What do women with FGM_C need?ÙA qualitative study among women with FGM_C living in Germany

Although Female Genital Mutilation_Cutting is forbidden by law in Germany, the number of girls and women affected by different forms of FGM_C living in Germany are rising (). This is why the German health care system must adapt and develop treatments for the many different health problems (somatic as well as mental) that can arise during and after the practice. In the past years, there have been many initiatives to promote information on the topic and to improve accessibility in care for women in need- mostly done by NGO’s.  The topic of FGM_C has become a regular part of the midwifery training in 2021, other medical areas did not make it an obligatory part of the curricula yet. This means that usually gynecologists, urologists and general practitioners have not been trained on the topic. There have been trainings for social workers who work with refugees, but usually psychologists, sexual therapists, trauma therapist, psychotherapists trained in Germany have not learnt about it. Experiences of FGM-clinics in other European countries have shown that a multidisciplinary treatment approach is the most efficient and successful.

Since there is a development to include FGM_C in the curricula, the voices of the women who are affected by the practice should be involved in the process. That is the goal of this qualitative study, in which women who are affected by different forms of FGM_C with different symptoms will be asked about their needs, wishes, experiences and expectations regarding the German health care system. The semi-structured interviews will take about 60-90 minutes and will be translated by an experienced interpreter if needed. The first findings of the qualitative impact analysis (method by Kuckartz and Rädicker) will be part of the presentation.