The Social Determinants of Refugee Mental Health in the Post-Migration Context: A Critical Review
Open accessAbstract
With the global increase in the number of refugees and asylum seekers, mental health professionals have become more aware of the need to understand and respond to the mental health needs of forced migrants. This critical review summarizes the findings of recent systematic reviews and primary research on the impact of post-migration conditions on mental disorders and PTSD among refugees and asylum seekers. Historically, the focus of mental health research and interventions with these populations has been on the impact of pre-migration trauma. Pre-migration trauma does predict mental disorders and PTSD, but the post-migration context can be an equally powerful determinant of mental health. Moreover, post-migration factors may moderate the ability of refugees to recover from pre-migration trauma. The importance of post-migration stressors to refugee mental health suggests the need for therapeutic interventions with psychosocial elements that address the broader conditions of refugee and asylum seekers’ lives. However, there are few studies of multimodal interventions with refugees, and even fewer with control conditions that allow for conclusions about their effectiveness. These findings are interpreted using a social determinants of health framework that connects the risk and protective factors in the material and social conditions of refugees’ post-migration lives to broader social, economic and political factors.
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Among South Sudanese refugees, studies consistently show that ongoing challenges of life in camps play a crucial role in shaping mental health outcomes.
“This perspective is particularly pronounced among South Sudanese refugees, where studies (Hynie, 2018;Mak 2021;Tutlam 2022) consistently show that the ongoing challenges of life in camps play a crucial role in shaping mental health outcomes.”
From Exploring trauma and resilience of Urban South Sudanese refugees in Sudan (2024) · cites this paper as Hynie, 2018
The passage labeled Abstract says that refugees in camps in low-income countries have high rates of anxiety and depression, reflecting stressful camp conditions. It does not identify South Sudanese refugees or establish that studies consistently find this pattern specifically among them. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe high prevalence of postmigration stressors in the family reunified population supports the importance of postmigration factors.
“These results emphasize the importance of equal treatment possibilities for the family reunified population, and the high prevalence of postmigration stressors in the family reunified population support the importance of postmigration factors, as reported in previous articles(Hynie, 2018; Chen et al., 2017; Van Wyk et al., 2012).”
From Refugees versus persons family reunified to a refugee: A comparison of sociodemographic factors, trauma history, baseline psychopathology and treatment effectiveness (2023) · cites this paper as Hynie, 2018
The review states that post-migration conditions can be an equally powerful determinant of refugee mental health (Abstract) and identifies family separation as a post-migration stressor (Social Support and Social Isolation). It does not report a high prevalence of post-migration stressors specifically in a family-reunified population. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPrevious reviews and studies have found postmigration stressors to be of substantial importance to the development of mental illness.
“Previous reviews and studies (Li et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2017; Hynie 2018) have found postmigration stressors to be of substantial importance to the development of mental illness.”
From Refugees versus persons family reunified to a refugee: A comparison of sociodemographic factors, trauma history, baseline psychopathology and treatment effectiveness (2023) · cites this paper as Hynie 2018
The importance of postmigration stressors has been emphasized in previous papers and the present results add to that perspective.
“The importance of postmigration stressors has been emphasized in previous papers (Hynie, 2018; , Chen et al., 2017; , Van Wyk et al., 2012) and the present results add to that perspective.”
From Refugees versus persons family reunified to a refugee: A comparison of sociodemographic factors, trauma history, baseline psychopathology and treatment effectiveness (2023) · cites this paper as Hynie, 2018
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- Authors
- Hynie, M.
- Affiliations
- York University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Hynie, Michaela
- ORCID
- Hynie, Michaela
- Venue
- The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-12-04
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 297-303
- ISSN
- 0706-7437 (ISSN-L)
- 1497-0015
- PMC
- PMC5912301
- OpenAlex
- W2775773204
- Cited by
- 659
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 83 · 2025: 87 · 2024: 94 · 2023: 102 · 2022: 93 · 2021: 83 · 2020: 88 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 6
- FWCI
- 4.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Health › Migration, Racism, and Human Rights
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration and Exile Studies
- Keywords
- refugee mental health, asylum seekers, post-migration stressors, social determinants of health, post-traumatic stress disorder, pre-migration trauma, forced migration, psychosocial interventions, risk and protective factors, refugee resettlement
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Humans, Psychotherapy, Refugees, Social Discrimination, Social Determinants of Health
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