Mental health of refugees resettled in regional and rural Australia
Citation: Hawkes C, Norris K, Joyce J, et al. Individuals of refugee background resettled in regional and rural Australia: A systematic review of mental health research. Australian Journal of Rural Health. 2021;29:850-64.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: The authors reported that they had no financial supports or conflicts of interest to declare.
What is this? Refugees are exposed to many difficulties during their migration and resettlement which can have long-lasting impacts on their mental health.
In this systematic review, the authors searched for studies of determinants of mental health in refugees who resettled in rural and regional parts of Australia. They restricted their searches to articles published in English and did the final search in May 2020. They included 14 articles, which included a total of 600 individuals (refugees and service providers).
What was found? Resettled refugees had poorer mental health outcomes compared to the general population living in rural and regional parts of Australia, including high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and chronic stress.
Levels of clinical depression in relocated women were particularly high.
Factors associated with positive mental health included the ability to visit a place of worship of choice, engaging in employment, developing language skills, connecting with individuals from the same culture and support from the host community.
Factors associated with poor mental health included communication difficulties and language barriers, disconnection from family, loneliness and social isolation, gender specific challenges and racism.
Implications: The authors of the review concluded that refugees who resettle in rural and regional locations may be at greater risk of mental distress and face a lack of access to mental health services and supports.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discuss their findings in the context of place of residence; race, ethnicity, and culture; language; religion and gender/sex.
This summary was prepared by Tuba Yavuz, edited by Sydney Johnson and finalized by Lucy Turner