scholarly journals A systematic review of risk and protective factors of mental health in unaccompanied minor refugees

Author(s):  
Edgar Höhne ◽  
Anna Swantje van der Meer ◽  
Inge Kamp-Becker ◽  
Hanna Christiansen

Abstract In recent years, there has been a rising interest in the mental health of unaccompanied minor refugees (UMR), who are a high-risk group for mental disorders. Especially the investigation of predictive factors of the mental health of young refugees has received increasing attention. However, there has been no review on this current issue for the specific group of UMR so far. We aimed to summarize and evaluate the existing findings of specific risk and protective factors to identify the most verified influences on the mental health of UMR. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature search. Study designs were limited to quantitative cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. Eight databases were searched in four different languages and article reference lists of relevant papers were screened. 27 studies were included (N = 4753). Qualitative synthesis revealed the number of stressful life events to be the most evaluated and verified risk factor for mental health of UMR. A stable environment and social support, on the other hand, can protect UMR from developing poor mental health. Besides that, several other influencing factors could be pointed out, such as type of accommodation, family contact, gender and cultural competences. Because of the large heterogeneity of outcome measures, quantitative synthesis was not possible. This review helps to improve our understanding of determinants of UMRs mental health and thus to provide more targeted treatment. Furthermore, it provides information on how to prevent the development of mental health problems by specifying factors that can be modified by different health and immigration sectors in advance. Further research is needed focusing on the interaction between the various predictive factors.

Author(s):  
Hari Krishnan R. ◽  
Hanitha Rajasekar ◽  
Suganthi S.

Background: The whole world became still, when a major pandemic COVID-19 started its toll across all developed and developing countries. It has caused both physical and emotional disturbances among all age groups. This study was done to evaluate the parental mental health in COVID-19 as this group is not given much importance. The major mental health problems associated with COVID-19 among parents are due to online classes which has caused depression, anxiety and stress.Methods: A cross-sectional study done among all parents, especially those of whose children are attending online class were included in the study. Convenient sampling was used to select 204 participants, GHQ 12 questionnaire was used for data collection on mental health status among parents.Results: Overall prevalence of parents with better mental health <19 was 108 (52.9%) and prevalence of parents with poor mental health >19 was 96 (47.1%).Conclusions: This study concluded that parental age of 31 to 40 years who are employed and have children studying in primary school to have a poor mental health status. The most important contributing factors for poor parental health were online classes for children and work place stress.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (F) ◽  
pp. 205-210
Author(s):  
Agus Purnama ◽  
Susaldi Susaldi ◽  
Halma Zahro Mukhlida ◽  
Hilma Hasro Maulida ◽  
Nyimas Heny Purwati

Purpose: This study aims to examine the description of mental health characteristics of health students who conducted studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The design of this study is to use a systematic review approach by collecting several articles from a database that has been selected consisting of Springer. , ScienceDirect and ProQuest with articles published in 2020. Search for articles was carried out by entering the keyword "mental health AND student AND COVID-19". The search for this article was limited to inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria in this study were health students who were still conducting studies during the COVID-19 pandemic and a cross-sectional study design, while the exclusion criteria were non-health students, only abstracts and books, and letters to the editor. Results: After a search on the selected database, the results are 677 Springer articles, 554 direct articles, and 1348 ProQuest articles. 11 were removed for duplicates, 444 full texts were reviewed and 6 articles matched inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results of the 6 articles that were reviewed showed that the majority of health students reported mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, stress, and another emotional status. Where moderate and severe levels of anxiety were experienced by some Health students who carried out education during the Covid-19 pandemic. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on psychological conditions, especially on health students who are carrying out their education. Students report poor mental health conditions while carrying out home education by learning online during the COVID-19 pandemic.


10.2196/19779 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. e19779
Author(s):  
Samantha Jane Lynch ◽  
Matthew Sunderland ◽  
Nicola Claire Newton ◽  
Cath Chapman

