A study was made of the health status, physician utilization, and response to offered assistance, in a consecutive community cohort of Vietnamese refugees in Norway, with special emphasis on mental health. After three years in Norway, 79 per cent of those subjects with psychiatric disorders had no contact with a primary care physician, and none were in contact with public mental health care services. However, 52 per cent of the subjects with a psychiatric disorder requested assistance from the researcher. Refugees with psychiatric disorders were not sufficiently served by the public health care system, and outreach services should be considered, especially for subjects who are poorly integrated with the indigenous population.

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Norway social policy