Assessing trauma in a transcultural context: challenges in mental health care with immigrants and refugees.

Assessing trauma in a transcultural context: challenges in mental health care with immigrants and refugees. Public Health Rev. 2018;39:22 Authors: Wylie L, Van Meyel R, Harder H, Sukhera J, Luc C, Ganjavi H, Elfakhani M, Wardrop N Abstract The growing numbers of refugees and immigrants from conflict-prone areas settling throughout the world bring several challenges for those working in the mental health care system. Immigrants and refugees of all ages arrive with complex and nuanced mental health histories of war, torture, and strenuous migration journeys. Many of the challenges of addressing the health care needs for this growing population of immigrants and refugees are often unfamiliar, and thus practices to address these challenges are not yet routine for care providers and health care organizations. In particular, complex trauma can make mental health assessments difficult for health care organizations or care providers with limited experience and training in transcultural or trauma-informed care. Using a transcultural approach can improve assessment and screening processes, leading to more effective and high-quality care for immigrant and refugee families experiencing mental health disorders. This paper presents findings from an assessment of current mental health services focusing on current practices and experiences with immigrant and refugee patients and families. The difficulties in developing shared understandings about me...
Source: Public Health Reviews - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Public Health Rev Source Type: research