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Problem National guidelines recommending mental health screening in pregnancy have not been implemented well in routine maternity care. Women of refugee background are likely to have experienced traumatic events and resettlement stressors, yet are not often identified with mental health issues in the perinatal period. Background Globally, perinatal mental health conditions affect up to 20% of women. Many difficulties in accessing mental health care in pregnancy exist for women of refugee background including stigma, and cultural and language barriers. Technology can provide an efficient and effective method to overcome some of these barriers. Aim To determine if a digital perinatal mental health screening program is feasible and acceptable for women of refugee background. Methods This qualitative evaluation study used focus group and semi-structured telephone interviews with refugee and migrant women from four communities. Interpreters were used with women who spoke little or no English. Data were analysed using both an inductive and deductive approach to thematic analysis. Findings Under the three key themes: ‘Women’s experiences of perinatal mental health screening in pregnancy’; ‘Barriers and enablers to accessing ongoing mental health care’ and ‘Improvements to the program: the development of audio versions’, women found the program feasible and acceptable. Discussion Screening using a mobile device offered women more privacy and opened up discussions with midwives on emotional health. Improvements in service coordination and access to further mental health management for women is required. Conclusion Perinatal mental health screening is an acceptable and feasible option for women of refugee background. Integrated models of care, case management, and patient navigators are options for improvements in uptake of referral and treatment services.

Background:\ud Pregnancy is a time of increased risk for developing or re-experiencing mental illness. Perinatal mental health screening for all women is recommended in many national guidelines, but a number of systems-level and individual barriers often hinder policy implementation. These barriers result in missed opportunities for detection and early intervention and are likely to be experienced disproportionately by women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, including women of refugee backgrounds. The objectives of this study were to develop a theory-informed, evidence-based guide for introducing and integrating perinatal mental health screening across health settings and to synthesize the learnings from an implementation initiative and multisectoral partnership between the Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE), and a university-based research centre. COPE is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) commissioned to update the Australian perinatal mental health guidelines, train health professionals and implement digital screening.\ud \ud Methods:\ud In this case study, barriers to implementation were prospectively identified and strategies to overcome them were developed. A pilot perinatal screening programme for depression and anxiety with a strong health equity focus was implemented and evaluated at a large public maternity service delivering care to a culturally diverse population of women in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, including women of refugee background. Strategies that were identified preimplementation and postevaluation were mapped to theoretical frameworks. An implementation guide was developed to support future policy, planning and decision-making by healthcare organizations.\ud \ud Results:\ud Using a behavioural change framework (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation–Behaviour Model), the key barriers, processes and outcomes are described for a real-world example designed to maximize accessibility, feasibility and acceptability. A Programme Logic Model was developed to demonstrate the relationships of the inputs, which included stakeholder consultation, resource development and a digital screening platform, with the outcomes of the programme. A seven-stage implementation guide is presented for use in a range of healthcare settings.\ud \ud Conclusions:\ud These findings describe an equity-informed, evidence-based approach that can be used by healthcare organizations to address common systems and individual-level barriers to implement perinatal depression and anxiety screening guidelines.\ud \ud Patient or Public Contribution:\ud These results present strategies that were informed by prior research involving patients and staff from a large public antenatal clinic in Melbourne, Australia. This involved interviews with health professionals from the clinic such as midwives, obstetricians, perinatal mental health and refugee health experts and interpreters. Interviews were also conducted with women of refugee background who were attending the clinic for antenatal care. A steering committee was formed to facilitate the implementation of the perinatal mental health screening programme comprising staff from key hospital departments, GP liaison, refugee health and well-being, the NGO COPE and academic experts in psychology, midwifery, obstetrics and public health. This committee met fortnightly for 2 years to devise strategies to address the barriers, implement and evaluate the programme. A community advisory group was also formed that involved women from eight different countries, some of refugee background, who had recently given birth at the health service. This committee met bimonthly and was instrumental in planning the implementation and evaluation such as recruitment strategies, resources and facilitating an understanding of the cultural complexity of the women participating in the study.

The aim of this study was to investigate symptomatology and diagnoses of PTSD and subthreshold PTSD and the screening properties of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) within a sample of Dari-speaking women of refugee background receiving antenatal care. This cross-sectional study administered the HTQ to 52 Dari-speaking women at a public pregnancy clinic. The trauma module from the Structured Clinical Interview (SCID-5) was administered. Interview material was presented to an expert panel, blinded to the HTQ screening results, in order to achieve consensus diagnoses of PTSD using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5) criteria. Three women (5.8%) met DSM-5 criteria for PTSD. Eleven women (21.15%) met criteria for subthreshold PTSD, defined as meeting two or three of the DSM-5 criteria domains. A comparison of HTQ cut-off scores was conducted and a score of ≥ 2.25 on the HTQ demonstrated excellent sensitivity 1.00 (95% CI 0.29-1.00) and specificity 0.76 (95% CI 0.61-0.87) in detecting PTSD; however, a wide confidence interval for sensitivity was found. A cut-off score of ≥ 2 provided the best balance of sensitivity 1.00 (95% CI 0.72-1.00) and specificity 0.80 (95% CI 0.65-0.91) when assessing for subthreshold PTSD. Screening for perinatal PTSD for women of refugee background is recommended, in order to identify those at risk of DSM diagnosis and also those women experiencing distressing PTSD symptomatology.

