Title   Enfermeiras Portuguesas na Alemanha. Análise de factores de influência nos processos de emigração e de integração (Original)
          Portuguese Nurses in Germany - Analysis of the influence factors in the process of emigration and integration (EN)
Author  Anne Lucie Stöhr
Advisor  Joana Lopes Martins
Year  2014
Institution  Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCSH-UNL)
Degree  Masters
Area Migration, Inter-ethnicities and Transnatioanalism
Keywords  Skilled migration, Labor migration, Health sector, Recruitment strategies, Integration, Social networks
URI http://hdl.handle.net/10362/14451

Abstract

Due to the demographic changes in the EU, the recruitment of health professionals become a strategy for many countries to address emerging shortages in this sector. The experience of the nursing shortage in the German health service and the increasing unemployment of young nurses in Portugal, initiated the recruitment of Portuguese nurses by Germany. This qualitative study aimed to examine the individual reasons of these nurses that led to migration and show the integration processes at social and professional levels in Germany. The common thread of analysis of this migration process is focused on the role of social networks and recruitment by the German employers. Through qualitative content analysis of the interviews made with the Portuguese nurses in Germany, it was confirmed that, alongside the economic and professional considerations, it is especially the moment in the life cycle and the family support that are responsible for emergence of this emigration. Regarding the choice of the destination country, it was the social relations of migrants, in particular emigration within a group of nurses and the trust conveyed by direct recruitment made by the employers that strongly influenced the decision. The social contacts in the country of destination is determined by embedding in social networks with fellow countrymen which provides social capital in the form of emotional support and at the same time makes it difficult to create strong links with the German society due to the concentration on their mother tongue. Institutional recruitment practices, in particular the investment in language acquisition was a key
factor for the professional integration and the job satisfaction of these migrants in that country.