scholarly journals Survivors of Hell: Resilience Amongst Unaccompanied Minor Refugees and Implications for Treatment- a Narrative Review

Author(s):  
Irene Mateos Rodriguez ◽  
Veronika Dobler

AbstractApproximately half of the world’s displaced population are children and a significant proportion of these are unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). UASC are the most vulnerable of all refugee populations. Up to 90% of UASC have been subjected to exploitation, including trafficking or being drafted into military groups. Having survived the perils of flight, UASC are confronted with continued challenges, including the uncertainties regarding their residential rights in host counties. Unsurprisingly, the prevalence of mental health problems is higher amongst UASC than in any other refugee group. Yet, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) appears to neither reach nor engage UASC. This begs for re-examination of what and how MHPSS is offered. Despite high levels of adversity, UASC often have considerable resilience, and make remarkable recoveries. However, literature exploring their resources or their own views of what helps or hinders recovery is scarce. In this narrative review, we explore individual and systemic factors promoting recovery in UASC. We consider theoretical understanding of resilience, emerging data and user perspectives. From these we deduct four areas of resilience in UASC: Individual factors – prosocial behaviour, problem-solving skills; Lifetime relationships – positive early family relationships, connection with family and country of origin, positive peer and adult relationships in host country; Acculturation – integration of own and new culture, positive relationships with prosocial institutions; Care arrangements – supported but less restrictive living arrangements. We suggest, MHPSS may need to focus on enhancing social networks, including connectedness with positive relationships in the home-country, life-history work with a focus on resource-building experiences in addition to trauma, and promoting integration of old and new cultural values. We also conclude that despite growing data, there is a gap in both eliciting user perspectives and understanding adaptive resources, especially those emerging during early development and within their cultural setting.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Schützwohl

Background: People with an intellectual disability (ID) show a great number and complex constellation of support needs. With respect to the planning of services, it is important to assess needs at the population level. ID services need to know to what extent support needs of clients with mental health problems differ from support needs of clients without any mental health problem.Aims: The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence rates of needs in relevant study groups. Methods: Data was generated from the MEMENTA-Study (“Mental health care for adults with intellectual disability and a mental disorder”). The Camberwell Assessment of Need for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities (CANDID) was used to assess met und unmet support needs. Data was available for n=248 adults with mild to moderate ID.Results: Mean total number of needs and unmet needs was associated with mental health status. However, in most particular areas under study, individuals without significant psychiatric symptoms or any behaviour problem needed as much as often help as individuals with such mental health problems. A higher rate of need for care among study participants with significant psychiatric symptoms or any behaviour problem was mainly found with regard to these specific areas (“minor mental health problems”, “major mental health problems”, “inappropriate behaviour”) or with regard to closely related areas (“safety of others”).Conclusions: Differences in prevalence rates mainly occurred in such areas of need that rather fall under the responsibility of mental health services than under the responsibility of ID services. This has implications for service planning.


Healthcare ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine Mark ◽  
Dominic Murphy ◽  
Sharon Stevelink ◽  
Nicola Fear

Little is known about ex-serving military personnel who access secondary mental health care. This narrative review focuses on studies that quantitatively measure secondary mental health care utilisation in ex-serving personnel from the United States. The review aimed to identify rates of mental health care utilisation, as well as the factors associated with it. The electronic bibliographic databases OVID Medline, PsycInfo, PsycArticles, and Embase were searched for studies published between January 2001 and September 2018. Papers were retained if they included ex-serving personnel, where the majority of the sample had deployed to the recent conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan. Fifteen studies were included. Modest rates of secondary mental health care utilisation were found in former military members—for mean percentage prevalence rates, values ranged from 12.5% for at least one psychiatric inpatient episode, to 63.2% for at least one outpatient mental health appointment. Individuals engaged in outpatient care visits most often, most likely because these appointments are the most commonly offered source of support. Post-traumatic stress disorder, particularly re-experiencing symptoms, and comorbid mental health problems were most consistently associated with higher mental health care utilisation. Easily accessible interventions aimed at facilitating higher rates of help seeking in ex-serving personnel are recommended.


2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-483
Author(s):  
Kevin C Runions ◽  
Rena Vithiatharan ◽  
Kirsten Hancock ◽  
Ashleigh Lin ◽  
Christopher G Brennan-Jones ◽  
...  

Objectives: Children and adolescents with chronic physical health conditions are also at elevated risk of poor mental health; the mechanisms to account for this relationship remain unclear. In this narrative review, we used the socio-ecological model to examine research on experiences of school for children with chronic health conditions and how socio-ecology might be involved in mental health problems. Design: We conducted a scoping review of the existing literature, focused on hearing loss, cystic fibrosis and type 1 diabetes, which examined child and/or adolescent mental health and aspects of the school social setting. Method: PubMed and ScienceDirect databases were searched for the three target conditions; from 353 abstracts, 38 articles were reviewed in detail. Results: Relevant articles that examined social aspects of the experience of school for students with chronic health conditions, including absenteeism due to illness or healthcare, self-perceived difference from peers, stigmatisation and discrimination, bullying and victimisation, and positive aspects of peer support at school were reviewed. Teacher–child aspects including teacher knowledge and/or attitudes about the condition and the possibility of overdependence in the relationship were examined. Each of these processes was considered for its impact on the young person’s mental health. Conclusion: School-based social risk processes in the lives of young people with chronic health conditions, in particular in the peer microsystem, are likely to contribute to risk of psychological problems. These risks cannot be disentangled from mesosystemic, exosystemic and macrosystemic influences. Further research is required on the role of teachers and parents in the school social functioning of children with chronic health conditions.


