gms | German Medical Science

Background and status of (inter)national research: Illness perceptions reflect the cognitive and emotional beliefs of a person about illness; they are an important component of illness self-regulation and coping strategies. Little is known about the COVID-19-related perceptions of migrants.

Research question and objective: The present study aims to examine perceptions about COVID-19 among Turkish migrants residing in Germany. Insights into the perceptions of this population group could contribute to the development of targeted measures aiming to address vaccine hesitancy and to promote protective behavior.

Method or hypothesis: Based on an online survey conducted from November 2021 to February 2022, the study assessed illness perceptions by means of the Brief Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (Brief IPQ). Negative illness perceptions were reflected by higher scores on a 10-point Likert scale. Aside from illness perceptions, information on socio-economic status, migration history, self-rated health, the COVID-19 illness and vaccination history and experiences with COVID-19 cases among friends and family were collected. The questionnaire was distributed both in German and Turkish language.

Results: A total of 104 Turkish speaking individuals participated in the study, of which 71% were female and 50% were born in Germany. 25.2% of the respondents were not vaccinated at the time of the survey, of which 19.6% reported not wanting to be vaccinated at all. Illness perceptions mean scores and standard deviations (SD) for the eight Brief IPQ dimensions were: consequences 8.1 (SD=2.9), timeline 8.2 (SD=2.7), personal control 6.9 (SD=3.1), treatment control 5.5 (SD=2.8), identity 7.7 (SD=2.5), concern 6.7 (SD=3.1), understanding 4.6 (SD=3.0), emotions 7.3 (SD=3.0).

Discussion: The study shows that participants feel threatened by COVID-19 on a cognitive as well as an emotional level. Compared to available findings on the general population in Germany reported in a previous study [1], Turkish migrants show more negative illness perceptions both on cognitive and emotional items. Particularly, personal and treatment control as well as understanding were rated higher by Turkish migrants as compared to the German population, for which means were 3.9, 3.7 and 3.1, respectively (ibid.). It must be considered that the data on the German population was collected during the first wave of the pandemic (mid-2020), which may partially explain the differences observed.

Practical implications: The example of Turkish migrants in Germany highlights the heterogeneity of COVID-19 perceptions in the population. This heterogeneity must be taken into account in the development of strategies aiming to address COVID-19-related health behavior in the population.

Appeal for practice (science and/or care) in one sentence: Further research is needed to increase the knowledge about differences in COVID-19 perceptions among different groups in the population.