(in)visible

Precarious residential conditions are associated with omnipresent burdens such as lack of prospects, family separation, marginalization, or fear of deportation, and can negatively impact the mental health of those affected.

Factsheet

Schools involved School of Health Professions
Bern Academy of the Arts
Institute(s) Nursing
Research unit(s) Field of Innovation – Psychosocial Health
Strategic thematic field Thematic field "Caring Society"
Funding organisation BFH
Duration (planned) 01.06.2025 - 31.01.2026
Head of project Sabrina Gröble
Sabrina Laimbacher
Project staff Anita Schürch
Prof. Dr. Heidi Kaspar
Prof. Dr. Paola Pierri
Catalina Lucia Agudin
Keywords Precarious residential conditions, migration, undocumented migrants, mental health, participation, user perspective, needs, social dialogue, knowledge transfer

Situation

The results of the ReachOut study (Dep. G, aR&D) show that people in precarious residential conditions, like undocumented migrants and rejected or provisionally admitted asylum seekers, experience an omnipresent burden in these life contexts. Their future planning is often limited, and they live in fear of police controls; they are confronted with family separations and experience stigmatization. It became clear that the affected people's everyday lives are characterized by social isolation and a ‘hidden life’. While these burdens challenge their mental health and health literacy, many ReachOut participants expressed the need for societal visibility, participation, and public awareness raising for their living environments. The (in)visible project aims to express the described needs using participatory, visual, and creative methods, such as photovoice, podcasts, or cultural probes. Therefore, the project team received start-up funding from the BFH strategic thematic field “Caring Society” to create a suitable foundation within a pre-project. As part of this, people in precarious residential conditions will be recruited as equal project associates to develop the methodological strategy and project planning for (in)visible together with the interdisciplinary project team at BFH (Dep. G, HKB). A further aim is to gain knowledge in applying participatory processes, especially with people considered highly marginalized.

Course of action

As intended in the (in)visible project, a consistently high degree of participation is also aimed for in this pre-project. The intention is to recruit four people in precarious residential conditions as equal project team members to participate in developing the objectives for the planned third-party funded project. The aim is to define participatory, visual, and creative methods that enable needs-oriented visualization, societal dialogue, and knowledge transfer, while at the same time protecting the anonymity of affected people. The insights gained from this participatory collaboration process will be documented and utilized as a knowledge base for future research projects.

Result

The expected outcome of this participatory pre-project is the preparation and submission of a third-party funding application to a suitable funding body to finance the project (in)visible.