Impact of United States refugee ban and discrimination on the mental health of hypertensive Arabic-speaking refugees

This study qualitatively explores the impact of the refugee ban on United States resettled Syrian and Iraqi refugees with hypertension.MethodsParticipants were recruited through a federally qualified health center system that is the largest healthcare provider for refugees in San Diego, CA. All participants were Arabic-speaking refugees diagnosed with hypertension from Syria and Iraq. In-depth interviews took place between April 2021 and April 2022. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze data from semi-structured interviews.ResultsParticipants (N = 109) include 53 women and 56 men (23 Syrian, 86 Iraqi). The average age was 61.3 years (SD: 9.7) and stay in the United States was 9.5 years (SD 5.92). Four themes emerged linking the travel ban’s impact on health, in line with the society to cells framework: (1) family factors: the refugee ban resulted in family separation; (2) physiological factors: the refugee ban worsened participants’ mental health, exacerbating hypertension and perceived health outcomes; (3) community factors: perpetuation of Islamophobia, xenophobia, and perceived discrimination were structural barriers with links to poorer health; and (4) individual factors: trickle down consequences led to worsened participant self-image and self-perception within their host community.DiscussionThe refugee ban negatively impacted the mental and physical health of United States resettled Arabic-speaking refugees through perceived discrimination, stress,...
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research