This doctoral project examines "The Health Services for Immigrants" (1975-1988) in Norway, focusing on how healthcare professionals developed the necessary competencies to treat this new patient group of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees from the global south.
The Health Service for Immigrants was a specialised health clinic located in Oslo. It was established alongside Norway’s immigration restrictions in 1975 and remained operational until 1988. While the government sought to limit new labour immigration, welfare initiatives were implemented to improve the living conditions of labour immigrants already residing in Norway. This included establishing The Health Service for Immigrants to ensure that this population had access to appropriate healthcare. The clinic served labour immigrants as well as refugees, asylum seekers, family reunification immigrants, and their children.
During its years of operation, healthcare professionals – including doctors, nurses, midwives, public health nurses, and dentists – developed practices and routines tailored to treating their patients. These practitioners navigated a range of practical challenges, such as cultural and language barriers, working with interpreters, and addressing issues related to poor living conditions and social issues. At the same time, they identified the specific healthcare challenges prevalent within this patient group, building a theoretical framework grounded in cultural competence and an understanding of diversity.
This doctoral project provides an in-depth analysis of The Health Services for Immigrants and how they developed during a critical phase of Norwegian immigration history. It explores how healthcare professionals engaged with a new and diverse patient group, developing the necessary competencies needed to meet their specific demands in the process. The study also examines the impact of political and professional commitments on the clinic’s practices.
By analysing the service during a period of considerable societal change, the project sheds light on how professionalisation and expertise evolve in response to phenomena such as migration, the Norwegian welfare state, and political ideologies.
Supervisors are professor Fredrik Thue and Anne Leseth (Centre for the Study of Professions, OsloMet).
