Othering refugees: Psychotherapists' attitudes toward patients with and without a refugee background.

Objective: A large proportion of refugees present with psychological disorders that require psychotherapy as first-line treatment. However, even in countries with well-established psychotherapy system, refugees continue to face barriers to care. Psychotherapists' attitudes toward refugees may also impede access to psychotherapy, as it is evident that stereotypes of health professionals contribute to health care disparities. However, little is known about psychotherapists' attitudes toward refugees.

Methods: In a cross-sectional online study of N = 2002 outpatient psychotherapists in Germany (Mage = 54.48 years, 73.1% female), a vignette experiment was applied to examine differences in therapists' attitudes toward refugee patients from the Middle East and non-refugee patients. Subsequently, associations between attitudes and psychotherapists' characteristics (e.g., provision of treatment for refugees) were analyzed.

Results: Results showed significant differences between therapists' attitudes toward refugee and non-refugee patients (