Author(s):  
Lawrence A. Palinkas ◽  
Meaghan L. O’Donnell ◽  
Winnie Lau ◽  
Marleen Wong

This narrative review examined strategies for preparedness and response to mental health impacts of three forms of climate change from a services perspective: (1) acute and extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires, (2) sub-acute or long-term events such as droughts and heatwaves; and (3) the prospect of long-term and permanent changes, including higher temperatures, rising sea levels, and an uninhabitable physical environment. Strategies for acute events included development and implementation of programs and practices for monitoring and treating mental health problems and strengthening individual and community resilience, training of community health workers to deliver services, and conducting inventories of available resources and assessments of at-risk populations. Additional strategies for sub-acute changes included advocacy for mitigation policies and programs and adaptation of guidelines and interventions to address the secondary impacts of sub-acute events, such as threats to livelihood, health and well-being, population displacement, environmental degradation, and civil conflict. Strategies for long-lasting changes included the implementation of evidence-based risk communication interventions that address the existing and potential threat of climate change, promoting the mental health benefits of environmental conservation, and promoting psychological growth and resilience.


2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
pp. 3-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjam Kalland ◽  
Åse Fagerlund ◽  
Malin von Koskull ◽  
Marjaterttu Pajulo

AimThe aim of the present study was to describe the development of Families First, a new mentalization-based group intervention model for supporting early parenthood. The general aim of the intervention was to support well-functioning models of parenting and prevent transmission of negative parenting models over generations, and thus promote child development and overall family health.BackgroundIn the Finnish society, great concern has aroused during the last decade regarding the well-being and mental health of children and adolescents. Increased number of divorces, poverty, substance abuse, and mental health problems among parents enhance the risk for child neglect and abuse. New effective, preventive, and health-promoting intervention tools are greatly needed to support families with young children. At present, the Families First intervention is being implemented in primary social and healthcare units all over Finland.Methods and findingsThis article will provide a theoretical understanding of the importance of parental mentalization for the development of the parent–child relationship and the development of the child as well as proposed mechanisms of actions in order to enhance mentalizing capacity. The cultural context will be described. The article will also provide a description of the scientific evaluation protocol of the intervention model. Finally, possible limitations and challenges of the intervention model are discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah Bourne ◽  
Rachna Rajput ◽  
Richard Field

SummaryA significant proportion of individuals in contact with probation services have mental health problems. Joint working between psychiatrists and probation is crucial to both diversion and resettlement of offenders with mental health conditions. In England and Wales, probation services are involved in the supervision and management of offenders if they receive a suspended or community sentence, or when they are released into the community on licence after serving a determinate, extended or life sentence. This article aims to promote awareness of joint working between probation and mental health services and the role of approved premises. It also describes a successful example of such joint working at Elliott House, approved premises for mentally disordered offenders in Birmingham, UK.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Huarcaya-Victoria ◽  
Jesica Barreto ◽  
Lucia Aire ◽  
Angela Podestá ◽  
Mónica Caqui ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The current COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic constitutes a significant problem for the world's public health and generates mental health problems.Objective: To describe the characteristics of mental health in survivors of COVID-19 and the main sociodemographic, clinical, and immune factors related.Method: A Cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted on 318 patients (196 women, mean age 54.4 ± 15.1 years) surviving COVID-19 from one hospital in Peru in which sociodemographic, clinical, and immune characteristics were explored. Through telephone interviews, an evaluation of the presence of depressive, anxious, somatic, and distress symptoms was carried out using standardized scales. Adjusted prevalence ratios (PRa) were estimated.Results: A significant proportion of the patients have depressive (30.3%), anxious (29.9%), somatic (33.7%), and distress (28.7%) symptoms. In the regression analysis, the variables associated with a higher frequency of clinically relevant mental symptoms were female sex (depression: aPR = 2.29; anxiety: PRa = 2.71; somatic symptoms: PRa = 2.04; distress: PRa = 2.11), proceeding outside the capital (depression: PRa = 1.61; anxiety: PRa = 1.53), the self-perception of a greater severity of the infection (depression: PRa = 5.53; anxiety: PRa = 2.29; distress: PRa = 14.78), the presence of persistent COVID-19 symptoms (depression: PRa = 8.55; anxiety: PRa = 11.38; somatic symptoms: PRa = 5.46; distress: PRa = 20.55), a history of psychiatric treatment (depression: PRa = 2.29; somatic symptoms: PRa = 2.90 ; distress: PRa = 3.80), the history of a family member infected by COVID-19 (anxiety: PRa = 4.71; somatic symptoms: PRa = 1.99), and a neutrophil-lymphocyte index greater than 6.5 (depression: PRa = 1.67; anxiety: PRa = 1.82).Conclusion: COVID-19 survivors show a high prevalence of negative mental symptoms. Some useful variables have been found when identifying vulnerable patients requiring psychiatric care.


2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Emden ◽  
Inge Kowanko ◽  
Charlotte de Crespigny ◽  
Helen Murray

This paper reports findings from interviews and focus groups conducted within a multi-dimensional action research project concerning medication management among Indigenous Australians. Participants were Aboriginal people with mental health problems, carers and family members, and health and social service workers from different regions in South Australia. A meta-analysis of findings from each regional project component was conducted, and major themes conceptualised and developed into a coherent summary. The findings revealed problems of a magnitude not previously realised - mental health problems (including alcohol and drug problems) and medication management among Aboriginal people clearly are major issues requiring immediate and sustained attention if the health and welfare of the Australian Indigenous population are to be improved. Findings concerned eight major areas: social and emotional wellbeing issues; stressors on Aboriginal health services and providers; training for the Aboriginal health workforce; mainstream health services for Aboriginal people; trust and confidentiality within Aboriginal health services; English language literacy and numeracy skills of Aboriginal clients; remote living arrangements for many Aboriginal people; problems with alcohol use; and institutionalised and individual racism in the community at large.


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