Collaborative youth mental health service users, immigration, poverty, and family environment

Abstract

BackgroundThis article examines the association between immigration, poverty and family environment, and the emotional and behavioral problems reported by youth and their family receiving mental health (MH) services within a collaborative care model in a multiethnic neighborhood.MethodParticipants in this study were 140 parent–child dyads that are part of an ongoing longitudinal project looking at the association between individual, familial, social and organizational factors, and outcomes of youth receiving MH services in local health and social service organizations in the Montreal area. Measures included in this study were collected at the initial phase of the longitudinal project (Time 0). Parents completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Family Environment Scale (FES), and both parents and children completed the Strength and Difficulties questionnaire (SDQ).ResultsResults suggest that the family environment, especially family conflicts, has a significant role in the MH problems of children seeking help in collaborative MH services. In this specific population, results also show a trend, but not a statistically significant association, between poverty or immigration and emotional and behavioral problems. They suggest as well that boys show more MH problems, although this could be a contamination effect (parents’ perspective).ConclusionsThe results support the importance of interventions that not only target the child symptomatology but also address family dynamics, especially conflicts. Collaborative care models may be particularly well suited to allow for a coherent consideration of family environmental factors in youth mental health and to support primary care settings in addressing these issues.

Working With the Encounter: A Descriptive Account and Case Analysis of School-Based Collaborative Mental Health Care for Refugee Children in Leuven, Belgium

“…As a seminal but growing body of studies points to interactions between refugee children’s mental health, linguistic competence, and social and cultural integration (e.g., Evans et al, 2020 ; Walker and Zuberi, 2020 ; Spaas et al, 2021 ), it seems highly relevant to further develop our understanding of refugee children’s psychosocial, language, and cultural development within the collaborative care context. Future research could, for example, engage in a profiling of prototypical associations between refugee children’s mental health, their linguistic development (both native language and second language proficiency) and patterns of social, home and host cultural integration, including a contextualization of development within the dimensions of family functioning, migration history, and host society conditions ( Nadeau et al, 2018 ). Insight into these profiles of development could strengthen processes of assessment and intervention in collaborative mental health care intervention, and support schools in shaping teaching and care practices for refugee pupils.…”

“…This article forms a first systematic description of collaborative mental health care practice for refugee children. By providing a comprehensive description of school-based collaborative mental health care, including detailed accounts of intervention processes and working mechanisms through clinical case analysis, this article contributes significantly to the existing literature consistently indicating the need for a more in-depth understanding of collaborative mental health care for refugee children (e.g., Rousseau et al, 2012;Nadeau et al, 2017Nadeau et al, , 2018. While providing this novel and multilayered evidence for schoolbased collaborative mental health care, as well as sparking reflection on some of the interventions' central premises, this article equally has some limitations that should be noted.…”

Écouter les enfants dans la recherche en santé mentale jeunesse (SMJ) : une créativité éthique inspirée de la clinique

“…Dans le cadre du programme sur les soins en collaboration, un volet qualitatif portait sur l'expérience des soins en SMJ pour les familles réfugiées (« Partenariat et intervention SJM auprès des familles réfugiées », Vachon et al, FRSQ, 2012-2016.…”

“…7 Cet enfant parle anglais et français. 8 Pour une description plus détaillée, voir Nadeau, Lecompte, Johnson-Lafleur, Pontbriand et Rousseau (2016). 9 À la suite de l'implication de la première auteure de cet article.…”

“…qualité du partenariat et l'évolution clinique des jeunes »(Nadeau et al, FRSQ 2012- 2016, adoptait un devis de recherche longitudinal mixte comprenant une cueillette desdonnées auprès d'intervenants et de familles usagères des services en SMJ. Différents facteurs (individuels, familiaux et organisationnels) ont été examinés 8 , et des groupes de discussion ont été menés avec les jeunes, les parents et les intervenants.…”