Experiences of primary healthcare staff in Europe when caring for asylum seekers and refugees: A scoping review protocol.

BACKGROUND

Migration significantly influences the health of asylum seekers and refugees, as it heightens vulnerabilities and poor health. Health systems struggle with providing specific care to these populations due to specific health needs compounded by language, cultural and literacy barriers. Primary care offers critical opportunities for healthcare providers to address specific health inequities that asylum seekers and refugees face. Understanding provider experiences is essential to determine how health systems support their staff, caring for asylum seeking and refugee populations.

OBJECTIVE

This review will investigate the experiences of primary and community healthcare providers across different European countries, providing care to asylum seekers and refugees, and the factors which influence these experiences.

METHOD: The scoping review will follow the methodology from the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), alongside Arksey & O'Malley's framework. The primary research question asks, "What are the experiences of healthcare staff while providing care to asylum seekers and refugees in primary and community settings?". Secondary questions will explore contextual differences amongst professions and countries. Studies published between 2015 to 2025 will be searched across PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, PsycINFO and BASE databases, alongside grey literature and citation searches. Data extraction will include information on the key aspects that shape experiences alongside potential challenges that have been documented. Comparisons will be made on the differences observed across professional roles and national contexts. Stakeholders have been consulted and will be presented with the findings for their interpretation into relevance and applicability across various contexts.

CONCLUSION

This review aims to produce a synthesis of the experiences, and their influencing factors, for primary health providers caring for asylum seekers and refugees across European countries. Cross border comparisons and analysis will produce results which will inform and guide improvements within policy and practice.