Journal of Migration and Health最新文献

An estimated 1.5 million displaced Syrians live in Lebanon, sharing neighbourhoods and communal spaces with longer-term Lebanese and Palestinian residents. The Syrian Civil War has lasted over one decade. Protracted mass displacement means that many young people are growing up in neighbourhoods, towns and cities which include comparable numbers of recently displaced and longer-term residents.

In this study, we explore adolescent mental health and the intersections between Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians in the town of Bar Elias, where comparable numbers of displaced people and citizens live. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 adolescents in April 2019. We found that Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese adolescents in Bar Elias identified the same shared conditions as affecting their mental health, although with different impacts on each individual. Sometimes, this difference accords with nationality, but it is also determined by gender and different physical and cognitive abilities. We conclude that recently displaced and host community adolescents can be seen to be affected by shared conditions, and that intersectional identities affect how adolescent mental health is affected by these conditions. We argue that investments in shared infrastructures can support the improvement of mental health for all adolescents.

Background

Mexican migrants in the United States (U.S.) are twice more likely to underutilize health care and to experience low quality of care compared to the U.S.-born population. Current and former Mexican migrants in the U.S have used health services in Mexico due to lower cost, perceived quality, cultural familiarity, and the geographic proximity of the two countries.

Objective

This study aims to characterize the different health care interactions of current and former U.S. Mexican migrants with public and private health care organizations of the Mexican health system and to identify strategies to improve health care interactions post-COVID19.

Methods

We use a typology of cross-border patient mobility to analyze the facilitators and barriers to improve the health care interactions of current and former U.S. Mexican migrants with the Mexican health system. Our policy analysis framework examines how an outcome can be achieved by various configurations or combinations of independent variables. The main outcome variable is the improvement of health care interactions of U.S. Mexican migrants and return migrants with different government agencies and public and private health care providers in the Mexican health system. The main explanatory variables are availability, affordability, familiarity, perceived quality of health care and type of health coverage.

Findings

As the Mexican health system emerges from the COVID19 pandemic, new strategies to integrate current and former U.S. Mexican migrants to the Mexican health system could be considered such as the expansion of telehealth services, a regulatory framework for health services used by transnational patients, making enrollment procedures more flexible for return migrants and guiding return migrants as they reintegrate to the Mexican health system.

Conclusions

The health care interactions of U.S. Mexican migrants with the Mexican health system are likely to increase in the upcoming decades due to population ageing. Regulatory improvements and programs that address the unique needs of U.S. Mexican migrants and return migrants could substantially improve their health care interactions with the Mexican health system.

Objectives

The Russian military aggression against Ukraine resulted in a humanitarian crisis. There was a mass exodus of war refugees. More than 17 million people have left Ukraine since the war broke out. The refugees who came to Poland and other countries have experienced war trauma. The study aims to assess mental health of Ukrainian war refugees in Poland.

Population and methods

At the time of the study, that is, in April and May 2022, between 1,5 million and 2 million Ukrainian refugees were staying in Poland. They were mainly young women with their children. The CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) technique was used in the study. The research sample was selected using purposive sampling. The invitation to take part in the survey was posted on social media for Ukrainians in Poland, and also sent to the participants of a Polish as a Foreign Language course. The study utilizes the RHS-15 and a nominal scale measuring the strategies for coping with stress.

Results

The research sample consists of 737 respondents. The results of the screening tests indicate that depression, anxiety disorders and PTSD may be observed among 73% of respondents, whereas 66% of the respondents display psychological distress. The analyses have shown that higher levels of mental health disorders were observed among women and refugees who do not speak Polish. Younger respondents experienced a higher psychological distress. The results of the study also indicate that the refugees more often implemented problem-focused strategies. The analysis has shown that the respondents who followed active strategies scored the lowest on RHS-15. The emotion-focused strategies, such as praying, diverting attention by becoming involved in different activities or taking sedatives were not effective. The highest levels of disorders were present among the refugees who indicated resignation.

Conclusions

The collected observations indicate that the main problem which might hinder their adaptation could be mental health issues, which in turn impact the general deterioration of health and the quality of life.

Foreign-born people have different patterns of health, and several psychosocial and contextual factors may contribute to these differences. Type of visa with which one resettles is an important consideration because it is linked both with the reason for initially migrating and with experiences after arriving in the U.S. This study examines the association between visa type and health in terms of self-rated health and diagnosed chronic conditions. Using the New Immigrant Survey (NIS), a nationally representative study of foreign-born people at the time of receiving legal permanent residence in the U.S., we used logistic regression models to estimate the odds of having chronic conditions and the odds of reporting fair or poor health. People who had refugee, asylum, parole and post-arrival legalization visa types had the highest prevalence of any chronic condition; they were also most likely to report being in fair or poor self-rated health, even after controlling for other characteristics. Conversely, people who had diversity visas had the highest self-rated health and the fewest chronic conditions. Overall, the type of visa a person holds is associated with health and chronic disease even years after resettlement.

