Barriers to Mental Health Help-Seeking Amongst Refugee Men

Yulisha Byrow, Rosanna Pajak, Tadgh McMahon, Amitabh Rajouria and Angela Nickerson
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Yulisha Byrow: School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Rosanna Pajak: School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Tadgh McMahon: Settlement Services International, Sydney, NSW 2131, Australia
Amitabh Rajouria: Settlement Services International, Sydney, NSW 2131, Australia
Angela Nickerson: School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: Rates of help-seeking for mental health problems are low amongst refugee communities, despite the high prevalence of PTSD reported amongst these individuals. Research suggests that the key barriers to seeking help for psychological problems include structural barriers (e.g., unstable housing), cultural barriers (e.g., mental health stigma), and barriers specific to refugees and asylum seekers (e.g., visa status). This study examined the effect of structural, cultural and refugee specific barriers on the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and intentions to seek help from professional, social, and community sources. Data was collected from 103 male refugees and asylum seekers with an Arabic-, Farsi-, or Tamil-speaking background. Participants completed measures indexing demographics, trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, mental health stigma, and help-seeking intentions. Path analyses indicated that PTSD severity was associated with lower help-seeking intentions indirectly via mental health stigma (self-stigma for seeking help and self-stigma for PTSD) and visa security. PTSD severity was also associated with greater help-seeking intentions from community members indirectly via structural barriers. These findings are important to consider when identifying key barriers to mental health help-seeking and developing interventions designed to increase help-seeking for psychological problems, within this group.

Keywords: refugees; help-seeking; trauma; Post-traumatic stress disorder; stigma; visa security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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