Mental health interventions for immigrant-refugee children and youth living in Canada: a scoping review and way forward

School-Based Interventions for Migrant Students in the Framework of the Health Promoting Whole-School Approach: An Umbrella Review

“…However, they also represented a bridge with the social and community components because they often entailed a shared participation in activities and relating to others. Following is a list of the main typologies of creative and expressive techniques or non-specialized therapies [29,37]: drama-based activities; storytelling and literary approaches (e.g., writing, sand-play, poetry, etc. ); play-based creative activities; visual art (e.g., drawing and photography); performative (e.g., dancing and singing); audiovisual and multimedia; arts and music therapy; and multi-method forms.…”

“…); play-based creative activities; visual art (e.g., drawing and photography); performative (e.g., dancing and singing); audiovisual and multimedia; arts and music therapy; and multi-method forms. As they were designed to provide individuals with outlets to express feelings and process emotions, they all had in common the aim to give students the opportunity to share stories, process experiences, and to support the construction of meaning and identity and the transcultural exchange [29,36]. Additional purposes of these creative techniques included processing traumas, developing social-emotional skills, and, by extension, reducing impairment and improving school behavior or academic performance.…”

“…Positive results have also been shown for general well-being, emotional adjustment, and relational problems [9]. Creative expression also helps with self-esteem, behavioral problems, conflict resolution and problem solving, constructing identity, dealing with loss, connecting with others, increasing a sense of belonging and happiness, enhancing the classroom climate while addressing acculturation issues and bridging the gap between home and school [17,29,37].…”

“…School and academic outcomes are less central for this strategy; however, some promising findings were mentioned by some reviews that found evidence of increases in math achievement [4], general improvements in school performance and reduced impairment [17,29] and improvements in language and culture learning [32].…”

“…In line with previous studies [29], we did not limit the search by geographic location, to include migrant students experience in all of the potential receiving countries.…”