Acculturation and mental health among adult forced migrants: a meta-narrative systematic review protocol

Abstract

Background The global refugee crisis has become central to health and policy debates. There is a growing need to investigate how acculturation impacts mental health among asylum seekers and refugees. Many forced migrants have an increased risk of experiencing negative mental health outcomes, but this review will only assess the current literature on acculturation and mental health among adults. Research questions include the following: (1) How is acculturation conceptualised? (2) What are the most salient mental health outcomes? (3) How are acculturation and mental health measured and related? and (4) How do macrostructural factors affect the relationship between mental health and acculturation? Methods We will use a meta-narrative approach to synthesise the breadth of acculturation and mental health literature from various research traditions. This review will include empirical studies measuring variations of acculturation and mental health among adult forced migrants from low- and middle-income countries residing in high-income countries. Studies will be retrieved from the following academic databases: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Global Health, ProQuest Social Science and Web of Science. Additional studies will be collected from King’s College London’s online library databases and e-resources, and reference lists of eligible studies. Studies from database inception and written in English will be included. All full-text papers will undergo quality appraisal using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Extracted data will be analysed using a conceptual framework analysis to construct overarching narratives and a framework that will describe the relationship between acculturation and mental health. Discussion A meta-narrative systematic review provides a flexible and systematic approach to synthesising the heterogeneous literature on acculturation and mental health. This review will guide the development of a conceptual framework to aid future research on acculturation among adult forced migrants. As high-income countries seek to integrate forced migrants into society and improve their access to vital resources, this review has the potential to transform policies and practices that influence migrant mental health. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42018089148 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13643-019-1103-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Beyond the dots on the page: Harnessing transculturation and music education to address intercultural competence and social inclusion

“…There may be four possible outcomes of acculturation as defined by Berry (1997): assimilation – completely adopting the new culture and rejecting one’s own culture; separation – distancing from the new culture strongly emphasising the culture of origin; marginalisation – rejecting and/or being excluded from both the original and new culture; and bicultural integration – blending/balancing both the original culture and new culture. Studies investigating the resettlement or post-migration experiences of refugees from all backgrounds have found that acculturation is one of the most common and greatest challenges (Bertram et al., 2014; Chung et al., 2000; Cuéllar, 2000; Mengistu & Manolova, 2019).…”

Resettlement Stressors for Women of Refugee Background Resettled in Regional Australia

“…Furthermore, culture itself has been identified as an influential SDoH, and being denied the opportunity to engage in cultural practices has been identified as a major public health concern, particularly for migrant women, due to the negative health ramifications it can have in the long term [51]. However, it has been identified to be particularly complex in forced migrants (including refugee populations) due to the concept of involuntary migration [52]. Developing a greater understanding of the relationship between acculturation and mental health among forced migrants can be identified as paramount due to the unprecedented number of individuals of refugee background worldwide [5].…”

“…Developing a greater understanding of the relationship between acculturation and mental health among forced migrants can be identified as paramount due to the unprecedented number of individuals of refugee background worldwide [5]. Unfortunately, there is a lack of literature investigating the topic, as it is currently uncertain whether the large body of research investigating accul-turation and mental health in immigrants and racial and ethnic monitories is comparable for forced migrants [52]. Investigating this further will allow the development of more progressive government policies which protect the cultural values, practices and beliefs of newly arrived immigrants and forced migrants.…”

International medical students’ acculturation and self-rated health status in Hungary: a cross-sectional study

“…Within the various theoretical frameworks, the relationship between acculturation and health has been studied for decades [15][16][17]. Acculturation has been proven to influence health through healthy behaviors, access to healthcare services, social support, self-esteem, and stress [12,18,19]. Most empirical studies using a unidimensional model have consistently found that nondominant groups with low acculturation are more likely to have general health issues [20] and diabetes [21,22].…”