TY  - JOUR
AU  - Koschollek, Carmen
AU  - Zeisler, Marie-Luise
AU  - Houben, Robin A
AU  - Geerlings, Julia
AU  - Kajikhina, Katja
AU  - Bug, Marleen
AU  - Blume, Miriam
AU  - Hoffmann, Robert
AU  - Hintze, Marcel
AU  - Kuhnert, Ronny
AU  - Gößwald, Antje
AU  - Schmich, Patrick
AU  - Hövener, Claudia
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/4/12
TI  - German Health Update Fokus (GEDA Fokus) among Residents with Croatian, Italian, Polish, Syrian, or Turkish Citizenship in Germany: Protocol for a Multilingual Mixed-Mode Interview Survey
JO  - JMIR Res Protoc
SP  - e43503
VL  - 12
KW  - migration
KW  - interview survey
KW  - hard-to-survey
KW  - health inequalities
KW  - mixed-mode
KW  - multilingual
AB  - Background: Germany has a long history of migration. In 2020, more than 1 person in every 4 people had a statistically defined, so-called migration background in Germany, meaning that the person or at least one of their parents was born with a citizenship other than German citizenship. People with a history of migration are not represented proportionately to the population within public health monitoring at the Robert Koch Institute, thus impeding differentiated analyses of migration and health. To develop strategies for improving the inclusion of people with a history of migration in health surveys, we conducted a feasibility study in 2018. The lessons learned were implemented in the health interview survey German Health Update (Gesundheit in Deutschland aktuell [GEDA]) Fokus, which was conducted among people with selected citizenships representing the major migrant groups in Germany. Objective: GEDA Fokus aimed to collect comprehensive data on the health status and social, migration-related, and structural factors among people with selected citizenships to enable differentiated explanations of the associations between migration-related aspects and their impact on migrant health. Methods: GEDA Fokus is an 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 1200 participants per group. The gross sample of 33,436 people was drawn from the residents’ registration offices of 99 German municipalities based on citizenship. Sequentially, multiple modes of administration were offered. The questionnaire was available for self-administration (web-based and paper-based); in larger municipalities, personal or phone interviews were possible later on. Study documents and the questionnaire were bilingual—in German and the respective translation language depending on the citizenship. Data were collected from November 2021 to May 2022. Results: Overall, 6038 respondents participated in the survey, of whom 2983 (49.4%) were female. The median age was 39 years; the median duration of residence in Germany was 10 years, with 19.69% (1189/6038) of the sample being born in Germany. The overall response rate was 18.4% (American Association for Public Opinion Research [AAPOR] response rate 1) and was 6.8% higher in the municipalities where personal interviews were offered (19.3% vs 12.5%). Overall, 78.12% (4717/6038) of the participants self-administered the questionnaire, whereas 21.88% (1321/6038) took part in personal interviews. In total, 41.85% (2527/6038) of the participants answered the questionnaire in the German language only, 16.69% (1008/6038) exclusively used the translation. Conclusions: Offering different modes of administration, as well as multiple study languages, enabled us to recruit a heterogeneous sample of people with a history of migration. The data collected will allow differentiated analyses of the role and interplay of migration-related and social determinants of health and their impact on the health status of people with selected citizenships. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/43503 
SN  - 1929-0748
UR  - https://www.researchprotocols.org/2023/1/e43503
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/43503
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36790192
DO  - 10.2196/43503
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/43503
ER  -