JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Germany has a long history of migration. In 2020 more than every fourth person had a statistically defined, so-called migration background in Germany, meaning that the person or at least one of their parents were born with a citizenship other than German. People with migration history are not sufficiently represented within public health monitoring at Robert Koch Institute (RKI). In order to develop strategies to improve the inclusion of people with migration history in health surveys, we conducted a feasibility study in 2018; in GEDA Fokus we implemented the lessons learned.

Objective:

GEDA Fokus was an interview survey among people with selected citizenships representing the major migrant groups in Germany. We aimed to collect comprehensive data to analyse the health status of people with selected citizenships in order to enable differentiated explanations on migration-related aspects like duration of residence or motives for migration as well as social determinants of health.

Methods:

GEDA Fokus was a multilingual mixed-mode interview survey among people with Croatian, Italian, Polish, Syrian or Turkish citizenship living in Germany aged 18-79 years, with a targeted sample size of 1,200 participants per group. The gross sample was drawn out of the residents’ registration offices of 99 German municipalities. The questionnaire was available for self-administration (online and paper-based); in bigger municipalities personal interviews at home or via phone were possible. The administration modes were offered sequentially.

Results:

Overall, 6,038 respondents participated in the survey, 49.4% were female. Median age was 39 years and median duration of residence in Germany was 10 years, with 19.7% of the sample being born in Germany. The overall response rate was 18.4% (AAPOR response rate 1) and was 6.8% higher in the municipalities where personal interviews were offered (19.3% vs. 12.5%). Of the participants, 78.2% administered the questionnaire on their own, while 21.9% took part in a personal interview.

Conclusions:

We recruited a heterogeneous sample of people with migration history. The data collected will allow differentiated analyses on the role and interplay of migration-related and social determinants of health among people with selected citizenships.