# Acquiring health resources during settlement in rural areas? Refugees' experiences of health infrastructure and leisure practices in Germany

## TL;DR

This study explores how refugees in rural Germany experience health challenges and use leisure activities to improve their well-being during settlement.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a salutogenic approach to understanding refugee health, emphasizing leisure practices and rural-specific challenges.

## Key findings

- Refugees report ongoing health issues linked to settlement challenges like housing and language barriers.
- Engaging in local leisure activities helps refugees gain control over their lives and improve health.
- Post-medicinal and life-course approaches are recommended for deeper insights into migrant health.

## Abstract

•The health status of refugees can best be understood from a lifeworld perspective.•A salutogenic model of health considers stressors to be part of everyday life.•Refugees find it difficult to access and navigate the healthcare system in rural areas.•Refugees’ leisure activities are perceived to be beneficial to health resources.

The health status of refugees can best be understood from a lifeworld perspective.

A salutogenic model of health considers stressors to be part of everyday life.

Refugees find it difficult to access and navigate the healthcare system in rural areas.

Refugees’ leisure activities are perceived to be beneficial to health resources.

Addressing the research desideratum of health status and practices of refugees in the settlement phase as well as rural specificities in dealing with health issues, this article explores refugees’ self-reported health status as well as experiences with health infrastructure. Following a salutogenic approach to health, we consider both disease prevention and health promotion and explicitly take into account leisure practices as a way to acquire health resources. Results firstly show a persistence of self-reported diseases and manifold interactions with the settlement process, e.g. housing or language acquisition. Secondly, we found that refugees are looking for (new) leisure activities at the place of living, which allow to gain sovereignty about everyday lives and thus improve their health status. Based on our results, we suggest to take up post-medicinal and life-course approaches in future research designs for a more profound understanding of migrant health.