28.M. Workshop: Mental ill-health and social exclusion among refugee minors/youth resettling in European countries
Authors:   Organised by: Karolinska Institutet (Sweden),   Chair persons: Ellenor Mittendorfer Rutz - Sweden
Published: October 2020

Globally, many countries have experienced the immigration of a growing number or refugee minors/youth. Many refugees have been exposed to traumatic events in their country of origin or during flight to their host country, putting issues of public mental health on the agenda. Mental ill-health can have a strong impact on social integration as it affects educational and occupational attainment and therefore increases the risk of labour market marginalisation.

Mental ill-health can range from psychological distress to diagnosed disorders. Most frequently occurring are common mental disorders (CMDs), which include depressive, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). These disorders are characterised by an early age of onset, recurrent episodes and emerging comorbid disorders. Despite the size of the problem, research considering both mental ill-health and social integration in refugee minors/youth is severely underdeveloped and intervention studies are rare. Therefore, the overall aim of the consortium entitled REMAIN (REfugee Minors/youth And INtegration) is to gain knowledge on strategies to improve the social integration of refugee minors/youth with mental ill-health.

The objective of this workshop is to present findings from etiological, prognostic and intervention studies carried out within the REMAIN consortium. The workshop aims to increase the audience' knowledge in an area of outmost Public Health importance. The reason of organising this workshop is based on the strong increases of young refugees in many countries worldwide and the resulting need for evidence based knowledge in the area of refugee's health and social integration. The added value of this workshop is due to the presentation of recent and solid findings from studies in 5 universities in 4 different European countries, offering a transnational perspective. Moreover, several studies are based on register data with long follow-up times and good data quality, which are not challenged by low response and high attrition rates during follow-up. Also findings from an intervention study will be presented. The proposed studies contribute with crucial information in a research field characterised by an enormous scientific knowledge gaps. The coherence between the presentations is guaranteed as all presentations deal with mental ill-health and social integration among refugee minors/youth.

The format of the workshop implies five presentations and discussion with the participants of the workshop. The presentations will be of such a length that ample time for intensive interaction with the audience is guaranteed. After each presentation, the organiser/chair of the workshop will invite the audience for posing questions and comments regarding the findings presented. Moreover, as last part of the workshop, there will be time for a common discussion of the results and its societal and Public Health implications in a more overarching manner.

Key messages

Psychological interventions should be developed to address common mental disorders in refugee youth. These disorders worsen refugees' social integration in the new host country.