Social and structural factors that influence refugee women’s use of mental health care services in Canada: A narrative review
Background: There is an increasing number of female refugees entering Canada with mental health service needs. The aim of this paper is to identify social and structural factors that influence Canadian refugee women’s use (or lack thereof) of mental health care services. Methods: This review follow...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Edizioni FS
2019-11-01
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| Series: | Journal of Health and Social Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
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| Summary: | Background: There is an increasing number of female refugees entering Canada with mental health service needs. The aim of this paper is to identify social and structural factors that influence Canadian refugee women’s use (or lack thereof) of mental health care services.
Methods: This review follows Rosella Ferrari’s Narrative Review Framework. The PRISMA statement was used for the search strategy. A total of 430 articles were retrieved across PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and ProQuest. A final 24 articles were used in our paper after full-text screenings. Data presented in the review were organized by themes that emerged in various papers. The final section is used to highlight the main points of this review, establish future research directions, and explain how the review as achieved the research objective.
Results and Discussion: Our findings unveil the complexities of refugee status, discrimination and stigma, the social experience of gender, and previous health experiences in relation to how they influence mental health service use. Additionally, culture and cultural competency as they are regarded in health care offer insightful explanations for understanding the relationships between patient and physician which ultimately influences use of services. Finally, this paper uncovers policies and power divides between patients and doctors that impacts how mental health care is welcomed by women who are refugees.
Conclusions: Data suggest that social support innovations are desirable by refugee women in Canada but that further research is required to mitigate social and structural barriers to seeking care. Practice and research recommendations are provided for agendas focused on improving mental health service use. |
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| ISSN: | 2499-2240 2499-5886 |