Se-jeoung Park, J. Lee, Hye-jung Kim, Hojung Lee, Myungjoon Lee, Soo-Yeon Kim, Han Choi
{"title":"Mental Health Screening for Korean Ukrainian Refugee Minors in the Republic of Korea: A Cross Sectional Pilot Study","authors":"Se-jeoung Park, J. Lee, Hye-jung Kim, Hojung Lee, Myungjoon Lee, Soo-Yeon Kim, Han Choi","doi":"10.3390/adolescents3010011","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Since February 2022, the Ukrainian refugee crisis has been highlighting mental health problems associated with trauma and distress. This study aimed to evaluate the mental health status of twenty-seven refugee minors (10 to 18 years old) who fled Ukraine and temporarily settled in the Republic of Korea (ROK). This cross-sectional survey study aimed to evaluate the mental health status of ethnic Korean Ukrainian refugee minors. The Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen—Youth Report (CATS), generalized anxiety disorder seven-item scale (GAD-7), and subjective unit of distress scale (SUDs) were used for assessment. A preliminary analysis indicated that 77% Ukrainian refugee minors were exposed to and experienced war-related trauma. They are at a relatively low risk of trauma symptoms, anxiety, and distress due to stable family and visa status and a comparably better environment in the ROK. Meanwhile, refugee teenagers showed higher rates of psychological distress compared with refugee children. This finding suggests that an early psychological interventions in a host country may be beneficial to prevent mental health issues in refugee minors.","PeriodicalId":72070,"journal":{"name":"Adolescents (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Adolescents (Basel, Switzerland)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents3010011","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Since February 2022, the Ukrainian refugee crisis has been highlighting mental health problems associated with trauma and distress. This study aimed to evaluate the mental health status of twenty-seven refugee minors (10 to 18 years old) who fled Ukraine and temporarily settled in the Republic of Korea (ROK). This cross-sectional survey study aimed to evaluate the mental health status of ethnic Korean Ukrainian refugee minors. The Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen—Youth Report (CATS), generalized anxiety disorder seven-item scale (GAD-7), and subjective unit of distress scale (SUDs) were used for assessment. A preliminary analysis indicated that 77% Ukrainian refugee minors were exposed to and experienced war-related trauma. They are at a relatively low risk of trauma symptoms, anxiety, and distress due to stable family and visa status and a comparably better environment in the ROK. Meanwhile, refugee teenagers showed higher rates of psychological distress compared with refugee children. This finding suggests that an early psychological interventions in a host country may be beneficial to prevent mental health issues in refugee minors.