Mental Health of Refugees and Migrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Experienced Discrimination and Daily Stressors

Eva Spiritus-Beerden, An Verelst, Ines Devlieger, Nina Langer Primdahl, Fábio Botelho Guedes, Antonio Chiarenza, Stephanie De Maesschalck, Natalie Durbeej, Rocío Garrido, Margarida Gaspar de Matos, Elisabeth Ioannidi, Rebecca Murphy, Rachid Oulahal, Fatumo Osman, Beatriz Padilla, Virginia Paloma, Amer Shehadeh, Gesine Sturm, Maria van den Muijsenbergh, Katerina Vasilikou, Charles Watters, Sara Willems, Morten Skovdal and Ilse Derluyn
Additional contact information
Eva Spiritus-Beerden: Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium
An Verelst: Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Ines Devlieger: Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Nina Langer Primdahl: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, 1014 Copenhagen, Denmark
Fábio Botelho Guedes: Department of Health Education, University of Lisbon, 1400 Lisbon, Portugal
Antonio Chiarenza: Department of Biomedical, Metabolical and Neurosciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Stephanie De Maesschalck: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Natalie Durbeej: Department of Child Health and Parenting, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
Rocío Garrido: Department of Social Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla, 41018 Seville, Spain
Margarida Gaspar de Matos: Department of Health Education, University of Lisbon, 1400 Lisbon, Portugal
Elisabeth Ioannidi: Institutional Discourse Research Laboratory, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 14122 Athens, Greece
Rebecca Murphy: Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, W23 F2K8 Co. Kildare, Ireland
Rachid Oulahal: DIRE Laboratory, Department of Social Sciences, La Reunion University, 97400 Saint-Denis, France
Fatumo Osman: Department of Child Health and Parenting, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
Beatriz Padilla: Department of Sociology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
Virginia Paloma: Department of Social Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla, 41018 Seville, Spain
Amer Shehadeh: Department of Psychology, Al Istiqlal University, Jericho P 580, Palestine
Gesine Sturm: Department of Psychology, Université de Toulouse, 31058 Toulouse, France
Maria van den Muijsenbergh: Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud University, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Katerina Vasilikou: Research Center for Greek Society, Academy of Athens, 15126 Athens, Greece
Charles Watters: Department of School of Education and Social Work, University of Sussex, Sussex BN1 4GE, UK
Sara Willems: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Morten Skovdal: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, 1014 Copenhagen, Denmark
Ilse Derluyn: Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic is a defining global health crisis of our time. While the impact of COVID-19, including its mental health impact, is increasingly being documented, there remain important gaps regarding the specific consequences of the pandemic on particular population groups, including refugees and migrants. This study aims to uncover the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of refugees and migrants worldwide, disentangling the possible role of social and daily stressors, i.e., experiences of discrimination and daily living conditions. Descriptive analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the responses of N = 20,742 refugees and migrants on the self-reporting global ApartTogether survey. Survey findings indicated that the mental health of refugees and migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly impacted, particularly for certain subgroups, (i.e., insecure housing situation and residence status, older respondents, and females) who reported experiencing higher levels of increased discrimination and increases in daily life stressors. There is a need to recognize the detrimental mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on particular refugee and migrant groups and to develop interventions that target their unique needs.

Keywords: refugees; migrants; mental health; discrimination; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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