European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume 26, Issue 11, 2017, Pages 1331-1341

A file study of refugee children referred to specialized mental health care: from an individual diagnostic to an ecological perspective (Article)

Villanueva O’Driscoll J.* , Serneels G. , Imeraj L.
  • a Solentra vzw, Child and Adolescent Department (PAika), Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 101, Jette, 1090, Belgium, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Elsene, 1050, Belgium
  • b Solentra vzw, Child and Adolescent Department (PAika), Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 101, Jette, 1090, Belgium
  • c Solentra vzw, Child and Adolescent Department (PAika), Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 101, Jette, 1090, Belgium, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 101, Jette, 1090, Belgium

Abstract

The past years have been characterized by a large refugee crisis across the globe. The exposure to preflight, flight, and resettlement stressors puts refugee children and their families at risk of developing emotional and behavioral disorders. A unique Western-based approach of mental health problems seems to be insufficient to address the complexity of interactions between individual vulnerabilities and more ecological surrounding systems. We looked into (1) the reasons for referral; and (2) the process diagnostic outcomes after ethnopsychiatric and psychological assessment. We conducted a thematic content analysis on 93 files of refugee children. The findings suggest that mental health care professionals need to hold into account the multiplicity and intertwining of ongoing challenges to the well-being of refugee children. The integration of a Western-based psychiatric assessment with a more ecologically based view can lead to a more culturally sensitive approach in refugee children and their families. This way, both under- and overdiagnosis of psychiatric disorders could be avoided to further optimalise mental health care in this population. © 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Author Keywords

File study Refugee children Mental health care Ecological framework Refugees Culturally sensitive approach

Index Keywords

refugee mental health service mental health human wellbeing Refugees psychologic assessment Mental Health Services mental health care Humans family psychology male female patient referral Referral and Consultation standards diagnosis major clinical study content analysis mental disease assessment Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85017180309&doi=10.1007%2fs00787-017-0981-3&partnerID=40&md5=e0d817ee2fa65cc039c3a19cf3070563
DOI: 10.1007/s00787-017-0981-3
ISSN: 10188827
Cited by: 2
Original Language: English