Background: The Syrian refugee crisis is one of the most significant humanitarian crises of our time and has resulted in over 6.5 million displaced individuals worldwide. Syrian refugees are a vulnerable population and are at considerably higher risk for mental health disorders including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, despite the high prevalence, there is insufficient utilization of mental health services among Syrian refugees resettled in high-income countries. To help address this gap this study aims to investigate mental health conceptualization, coping, and help-seeking among Syrian refugee parents resettled in Canada to build a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing perception and the decisions to seek help, thus adding to the knowledge base for refugee mental health and generating insight to help inform policy and program decisions for Syrian refugees resettled in Canada.
Methods: Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with Syrian refugee parents (N=31) who have been permanently resettled in Canada. Interviews were conducted in Arabic and transcribed verbatim and were subsequently translated into English. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.
Results Significant interlinkages were observed between the factors that influence mental health conceptualization, coping, and help-seeking. Our findings suggest that many refugees perceive mental health concerns as part of daily life and do not believe it requires professional intervention. This along with personal, cultural, and religious context have strong implications for help-seeking behaviour. Moreover, the availability of culturally sensitive services has the potential to increase service utilization. Knowledge of how individuals conceptualize mental health and cope can be leveraged to design more impactful mental health services for Syrian refugees.
Conclusion: The factors influencing mental health conceptualization, coping, and help-seeking are deeply interconnected and must be considered holistically to improve policies and programming to increase the uptake of mental health services. / Thesis / Master of Health Sciences (MSc)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/29433 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Siddiqui, Hasha |
| Contributors | Sim, Amanda, Global Health |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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