Background Mental and substance use disorders are among the leading causes of burden of disease worldwide, with risk of onset peaking between the ages of 13 and 24 years. Comorbidity is also common among young people and complicates research, diagnosis and assessment, and clinical decision making. There is increasing support for empirically derived models of psychopathology that overcome issues of comorbidity and provide a transdiagnostic framework for investigating the specificity and generality of risk and protective factors for psychopathology. Objective This systematic review aims to identify transdiagnostic risk and protective factors for psychopathology in young people by synthesizing and evaluating findings from research investigating empirically based models of psychopathology. Methods Searches will be conducted in Medline, EMBASE, and PsycINFO databases. Reference lists of selected articles will also be hand searched for other relevant publications. All studies will be screened against eligibility criteria designed to identify studies that examined empirical models of psychopathology in relation to risk and/or protective factors in young people with a mean age between 10 and 24 years. Study quality will be assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklists for Cohort Studies and Analytical Cross-Sectional Studies. Findings will be summarized in a narrative synthesis, and a meta-analysis will be conducted if sufficient data are available. Results This review is ongoing. At the time of submission, full-text screening was completed, and hand searching of selected articles was underway. Results are expected to be completed by the end of 2020. Conclusions This protocol is for a systematic review of evidence for transdiagnostic risk and protective factors associated with empirically based models of psychopathology in young people. To our knowledge, the critical synthesis of this evidence will be the first to date and will provide a better understanding of the factors that contribute to the onset and maintenance of psychopathology in young people. Insights drawn from the review will provide critical new knowledge to improve the targeting of interventions to prevent or reduce mental health problems. Trial Registration This systematic review is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020161368) and is available via Open Science Framework. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/19779


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Dalla Costa Becker ◽  
Adilson Carlos da Rocha ◽  
Franciele Aní Caovilla Follador ◽  
Guilherme Welter Wendt ◽  
Lirane Elize Defante Ferreto ◽  
...  

Objectives: This investigation sought to identify the prevalence of Burnout Syndrome (BS) among Brazilian medical doctors (BS) and the associations with risk factors and protective factors.Methods: Out of 206 registered MD from a medium-sized municipality, 121 were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Convenience sampling was used. Based on Cohen's f2, a power of 98% and a 0.05 alpha was achieved. MD responded to sociodemographic questions and to the Portuguese-version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Human Services Survey (MBI). Risk and protective factors linked with BS were examined with regression analyses.Results: The age of the participants ranged from 25 to 69 years (M = 40.89; SD = 10.13) and 73.6% were male. The prevalence of BS was 7.5%. Differential aspects were related to BS. For instance, while not reporting satisfaction with the institution (β = 16.16, p &lt; 0.001) and not practicing physical exercise (β = 7.39, p = 0.014) were associated with higher scores in the BS composite score, those who did not intend to change their careers (β = −17.15, p &lt; 0.001) and participants who saw mental health specialists (β = −8.99, p = 0.007) scored lower, accounting for nearly a half of the BS composite score (R2 = 46%).Conclusion: The prevalence of BS in this study falls within the range previously reported among healthcare professionals (i.e., 2.6–11.8%). Moreover, data suggested that commitment with the occupation and with the participant's own mental health could boost reactions against the deleterious effects of the BS. In this sense, organizations can develop strategies for preventing BS, a process that is known to be chronic and, to some extent, preventable.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuhiro Kotera ◽  
Akihoko Ozaki ◽  
Hirotomo Miyatake ◽  
Chie Tsunetoshi ◽  
Yoshitaka Nishikawa ◽  
...  

Abstract The current pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has negatively impacted medical workers’ mental health in many countries including Japan. Although research identified poor mental health of medical workers in COVID-19, protective factors for their mental health remain to be appraised. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate relationships between mental health problems, loneliness, hope and self-compassion among Japanese medical workers, and compare with the general population. Online self-report measures regarding those four constructs were completed by 142 medical workers and 138 individuals in the general population. T-tests and multiple regression analysis were performed. Medical workers had higher levels of mental health problems and loneliness, and lower levels of hope and self-compassion than the general population. Loneliness was the strongest predictor of mental health problems in the medical workers. Findings suggest that Japanese medical workplaces may benefit from targeting workplace loneliness to protect staff mental health from the current crisis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Brogly ◽  
Michael A. Bauer ◽  
Daniel J. Lizotte ◽  
MacLean L. Press ◽  
Arlene MacDougall ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency that poses challenges for the mental health of approximately 1.4 million university students in Canada. Preliminary evidence has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on undergraduate student mental health and well-being, however existing data are predominantly limited to cross-sectional survey-based studies. Due to the evolving nature of the pandemic, longer-term prospective surveillance efforts are needed to better anticipate risk and protective factors during a pandemic. OBJECTIVE The overarching aim of this research is to use a mobile surveillance system to identify risk and protective factors for undergraduate mental health. Factors will be identified from weekly self-report data (e.g., affect, living accommodation) and device sensor data (e.g., physical activity, device usage) to prospectively predict self-reported mental health and service utilization. METHODS Undergraduate students at Western University, Canada, will be recruited via e-mail to complete an internet baseline questionnaire with the option to participate in the study on a weekly basis using the Student Pandemic Experience (SPE) mobile application (app) for Android/iOS. The app collects sensor samples (e.g., GPS coordinates, steps) and self-reported weekly mental health and wellness surveys. Student participants can opt-in to link their mobile data with campus-based administrative data capturing health service utilization. Risk and protective factors that predict mental health outcomes are expected to be estimated by 1) cross-sectional associations between student characteristics (e.g., demographics) and key psychosocial factors (e.g., affect, stress, social connection) and behaviors (e.g., physical activity, device usage) and 2) longitudinal associations between psychosocial and behavioral factors and campus-based health service utilization. RESULTS Data collection began November 9th, 2020 and will be ongoing through to at least August 31st, 2021. Retention from the baseline survey (N=427) to app sign-up was 315/427 (74%), with approximately 175-215 (55-68%) of app participants actively responding to weekly surveys. From November 9th, 2020 to May 1st, 2021, 3363 responses to the app surveys and 18914 sensor samples (consisting of up to 68 individual data items each, e.g., GPS coordinates, steps) were collected from the 315 participants that signed up for the app. CONCLUSIONS Identifying risk and resilience factors for student mental health during this public health crisis is critical for informing optimal campus-based strategies and program development during the pandemic and beyond.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lance M. McCracken ◽  
Farzaneh Badinlou ◽  
Monica Buhrman ◽  
Karin C. Brocki