Climate change amplifies health risks, including through the health impacts of climate-related displacement. Yet diverse mobility responses in a warming world can also provide a pathway for climate change adaptation. This article examines the connections between climatic and environmental change, human mobility and health. It presents case studies across three countries: Fiji, Bangladesh, and Burkina Faso. All case studies used qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews, storytelling, and group discussions. The Fiji case study focuses on relocation of a coastal village exposed to erosion, flooding and saltwater intrusion; it highlights self-reported health risks and opportunities following relocation. The Bangladesh case study includes seven sites that variously experience flooding, cyclones and riverbank erosion; while residents use migration and (im)mobility as a coping strategy, there are associated health risks, particularly for those who feel trapped in new sites of residence. The case study from a village in Burkina Faso examines seasonal labour migration to the Ivory Coast and Mali during times of drought and reduced agricultural productivity, and discusses health risks for men who migrate and for women who remain in sending communities. These case studies illustrate that there is no consistent figure that represents a 'climate migrant', ‘climate refugee’, or ‘trapped’ person. Accordingly, we argue that where planetary health looks to highlight ‘waves’ of climate displacement, it may miss the ‘tide’ of slower onset climatic changes and smaller-scale and diverse forms of (im)mobility. However, even where climate-related mobility is broadly adaptive - e.g. providing opportunities for livelihood diversification, or migration away from environmental risks - there can be health risks and opportunities that are shaped by socio-political contexts, access to healthcare, altered food sources, and living and working conditions. Responsive solutions are required to protect and promote the health of mobile and immobile populations in a warming world.

African immigrants (AI) are the fastest growing group of immigrants to the U.S. however, their health and health practices remains poorly characterized. Thus, this study aimed to describe the health profile of this under-described U.S. population. In order to contextualize their health profiles, we compared AI (n=95) to other U.S. Black populations, namely African Americans (AA, n=271) and Caribbean American (CA, n=203) immigrants. We used cross-sectional survey data from a prostate cancer health study with 569 Black adult male participants, ages 21 years or older. Demographic characteristics were compared using Chi-square tests and prevalence ratios, and prevalence odds ratios (POR) were estimated for AIs compared to AA and CA immigrants using a log-binomial regression model. Results revealed that AI exhibited significantly lower prevalence of asthma and diabetes, when compared to AA and CA immigrants. Furthermore, AI reported lower consumption of alcohol than AA (POR, 0.43, 95%CI 0.24, 0.75) and lower smoking prevalence than AA (POR, 0.19, 95%CI 0.05, 0.70) and CA immigrants (POR, 0.21, 95%CI 0.05, 0.76). Additionally, AI reported significantly lower medical mistrust than CA (POR, 0.51, 95%CI 0.26, 0.95), significantly low financial strain than CAs immigrants (POR, 1.66, 95%CI 1.00, 2.75) and significantly higher levels of religious coping than both AA (POR, 2.43, 95%CI 1.43, 4.12) and CA immigrant men (POR, 1.78, 95%CI 1.03, 3.08). This study further supports emerging evidence that Blacks in the U.S. are not a monolithic group and that it is necessary to assess the Black subgroups separately. In addition, as one of the fastest growing immigrant populations, it is critical for future research to understand African immigrant's health needs and its correlates.

Overweight, obesity and chronic conditions like diabetes, stroke and heart disease represent a significant burden to public health. Traditional foods and healthy dietary habits can reduce the risk of these conditions. Therefore, this study aimed to explore traditional food patterns and eating habits among Sub-Saharan African migrant mothers of school-aged children in South Australia. The study was a qualitative inquiry that used face-to-face interviews with 15 mothers of school-aged children in South Australia. Snowballing was used to sample participants, and data were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, coded, and analysed thematically. Four broad themes described participants’ food behaviours and eating habits, including maintaining traditional food patterns, changes in traditional food patterns and eating habits, concerns with food environments in Australia, and challenges with traditional food availability and access in Australia. This study found that although mothers were committed to maintaining their traditional foods, they found it increasingly difficult to continue such habits. Participants reported challenges as their children are increasingly demanding westernised foods. While some parents pushed back against such demands from their children, others felt helpless and relented. Some views showed that food environments, food systems, access, and scarcity of traditional foods in Australia influenced the participants’ food patterns and eating habits. Appropriately tailored healthy eating health promotion actions targeting school-aged children and mothers in this population need to consider their food contexts. Promoting the use of traditional foods, their preparation practices, and processing might be helpful in this community when developing healthy eating programs.

