Mental Health Challenges in Immigrant and Refugee Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

• Main Authors: Meysam Safi Keykaleh, Katayoon Jahangiri, Shahnaz Tabatabaie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Negah Institute for Scientific Communication 2017-10-01
• Series: Health in Emergencies & Disasters Quarterly
• Subjects: Mental health; Refugees; Asylum seekers; Adolescents; Child
• Online Access: http://hdq.uswr.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-227-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1

Background: Half of the world refugees comprise children and adolescents. Confronting conflicts and difficulties before, during, and after migration and seeking asylum affect their mental health. The present study aimed at investigating the challenges of mental health of migrant and refugee adolescents and children. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was conducted in the second half of 2016 using PubMed, Scopus, Magiran, SID, and Google Scholar databases. From the 2014 studies initially selected, 20 articles that specifically attended to examining the mental health of migrant and refugee adolescents and children were finally extracted. Results: According to previous studies, the refugee adolescents and children encounter much harm. In addition to psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, post-trauma stress disorder and psychosomatic pains, this group of refugees also suffers from a decline in flexibility and behavioral and cognitive functions. These conditions have been reported more often in refugee adolescents and children who have been separated from their parents or left far away from them. Conclusion: Before a crisis occurs, policymakers and planners should formulate and implement educational programs along with the participation of parents and teachers in order for children to cope with conditions of disasters, and in order to promote the culture of resilience. The health system, while developing special care programs must prioritize the training of its employees in order to provide services. Most studies have attended to the incidence of symptoms of refugees psychological disorders, while it seems necessary to conduct intervention studies with the aim of identifying elements of risk and ways to resolve these elements.