Return Migration among Elderly, Chronically Ill Bosnian Refugees: Does Health Matter?

Line Neerup Handlos, Karen Fog Olwig, Ib Christian Bygbjerg, Maria Kristiansen and Marie Louise Norredam
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Line Neerup Handlos: Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health, Section for Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Copenhagen K 1014, Denmark
Karen Fog Olwig: Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Copenhagen K 1353, Denmark
Ib Christian Bygbjerg: Section of Global Health, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Copenhagen K 1014, Denmark
Maria Kristiansen: Center for Healthy Aging, Section for Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Copenhagen K 1014, Denmark
Marie Louise Norredam: Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health, Section for Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Copenhagen K 1014, Denmark

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-19

Abstract: Elderly migrants constitute a considerable share of global return migration; nevertheless, literature on the health aspects of the return migration among these migrants is still scarce. This study explores the significance of return migration among elderly, chronically ill Bosnian refugees from Denmark and the role of health issues in their decision to return. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 33 elderly, chronically ill Bosnian refugees who have moved back to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 10 elderly, chronically ill Bosnian refugees who have remained in Denmark. The interviews show that physical health, in the sense of the absence of illness and easy access to necessary health-care services and medicines, was not highly prioritized when the decision was made whether or not to return. However, if health is regarded more broadly as involving more than mere physical health and the absence of illness, health did matter. Viewed as physical, social and mental well-being in line with WHO’s definition of health, health was indeed one of the most important factors when the decision to return was made.

Keywords: return migration; elderly; chronic illness; well-being; Bosnia and Herzegovina (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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