Congolese and Somali Beliefs About Mental Health Services

Piwowarczyk, Linda; Bishop, Hillary; Yusuf, Abdirahman; Mudymba, Francine Tshiwala; Raj, Anita

doi:10.1097/nmd.0000000000000087

Cited by 52 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…In addition to the risk factors that may be present, ensuring refugees receive the mental health services they need can be challenging. Often, refugees face barriers such as stigma [20], low access to or quality of services [21], low cultural competence of practitioners [22], or a lack of knowledge about how services work and how they can be helpful [21]. Data on refugee engagement with mental health referrals varies, with studies reporting low referral acceptance (37%; [23]) and others reporting greater success (e.g., 74%; [6] and 50%; [24]).…”

Section: Risk Factors For Mental Health Symptoms and Barriers To Treamentioning

confidence: 99%

Traumatic Experiences and Mental Health Risk for Refugees

Schlaudt

Bosson

Williams

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Refugees who settle in Western countries exhibit a high rate of mental health issues, which are often related to experiences throughout the pre-displacement, displacement, and post-displacement processes. Early detection of mental health symptoms could increase positive outcomes in this vulnerable population. The rates and predictors of positive screenings for mental health symptoms were examined among a large sample of refugees, individuals with special immigrant visas, and parolees/entrants (N = 8149) from diverse nationalities. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine if demographic factors and witnessing/experiencing violence predicted positive screenings. On a smaller subset of the sample, we calculated referral acceptance rate by country of origin. Refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan were most likely to exhibit a positive screening for mental health symptoms. Refugees from Sudan, Iraq, and Syria reported the highest rate of experiencing violence, whereas those from Iraq, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo reported the highest rate of witnessing violence. Both witnessing and experiencing violence predicted positive Refugee Health Screener-15 (RHS-15) scores. Further, higher age and female gender predicted positive RHS-15 scores, though neither demographic variable was correlated with accepting a referral for mental health services. The findings from this study can help to identify characteristics that may be associated with risk for mental health symptoms among a refugee population.

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Section: Risk Factors For Mental Health Symptoms and Barriers To Treamentioning

confidence: 99%

Traumatic Experiences and Mental Health Risk for Refugees

Schlaudt

Bosson

Williams

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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show abstract

“…Some barriers, such as language, transportation, and health insurance, are similar to those barriers preventing refugees from accessing general health services (Berthold et al, 2014). However, there are more significant burdens in relation to mental health due to religious and cultural beliefs, stigmatization, and low mental health literacy among refugee population (Colucci, Minas, Szware, Guerra & Paxton, 2015;Piwowarczyk, Bishop, Yusuf, Mudymba & Raj, 2014). These factors often lead to a lack of understanding of the role of mental health professionals and resistance to engagement in therapy.…”

Section: Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Medical Evaluation of the Newly Resettled Female Refugee: A Narrative Review

Duckles¹,

Barden-Maja²,

Caplow³

2018

rgh

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The number of forcibly displaced individuals worldwide is increasing each year, reaching 65 million persons by the end of 2015, half of which were women and children. As the population of displaced persons grows, it is every physician's responsibility to understand these patients and their health needs. Refugee patients and the providers who care for them face many barriers to effective patient care, including language barriers, cultural differences, and systematic inequalities. Female refugees commonly experience gender-based violence, repetitive trauma, stigmatized mental illness, and cultural barriers to women's healthcare. This review is intended to be a comprehensive guide for the provider caring for the recently resettled female refugee patient. It addresses general considerations for working with refugee patients, initial medical evaluation guidelines, specific women's health issues, and mental health care of female refugee patients.

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“…Given a general lack of community resources like mental health services in low‐income countries, as well as widespread stigma and uncertainty regarding the role of mental health professionals (Piworarczyk, Bishop, Yusuf, & Raj, ), schools may serve as the only consistently available institution that can address the exceptionally high social‐emotional needs of children in high‐poverty, conflict‐affected regions (Aber, Brown, Jones, Berg, & Torrente, ). For example, a study of 30 high‐level practitioners working with major agencies in the international humanitarian response field indicated a strong consensus on the importance of schools to recovery after disaster (Ager, Stark, Akesson, & Boothby, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk or resource: Does school climate moderate the influence of community violence on children’s social‐emotional development in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

Starkey

Aber

Crossman

2019

Developmental Science

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Exposure to community violence is thought to create risk for the social and emotional development of children, including those children living in low‐income, conflict‐affected countries. In the absence of other types of community resources, schools may be one of the few community resources that can help buffer children from the negative effects of community violence exposure. We sampled 8,300 students ranging in age from 6–18 years in 123 schools from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to examine whether and how two distinct dimensions of positive school climate can protect two key features of children's social‐emotional development in the presence of community violence. Multi‐level models tested the hypothesis that students’ perceptions of a positive school climate moderated the relation between community violence and self‐reported mental health problems and peer victimization. Findings support the hypothesis. Specifically, a positive school climate protected against mental health problems and peer victimization in the presence of high community violence. Students who experienced high community violence and a negative school climate generally demonstrated the worst development. We find complex interactions between the dimensions of school climate and exposure to violence on student social‐emotional development that highlight the salience of children's contexts for developmental studies in low‐income countries. We use dynamic developmental systems theory and differential impact to discuss the dual potential of schools as a buffer against the effects of violence or as a source of compounded risk.

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Congolese and Somali Beliefs About Mental Health Services

Cited by 52 publications

References 14 publications

Traumatic Experiences and Mental Health Risk for Refugees

Traumatic Experiences and Mental Health Risk for Refugees

The Medical Evaluation of the Newly Resettled Female Refugee: A Narrative Review

Risk or resource: Does school climate moderate the influence of community violence on children’s social‐emotional development in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

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