TY - JOUR

T1 - Mental Health of Refugees and Migrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic

T2 - The Role of Experienced Discrimination and Daily Stressors

AU - Spiritus-Beerden, Eva

AU - Verelst, An

AU - Devlieger, Ines

AU - Langer Primdahl, Nina

AU - Botelho Guedes, Fábio

AU - Chiarenza, Antonio

AU - De Maesschalck, Stephanie

AU - Durbeej, Natalie

AU - Garrido, Rocío

AU - Gaspar de Matos, Margarida

AU - Ioannidi, Elisabeth

AU - Murphy, Rebecca

AU - Oulahal, Rachid

AU - Osman, Fatumo

AU - Padilla, Beatriz

AU - Paloma, Virginia

AU - Shehadeh, Amer

AU - Sturm, Gesine

AU - van den Muijsenbergh, Maria

AU - Vasilikou, Katerina

AU - Watters, Charles

AU - Willems, Sara

AU - Skovdal, Morten

AU - Derluyn, Ilse

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

U2 - 10.3390/ijerph18126354

DO - 10.3390/ijerph18126354

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34208243

VL - 18

JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

SN - 1661-7827

IS - 12

ER -