Abstract Background: The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, with its associated restrictions on daily life, is like a perfect storm for poor mental health and wellbeing. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine the impacts of COVID-19 on mental health and wellbeing during the ongoing pandemic in Sweden. Method: Standardized measures of depression, anxiety, and insomnia as well as measures of risk and vulnerability factors known to be associated with poor mental health outcomes were administered through a national, online, cross-sectional survey (n = 1,212; mean age 36.1 years; 73% women). Result: Our findings show significant levels of depression, anxiety, and insomnia in Sweden, at rates of 30%, 24.2%, and 38%, respectively. The strongest predictors of these outcomes included poor self-rated overall health and a history of mental health problems. The presence of COVID-19 symptoms and specific health and financial worries related to the pandemic also appeared important. Conclusions: The impacts of COVID-19 on mental health in Sweden are comparable to impacts shown in previous studies in Italy and China. Importantly, the pandemic seems to impose most on the mental health of those already burdened with the impacts of mental health problems. These results provide a basis for providing more support for vulnerable groups, and for developing psychological interventions suited to the ongoing pandemic and for similar events in the future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Richardson ◽  
Peter Elliott ◽  
Ron Roberts

Purpose Previous cross-sectional research has examined the effect of loneliness on mental health. The purpose of this paper is to examine longitudinal relationships in students. Design/methodology/approach A total of 454 British undergraduate students completed measures of loneliness and mental health at four time points. Findings After controlling for demographics and baseline mental health, greater loneliness predicted greater anxiety, stress, depression and general mental health over time. There was no evidence that mental health problems increased loneliness over time. There was no relationship with alcohol problems. Baseline loneliness predicted greater eating disorder risk at follow-up and vice versa. Research limitations/implications This study is limited by a relatively small and heavily female sample. Practical implications Social and psychological interventions to reduce loneliness in university settings may improve mental health. Social implications Universities should consider organising social activities to mitigate feelings of loneliness in students. Originality/value This study adds to the literature as a longitudinal analysis showing that loneliness exacerbates poor mental health over time. This also adds to the literature for students specifically, and suggests a possible bi-directional relationship between eating disorders and loneliness for the first time.


Author(s):  
Masatoshi Tahara ◽  
Yuki Mashizume ◽  
Kayoko Takahashi

The COVID-19 pandemic is a major problem affecting the mental health of millions of people, including healthcare workers. In this study, we analyzed risk factors and coping mechanisms that could reduce the risk of poor mental health among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. A cross-sectional survey was conducted for 7 days from 30 April 2020 using a web-based questionnaire. The survey assessed various outcome measures, including the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), health status, satisfaction with daily life activities, work, leisure, and new activities, and anxiety over COVID-19. Data from 661 participants were analyzed, and 440 participants (66.6%) showed poor mental health (GHQ-12 ≥ 4). Also, our result showed that female gender, lower levels of communication with friends, and high anxiety were associated with poorer mental health. In contrast, good health status, high work satisfaction, and high satisfaction from new activities were associated with buffering mental health problem. Most participants chose an escape-avoidance coping strategy, and participants with worse mental health were more likely to adopt seeking social support as a coping strategy. These results may support healthcare workers to cope with mental health problems associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.


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