Little is known about the characteristics of young psychologically-distressed refugees in mental health services, and how they vary according to the duration of settlement. This study of 102 young refugees referred to a community-based mental health service describes past adversities and current circumstances, referral problems, service utilization and treatment outcomes using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The more recently-arrived refugees had significantly higher levels of close exposure to war and violence, were more likely to have suffered separation from immediate family and to have insecure legal status. Those refugees settled longer were significantly more likely to be referred because of conduct problems while there was a trend in recent arrivals to present with internalizing pathology. A comparison of the teachers' and parents' mean SDQ scores of the study's young refugees sample and a national study representative of Great Britain as a whole showed that young refugees have higher scores in total problem and all subscales scores than the British scores. Community-based mental health services for young refugees appeared effective - significant improvement was found in SDQ scores for the sub-group (n = 24) who took up the treatments offered. The implications are discussed for service development and practitioners.

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Significant ethnic differences in service utilisation among children with ID were found for both CAMHS and social service contact. There was particularly low service use for the South Asian group. These differences might arise because of differences in family organisation, as more South Asian children lived in two-parent families, which may have been better able to provide care than single-parent families. Other factors such as variation in parental belief systems and variation in psychopathology may be relevant. Implications are discussed.

The study suggests that people hold multiple models of distress and disorder. This may influence clinical presentations and help seeking behaviour in Spanish as well as Hispanic American populations.

Raising a child with intellectual disability (ID) has significant consequences for parents and family. The impact of the disability has been found to be influenced by the sociocultural context. This paper aims to show how for some parents the experience of an offspring with ID is not interpreted as a loss but as a gain because of the parents' attribution of sacred meaning. It is suggested that these beliefs influence parental care, and are related to a high level of parental concern and closeness. This has implications for family relationships and life-cycle, as well as help-seeking and service uptake. The article provides a brief review of relevant research studies, a description of two illustrative case reports and discussion, including possible future research directions.