this work will then ask how health systems should respond to these phenomena in the design and delivery of social interventions for refugee populations, based on best available evidence.

This project, developed as part of a doctoral dissertation, is supported by the Graduate School for Health Policy and Systems in Uncertainties (GRASP).

Publications:

Touzel, Victoria; Duda, Annabell; Bartz, Luisa; Reifegerste, Doreen (2026): Health system lessons from community practice: a qualitative study rethinking the role of social prescribing for refugee populations. In: Frontiers in Public Health 13, S. 1739953. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1739953.

Touzel, Victoria; Esser, Anna-Lena; Husk, Kerryn; Reifegerste, Doreen (2026): Social prescribing for refugee populations: a protocol for a rapid realist review of international evidence. In: Frontiers in public health 14, S. 1754718. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1754718.