School-based interventions to support student refugees, migrants and immigrants, and their families
Citation: Charbonneau S, deLeyer-Tiarks J, Caterino LC, et al. A meta-analysis of school-based interventions for student refugees, migrants, and immigrants. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community. 2022;50(4):434-49.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: No.
Funding sources: Nothing noted.
What is this? Some child migrants arrive in a host country with physical and mental illnesses due to malnutrition, lack of medical care and having spent time in camps where there is inadequate food and shelter.
In this systematic review, the authors searched for research into school-based interventions targeting social-emotional concerns, academic achievement or physical health of student refugees, migrants and immigrants. They searched for articles published between 2000 and February 2020. They included 64 studies, which included randomized trials (23), quasi-experimental or pretest-posttest designs (23), single case designs (3) and non-experimental studies (15).
What was found: Therapeutic groups may help to lessen refugee children’s feelings of isolation and hopelessness and may normalize their emotional and behavioral reactions.
Mental health professionals and educators can play a key role in the lives of refugee, migrant and immigrant children.
Interventions such as mentoring programs, psychotherapy groups and intensive instruction in the language of the host country are valuable and help address the academic, socio-emotional and health needs of these children.
Implications: The authors of the review concluded that policymaking worldwide is critical to ensuring refugee, migrant and immigrant children are supported through program interventions, with equity as the primary focus. They stated that more research is needed on the support received by school-wide multi-tiered systems to improve physical health in refugees, migrants and immigrants.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of place of residence, language, education, socioeconomic status, social capital, age and personal characteristics associated with discrimination (e.g., migration).
This summary was prepared by Yasmeen Saeed and finalized by Mike Clarke.