Perspectives of Migrant Youth, Parents and Clinicians on Community-Based Mental Health Services: Negotiating Safe Pathways

Abstract

Youth mental health (YMH) services are greatly underutilized, particularly for migrant youth. Collaborative models of care offer promising avenues, but research on these treatment modalities is still scarce, particularly for migrants. The goal of this exploratory study is to better understand quality of care including factors improving access to care and collaborative YMH services use, efficacy and satisfaction, for this vulnerable population. This qualitative study relies on a multi-informants (youth, parents, clinicians) and multiple case study design to explore YMH collaborative services for migrant youth living in an urban setting (Montreal, Canada). Participants are five young patients (12–15 years old), one of their parents and their primary care therapist (N = 15). They come from migrant families, have a psychiatric diagnosis and have been receiving mental health services in a collaborative care setting for at least 6 months. Transcripts of semi-structured interviews for the five triads were thematically analyzed to draw similarities and contrasts between actors, across and within case-studies. Based on these findings, four themes emerged concerning the optimal care setting for collaborative YMH services for migrant families: (1) providing an equilibrium between communication, collaboration and privacy/confidentiality, (2) special attention to ensuring the continuity of care and the creation of a welcoming environment where trusting relationships can develop, (3) the inclusion of family intervention, and (4) the provision of collaborative decision-making pathways to care, addressing interprofessional and interinstitutional collaboration as well as cultural differences in explanatory models and values.

Community-Based Healthcare for Migrants and Refugees: A Scoping Literature Review of Best Practices

“…Single interventions described for community-based mental health services pertained to the training of (future) healthcare workers and cultural brokering [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , …”

Access and utilization of mental health services for immigrants and refugees: Perspectives of immigrant service providers

“…; Nadeau et al . ). However, the complex challenge of eliminating stigma around mental illness is not limited to immigrant populations (Szeto et al .…”

User participation and shared decision-making in adolescent mental healthcare: a qualitative study of healthcare professionals’ perspectives

“…Several studies have stressed the importance of identifying goals and encouraging participation in decisionmaking early in the treatment process [17,36,37]. Giving adolescents an early experience of being true partners in decisions may support their autonomy and create a sense of agency within treatment [38]. The participants in our study suggest that involving adolescents even before hospital admission will improve user participation throughout the treatment course.…”