The voices not heard: thematic analysis of asylum seekers’ explanatory models of mental illness as elicited by the Cultural Formulation Interview
Background Asylum seekers have difficulty gaining access to mental healthcare. Lack of understanding of asylum seekers’ mental illness explanatory models appears to be an important barrier. Gaining a better understanding of these explanatory models is crucial for ensuring the inclusion of asylum s...
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Cambridge University Press
2025-03-01
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| Series: | BJPsych Open |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472424008664/type/journal_article |
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| author | Lukas Claus Mario Braakman Meryam Schouler-Ocak Laura Van de Vliet Bernard Sabbe Seline van den Ameele |
| author_facet | Lukas Claus Mario Braakman Meryam Schouler-Ocak Laura Van de Vliet Bernard Sabbe Seline van den Ameele |
| author_sort | Lukas Claus |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Background
Asylum seekers have difficulty gaining access to mental healthcare. Lack of understanding of asylum seekers’ mental illness explanatory models appears to be an important barrier. Gaining a better understanding of these explanatory models is crucial for ensuring the inclusion of asylum seekers in healthcare services. The Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) might help to explore asylum seekers’ explanatory models of mental illness.
Aims
To analyse asylum seekers’ explanatory models as elicited by the CFI.
Methods
The CFI and its first supplementary module were carried out with asylum seekers with mental health problems. Transcriptions of the interviews underwent reflexive thematic analysis within a social constructivist framework.
Results
In the analysis of 25 illness narratives, three major themes characterising asylum seekers’ explanatory models were identified: a burden of the past, a disenabling current reality, and a personal position and individual experience.
Conclusions
The interplay among pre-, peri- and post-migration experiences, having a continuous impact on asylum seekers’ mental health, was highlighted by the themes ‘a burden of the past’, and ‘a disenabling current reality’. The theme ‘a personal position and individual experience’ revealed how the CFI enables self-determination in clinical encounters by embracing uncertainty and questioning the medicalisation of distress. The analysis characterises asylum seekers’ symptoms as a personal idiom of distress within socio-relational contexts. The CFI provides a clinically useful framework for exploring asylum seekers’ explanatory models and fostering dynamic understanding.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-837de58e0b734fb7a173f37adcb2fb36 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2056-4724 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BJPsych Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-837de58e0b734fb7a173f37adcb2fb362025-08-20T03:02:29ZengCambridge University PressBJPsych Open2056-47242025-03-011110.1192/bjo.2024.866The voices not heard: thematic analysis of asylum seekers’ explanatory models of mental illness as elicited by the Cultural Formulation InterviewLukas Claus0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1818-0671Mario Braakman1Meryam Schouler-Ocak2Laura Van de Vliet3Bernard Sabbe4Seline van den Ameele5Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute (CAPRI), Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), Antwerp, Belgium Department of Psychiatry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZ Brussel), Brussels, BelgiumDepartment of Criminal Law, Tilburg Law School, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The NetherlandsDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric University Clinic of Charité at St. Hedwig Hospital, Berlin, GermanyPOZAH Project (Asylum Seekers Mental Healthcare), St-Alexius Psychiatric Hospital, Grimbergen, BelgiumCollaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute (CAPRI), Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), Antwerp, BelgiumCollaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute (CAPRI), Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), Antwerp, Belgium Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Brugmann University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium Background Asylum seekers have difficulty gaining access to mental healthcare. Lack of understanding of asylum seekers’ mental illness explanatory models appears to be an important barrier. Gaining a better understanding of these explanatory models is crucial for ensuring the inclusion of asylum seekers in healthcare services. The Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) might help to explore asylum seekers’ explanatory models of mental illness. Aims To analyse asylum seekers’ explanatory models as elicited by the CFI. Methods The CFI and its first supplementary module were carried out with asylum seekers with mental health problems. Transcriptions of the interviews underwent reflexive thematic analysis within a social constructivist framework. Results In the analysis of 25 illness narratives, three major themes characterising asylum seekers’ explanatory models were identified: a burden of the past, a disenabling current reality, and a personal position and individual experience. Conclusions The interplay among pre-, peri- and post-migration experiences, having a continuous impact on asylum seekers’ mental health, was highlighted by the themes ‘a burden of the past’, and ‘a disenabling current reality’. The theme ‘a personal position and individual experience’ revealed how the CFI enables self-determination in clinical encounters by embracing uncertainty and questioning the medicalisation of distress. The analysis characterises asylum seekers’ symptoms as a personal idiom of distress within socio-relational contexts. The CFI provides a clinically useful framework for exploring asylum seekers’ explanatory models and fostering dynamic understanding. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472424008664/type/journal_articleAsylum seekerscultural formulation interviewexplanatory modelsthematic analysismental health |
| spellingShingle | Lukas Claus Mario Braakman Meryam Schouler-Ocak Laura Van de Vliet Bernard Sabbe Seline van den Ameele The voices not heard: thematic analysis of asylum seekers’ explanatory models of mental illness as elicited by the Cultural Formulation Interview BJPsych Open Asylum seekers cultural formulation interview explanatory models thematic analysis mental health |
| title | The voices not heard: thematic analysis of asylum seekers’ explanatory models of mental illness as elicited by the Cultural Formulation Interview |
| title_full | The voices not heard: thematic analysis of asylum seekers’ explanatory models of mental illness as elicited by the Cultural Formulation Interview |
| title_fullStr | The voices not heard: thematic analysis of asylum seekers’ explanatory models of mental illness as elicited by the Cultural Formulation Interview |
| title_full_unstemmed | The voices not heard: thematic analysis of asylum seekers’ explanatory models of mental illness as elicited by the Cultural Formulation Interview |
| title_short | The voices not heard: thematic analysis of asylum seekers’ explanatory models of mental illness as elicited by the Cultural Formulation Interview |
| title_sort | voices not heard thematic analysis of asylum seekers explanatory models of mental illness as elicited by the cultural formulation interview |
| topic | Asylum seekers cultural formulation interview explanatory models thematic analysis mental health |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472424008664/type/journal_article |
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