Thesis Defence: Refugee youth perceptions of mental health and facilitators and barriers to help-seeking
July 28 at 9:30 am - 1:30 pm
Yassin Mahat, supervised by Dr. Carla Hilario, will defend their thesis titled “Refugee youth perceptions of mental health and facilitators and barriers to help-seeking” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Nursing.
An abstract for Yassin Mahat’s thesis is included below.
Defences are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Please email carla.hilario@ubc.ca to receive the Zoom link for this defence.
Abstract
Background: Refugee-background youth are at increased risk for mental health challenges due to exposure to traumatic experiences before migration, during migration and throughout the resettlement process. Despite this need, they underutilize mental health services compared to their non-immigrant peers and are more likely to seek help as a last resort and often at the emergency department. While previous research has identified barriers to accessing care, it has largely focused on adult refugees or on service providers perspectives. As a result, there is limited research that centres youth perspectives within the Canadian context and especially Metro Vancouver. In this study, ‘refugee-background youth’ refers to individuals who experienced forced migration as well as those born in Canada to refugee families whose lives are shaped by histories of displacement.
Research Question: What are the perspectives of refugee-background youth on mental health, mental health care, and the barriers and facilitators that influence their help-seeking?
Methodology: This qualitative study employed interpretive description to explore the experiences of refugee-background youth with a goal of informing nursing practice. The study adopted interpretivist and constructivist philosophical perspectives which focus on how individuals understand and make meaning of their experiences. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory was used as a theoretical framework to examine how multiple environmental factors namely within the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem influence help-seeking. Data collection was conducted through individual semi-structured interviews with ten refugee-background youth (aged 17-24) living in Metro Vancouver. Data analysis was done using reflexive thematic analysis. This process involved six phases: data familiarization, generating initial codes, developing candidate themes, reviewing and refining themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the final report.
Results: Five themes were identified: (1) developing new understandings of mental health through migration and resettlement n (2) stigma, fear of judgment, and discrimination make it difficult to talk about mental health (3) family relationships influence youth decisions about seeking help (4) relationships and cultural factors shape youth engagement with mental health services (5) help-seeking often occurs in times of crisis. The study found that refugee youth tended to delay seeking formal mental health support until they reached a point of crisis. This progressive delay was influenced by limited early mental health knowledge, stigma at multiple levels, family influence, lack of trust in services, and difficulties navigating the healthcare system.
Discussion: The findings highlight the need for mental health services that prioritize early support, are culturally appropriate and reflect the conditions that participants identified as preconditions: safety, trust and confidentiality which are consistent with principles of trauma informed practice The study has implications for nursing practice, nursing education, nursing research and health policy. It also contributes new and contextualized qualitative evidence to the literature on refugee youth mental health and help-seeking.