Background and objective

The recent notable increase in refugees' flows, with refugee children and adolescents relocating worldwide, posed severe challenges to the different national healthcare systems. Social groups such as refugees fleeing from their countries because of persecution, wars and violence are considered at high risk of developing mental health-related problems. Despite international and national policies legally regulating the reception process and protecting health-related rights, including the mental well-being of refugee migrants, there is a theoretical and applied need for evidence-based instruments and procedures to support mental health within this population. Recent evidence refers to the Refugee Health Screener-15 (RHS-15) as a reliable and valid instrument for the early detection of trauma-related mental health problems. In this scenario, this study aimed to test the RHS screening process within a multidisciplinary first intervention reception context for unaccompanied refugee minors.

Design

The RHS-15 was administered with the support of cultural-linguistic mediators to 81 unaccompanied minor residents in a first intervention facility in Milan, Italy. This study aimed to assess psychometric characteristics, such as reliability, sensitivity and specificity feasibility and its implementation within a first intervention reception process.

Results

The analysis resulted in the validation of the RHS in its 13-item format. The results highlighted and confirmed an efficient delivery, excellent reliability and a positive predictive and convergent validity of the 13-item version. Further analysis showed an excellent ability to avoid false negatives, although there was a clear tendency to identify false positives.

Conclusions

The early identification of vulnerabilities among refugee minors is recommended to promote their long-term overall well-being. Integrating the screening results with additional observational elements and more specific diagnostic tools is recommended to gain a comprehensive perspective of the minors’ well-being.

Mobility patterns in South Asia are complex, defined by temporary and circular migration of low waged labourers within and across national borders. They move, live and work in conditions that expose them to numerous hazards and health risks that result in chronic ailments and physical and mental health problems. Yet, public policies and discourses either ignore migrants’ health needs or tend to pathologise them, framing them as carriers of diseases. Their structural neglect was exposed by the ongoing pandemic crisis. In this paper, we take stock of the evidence on the health of low-wage migrants in South Asia and examine how their health is linked to their social, political and work lives. The paper derives from a larger body of work on migration and health in South Asia and draws specifically on content analysis and scoping review of literature retrieved through Scopus from 2000 to 2021 on health of low-income migrants. Utilising the lens of precarity and building on previous applications, we identify four dimensions of precarity and examine how these influence health: i) Work-based, concerned with hazardous and disempowering work conditions, ii) Social position-based, pertaining to the social stratification and intersecting oppressions faced by migrants, iii) Status-based, derived from vulnerabilities arising from the mobile and transient nature of their lives and livelihoods, and iv) Governmentality-based, relating to the formal policies and informal procedures of governance that disenfranchise migrants. We illustrate how these collectively produce distinct yet interrelated and interlocking oppressive states of insecurity, disempowerment, dispossession, exclusion, and disposability that define health outcomes, health-seeking pathways, and lock migrants in a continuing cycle of precarity, impoverishment and ill-health.

Background

Domestic violence is a common public health concern that violates human rights in all societies. This aimed to assess domestic violence and associated factors among housemaid night students in Hawassa city.

Methods

An institutional-based cross-sectional study was implemented from 1 February to 30 March 2019 among housemaid night students in Hawassa city. A stratified, two-stage cluster sampling technique was used. Finally, the study population was selected from the respective source population using a simple random sampling technique (computer-generated random numbers were used). Data were checked, coded and entered into Epi data version 3.1.5 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were computed to identify the determinants of domestic violence among housemaid night students.

Result

In this study, the housemaid experienced at least one form of domestic violence was 20.9 %(95% CI: 17.9, 24.2). Whereas 16.9% (95% CI: 14.0, 20.0) experienced physical violence, 9.7% were slapping, and the current employer performed 9% of any domestic violence among housemaid night students. Besides, 11% (95% CI: 8.7, 13.5) experienced sexual violence, 4% attempted rape, and the employer's son/friends performed 5.7% of sexual violence among housemaid night students.

Conclusion

Employer family size, any habit like khat chewing and drinking alcohol, anyone who watches pornography in the employer's home, anyone who enforces the housemaid to watch pornography, and lack of knowledge of domestic violence is higher odds of domestic violence among housemaid night students. Hence, the labour and social affairs and concerned stakeholders could create awareness about domestic violence for housemaids, families, and employers.