Evidence Aid Bulletin: 15 January 2024
Happy New Year to you all,
It is with the warmest of wishes that we welcome you to Evidence Aid’s first bulletin of 2024. In December, we sent you our last newsletter of 2023, which included an overview of all our previous year’s accomplishments, including the start of the newest phase of work on the RHS collection, as well as a series of webinars throughout May and August. In case you missed it, you can still find it on our website alongside additional previously published newsletters and bulletins.
In this month’s bulletin, we turn our attention to two recently published summaries related to the health and wellbeing of displaced populations including parents and children. From violence in Gaza to the displacement of over six million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, estimates predict that in the coming decades over 1.2 billion people could be displaced globally due to environmental change, conflict, and civil unrest. The third summary discusses the tools and checklists which can help evaluate whether a hospital is prepared for a disaster.
As always, we thank you for all your continued support over the last year and hope you enjoy the first bulletin of the year. If you would like to be notified of any future bulletin and/or newsletter, please contact Sumra Ali (info@evidenceaid.org). Finally, if you would like to support our work and think it is important that we continue through 2024, please consider donating here.
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Wellbeing of migrant and refugee parents from the Middle East
This systematic review examined the wellbeing of resettled migrants and refugee parents from the Middle East geopolitical region, particularly during the first 1000 days of their child’s life. The authors found that migrant and refugee parents faced myriad challenges, including changes to family dynamics, less social support than in their home countries, language barriers, as well as stigma and limited access to mental health and related services. To alleviate consequential feelings of post-natal depression, isolation, and loneliness, the authors recommended the provision of supportive, client-centred healthcare and comprehensive physical and mental health support.
Citation: Winter AK, et al. Wellbeing Outcomes and Risk and Protective Factors for Parents with Migrant and Refugee Backgrounds from the Middle East in the First 1000 Days: A Systematic Review. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. 2023.
You can find the full summary in the Health of Refugees and Asylum Seekers collection.
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Mental health screening and assessment for children who are displaced forcibly
As a large proportion of people experiencing forcible displacement are those under the age of 18 years, this systematic review aimed to assess the mental health of such a population. They found there was a scarcity of reliable mechanisms to assess mental health of forcibly displaced youth but did not suggest a core set of mental health-related questionnaires. Instead, they recommended using a variety of already existing screening tools for behavioral issues, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression.
Citation: Verhagen IL, et al. Mental health screening and assessment tools for forcibly displaced children: a systematic review. European Journal of Psychotraumatology. 2022;13(2):2126468.
You can find the full summary in the Health of Refugees and Asylum Seekers collection.
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Tools and checklists for evaluating hospital disaster preparedness
Authors of this systematic review searched for tools that had been previously used to evaluate hospital preparedness for disasters. They identified 14 key themes including logistics and resources, procedures and protocols, human resources, medical care and triage protocol, communication tools and approach, command strategy and control, structural and non-structural resilience, training education and exercises, evacuation logistics and strategy, recovery strategy, coordination, transport logistics, approach to surge capacity, and plans for safety and security. The authors suggested that these tools could be utilized to prepare a comprehensive tool that evaluates hospital preparedness.
Citation: Nekoie-Moghadam M, et al. Tools and checklists used for the evaluation of hospital disaster preparedness: A systematic review. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10(5):781-788.
You can find the full summary in the Managing Mental Injuries in Disasters collection.
Thank you for taking time to read this month’s bulletin. And a final reminder should you or your colleagues be interested in receiving these bulletins directly please contact Sumra Ali (info@evidenceaid.org). Feedback on our newsletter and bulletins is always welcome so don’t hesitate to interact with us if you have comments.
From,
Your Evidence Aid team