Mental health and quality of life among asylum seekers and refugees living in refugee housing facilities in Sweden

Abstract

Introduction In 2015, there was a high influx of refugees to Sweden, creating an extreme situation where individuals were forced to remain in large housing facilities for long periods. The present study aims to describe the mental health and quality of life of these individuals. Methods Data, based on 510 individuals, were obtained by means of a questionnaire at open screenings conducted at or nearby refugee housing facilities. Of the participating refugees, 367 were asylum seekers and 143 had received a residence permit but were still awaiting a more permanent housing solution. The questionnaire included measures of depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), symptoms of anxiety (GAD-7), risk of having post-traumatic stress disorder (PC-PTSD), and quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF). Results Of the total sample, 56-58.4% reported clinically significant levels of symptoms of depression, anxiety and risk of having PTSD. Prevalence estimates were higher among asylum seekers than among those who had received their residence permit. Quality of life was generally rated below population norms and correlated negatively with mental health outcomes. Conclusions Individuals residing in refugee housing facilities show high levels of psychological distress and rate their quality of life as low. Asylum seekers score higher than those having received a residence permit. These results are troublesome since the wait time for asylum decisions has lengthened considerably after 2015. The results of the present study calls for the urgency of societal actions to shorten the asylum process and improve conditions at the housing facilities.

Living Conditions and the Mental Health and Well-being of Refugees: Evidence from a Large-Scale German Survey

“…Looking beyond these legal aspects, we find that living in refugee rather than in private accommodation is associated with greater distress and reduced life satisfaction. Although self-selection might play an important role here, it seems plausible that residing in refugee housing facilities, which often means living in crowded quarters with limited privacy, restricted autonomy, and isolation from the local community, in fact causes or exacerbates health issues, as has been previously examined in detail [54]. Residing in refugee housing facilities may also come with safety concerns, for example in light of the frequency of attacks on refugee accommodation in many host countries [55].…”

Exploring Social and Financial Hardship, Mental Health Problems and the Role of Social Support in Asylum Seekers Using Structural Equation Modelling

“…Similarly, perceived discrimination not only affects mental health negatively [ 12 ], but may also decrease social engagement [ 21 , 39 ]. Additionally, the experience of social exclusion and isolation related to asylum seekers being confined in housing facilities and lacking citizenship can be detrimental, not only to mental health [ 10 ], but also decrease the perceived levels of social support. As has been suggested [ 40 ], this implies that social support as a coping resource is both socially patterned and a potentially mitigating factor for the harmful indirect effect of stressors [ 21 ].…”

“…In fact, the asylum seeking process in itself has been shown to be detrimental to applicants’ mental health in Europe and globally [ 4 , 5 , 6 ], by triggering, sustaining or even worsening existing mental health problems [ 7 , 8 ]. This relationship remains even after controlling for pre-migratory trauma predictors [ 9 ] and the levels of mental health problems are higher compared to refugees with formal refugee status [ 10 , 11 ].…”

The association between visa insecurity and mental health, disability and social engagement in refugees living in Australia

“…This scale has been used with a number of refugee groups to index depression (e.g. Comtesse & Rosner, 2019;Leiler, Bjarta, Ekdahl, & Wasteson, 2019;Wulfes, Del Pozo, Buhr-Riehm, Heinrichs, & Kroger, 2019). Internal consistency for this scale in this study was α = 0.93.…”