Dr J. Muller (José)

Research shows that refugees with a healthy mind are more likely to be employed than refugees who are mentally unhealthy. It is remarkable that the integration programs offered by Dutch municipalities pay little attention to the mental health of refugees. For my PhD research, I therefore developed a new (culturally sensitive) intervention “Mosaic”, which was implemented in six municipalities in the Netherlands. “Mosaic” is based on the principles of positive psychology and aims to strengthen the mental health, economic participation and social contacts of Syrian refugees. I developed and implemented it in close collaboration with the target group and all relevant local organizations. Through the data we collected during the implementation, we have shown that “Mosaic” has a positive effect on the mental well-being, participation and social contacts of Syrian refugees.

As an Assistant professor it is my ambition is to further promote the mental health, psychosocial well-being and participation of refugees. It is my ambition to implement “Mosaic” in other municipalities and to continue to collect data to further evaluate its effect. Another ambition is to develop the content of “Mosaic” for other target groups and to develop an e-health version. In addition to this existing initiative, I would like to explore other new options to help refugees promote their mental health, psychosocial well-being and participation.

In addition, it is my ambition to profile myself further in Health Geography in both research and education. I want to conduct research into geographical variations in physical and mental health and (access to) healthcare. I would like to focus not only on the negative aspects (such as disease prevalence), but also on the presence of positive health and well-being.