Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Volume 51, Issue 8, 2016, Pages 1125-1136

Refugee children have fewer contacts to psychiatric healthcare services: an analysis of a subset of refugee children compared to Danish-born peers (Article)

Barghadouch A.* , Kristiansen M. , Jervelund S.S. , Hjern A. , Montgomery E. , Norredam M.
  • a Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health (MESU), Section for Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 10, Copenhagen K, 1014, Denmark
  • b Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health (MESU), Section for Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 10, Copenhagen K, 1014, Denmark
  • c Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health (MESU), Section for Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 10, Copenhagen K, 1014, Denmark
  • d Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS), Karolinska Institutet/Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden, Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet/Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
  • e DIGNITY–Danish Institute Against Torture, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • f Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health (MESU), Section for Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 10, Copenhagen K, 1014, Denmark, Section of Immigrant Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital, Hvidovre, Denmark

Abstract

Purpose: Studies show a high level of mental health problems among refugee children. This study examined whether a subset of refugee children living in Denmark accessed psychiatric healthcare services more than those born in the country. Methods: This study compared 24,427 refugee children from Asia, The Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and former Yugoslavia, who obtained residency in Denmark between 1 January 1993 and 31 December 2010 with 146,562 Danish-born children, matched 1:6 on age and sex. The study looked at contacts with psychiatric hospitals as well as psychologists and psychiatrists in private practice. Results: Between 1 January 1996 and 30 June 2012, 3.5 % of the refugee children accessed psychiatric healthcare services compared to 7.7 % of the Danish-born children. The rate ratio of having any first-time psychiatric contact was 0.42 (95 % CI 0.40–0.45) among refugee boys and 0.35 (95 % CI 0.33–0.37) among refugee girls, compared to Danish-born children. Figures were similar for those accessing private psychologists or psychiatrists, emergency room, inpatient and outpatient services. Conclusions: Refugee children used fewer psychiatric healthcare services than Danish-born children. This may indicate that refugee children experience barriers in accessing psychiatric healthcare systems and do not receive adequate assessment of their mental health and subsequent referral to specialist services. © 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Author Keywords

Registry-based Healthcare utilization Psychiatric contacts Refugee children migrant

Index Keywords

doctor patient relation Africa south of the Sahara mental health service refugee girl register mental health human Refugees psychiatrist Asia Middle East Denmark psychologist statistics and numerical data controlled study outpatient care Yugoslavia emergency ward Mental Health Services private practice ethnology Humans psychology male female preschool child patient referral Child, Preschool Africa health care utilization major clinical study Case-Control Studies health care system case control study Healthcare Disparities health care disparity Health Services Accessibility health care delivery Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84975457830&doi=10.1007%2fs00127-016-1260-1&partnerID=40&md5=21282c652eeb73c64e674c6bb5c70e7c
DOI: 10.1007/s00127-016-1260-1
ISSN: 09337954
Cited by: 18
Original Language: English