Resilience and mental health in adults displaced by armed conflict
Citation: Siriwardhana C, Ali SS, Roberts B, et al. A systematic review of resilience and mental health outcomes of conflict-driven adult forced migrants. Conflict and Health. 2014;8:13.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: The authors of the review reported that they had no external funding for this review.
What is this? More than 45 million people are estimated to have been displaced by armed conflict. In this systematic review, the authors searched for both quantitative and qualitative studies that reported resilience and mental health outcomes among forcibly displaced persons. They restricted their searches to articles published in English before February 2014. They included 23 studies.
What was found: Resilience was associated with better mental health in displaced populations, but the evidence for this and for underlying mechanisms was limited. High-quality social and family support, personal strengths, coping styles, and strong religion and belief systems were associated with increased resilience and decreased psychological stress during conflict-induced migration.
Longer durations of displacement, poor living conditions, female gender, daily stressors, and a breakdown of family support were associated with decreased resilience.
Implications: The authors stated that their review highlighted the need for more epidemiological and qualitative research on resilience in forcibly displaced persons to develop evidence-based interventions, particularly in resource-poor settings.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of place of residence and gender.
This summary was prepared by Joly Ghanawi, checked by Briann Mensour, and finalized by William Summerskill.