Objective Over half of the world’s refugee population are under the age of 18 years. This systematic review aims to summarize the current body of evidence for the prevalence of mental illness in child and adolescent refugee populations. Method Eight electronic databases, gray literature, and Google Scholar were searched for articles from 1 January 2003 to 5 February 2018. Strict inclusion criteria regarding the diagnosis of mental illness were imposed. Study quality was assessed using a template according to study design, and study heterogeneity using the I2 statistic. Random effects meta-analyses results were presented given heterogeneity among studies. The protocol for this systematic review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42016046349). Results Eight studies were eligible, involving 779 child and adolescent refugees and asylum seekers, with studies conducted in 5 countries. The overall prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was 22.71% (95% CI 12.79−32.64), depression 13.81% (95% CI 5.96−21.67), and anxiety disorders 15.77% (95% CI 8.04−23.50). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was 8.6% (1.08−16.12) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) was 1.69% (95% CI −0.78 to 4.16). Because of the high heterogeneity, further subgroup analyses were conducted. Conclusion Refugee and asylum seeker children have high rates of PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Without the serious commitment by health and resettlement services to provide early support to promote mental health, these findings suggest that a high proportion of refugee children are at risk for educational disadvantage and poor social integration in host communities, potentially affecting their life course.

Background Globally, the number of refugees and asylum seekers has reached record highs. Past research in refugee mental health has reported wide variation in mental illness prevalence data, partially attributable to methodological limitations. This systematic review aims to summarise the current body of evidence for the prevalence of mental illness in global refugee populations and overcome methodological limitations of individual studies. Methods and findings A comprehensive search of electronic databases was undertaken from 1 January 2003 to 4 February 2020 (MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process, EBM Reviews, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, PILOTS, Web of Science). Quantitative studies were included if diagnosis of mental illness involved a clinical interview and use of a validated assessment measure and reported at least 50 participants. Study quality was assessed using a descriptive approach based on a template according to study design (modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale). Random-effects models, based on inverse variance weights, were conducted. Subgroup analyses were performed for sex, sample size, displacement duration, visa status, country of origin, current residence, type of interview (interpreter-assisted or native language), and diagnostic measure. The systematic review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD) 42016046349. The search yielded a result of 21,842 records. Twenty-six studies, which included one randomised controlled trial and 25 observational studies, provided results for 5,143 adult refugees and asylum seekers. Studies were undertaken across 15 countries: Australia (652 refugees), Austria (150), China (65), Germany (1,104), Italy (297), Lebanon (646), Nepal (574), Norway (64), South Korea (200), Sweden (86), Switzerland (164), Turkey (238), Uganda (77), United Kingdom (420), and the United States of America (406). The prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was 31.46% (95% CI 24.43–38.5), the prevalence of depression was 31.5% (95% CI 22.64–40.38), the prevalence of anxiety disorders was 11% (95% CI 6.75–15.43), and the prevalence of psychosis was 1.51% (95% CI 0.63–2.40). A limitation of the study is that substantial heterogeneity was present in the prevalence estimates of PTSD, depression, and anxiety, and limited covariates were reported in the included studies. Conclusions This comprehensive review generates current prevalence estimates for not only PTSD but also depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Refugees and asylum seekers have high and persistent rates of PTSD and depression, and the results of this review highlight the need for ongoing, long-term mental health care beyond the initial period of resettlement., In a systematic review and meta analysis, Rebecca Blackmore and colleagues investigate the prevalence of mental illness among adult refugees and asylum seekers in studies undertaken across 15 countries., Author summary Why was this study done? Globally, the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers have reached record highs. This systematic review aims to estimate how common mental illnesses are in current adult refugee and asylum-seeker populations. What did the researchers do and find? We performed a comprehensive literature search looking for studies that diagnosed mental illness in refugee and asylum-seeker populations. For studies to be included, the diagnosis must have resulted from a clinical interview using a validated diagnostic assessment measure. We found adult refugee and asylum seekers have high and persistent rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. The prevalence of anxiety disorders and psychosis are more comparable to findings from general populations. What do these findings mean? The increased prevalence of PTSD and depression appears to persist for many years after displacement. These results highlight the importance of early and ongoing mental health care, extending beyond the period of initial resettlement, to promote the health of refugees and asylum seekers.

Background Identifying mental health disorders in migrant and refugee women during pregnancy provides an opportunity for interventions that may benefit women and their families. Evidence suggests that perinatal mental health disorders impact mother-infant attachment at critical times, which can affect child development. Postnatal depression resulting in suicide is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality postpartum. Routine screening of perinatal mental health is recommended to improve the identification of depression and anxiety and to facilitate early management. However, screening is poorly implemented into routine practice. This study is the first to investigate routine screening for perinatal mental health in a maternity setting designed for refugee women. This study will determine whether symptoms of depression and anxiety are more likely to be detected by the screening program compared with routine care and will evaluate the screening program’s feasibility and acceptability to women and health care providers (HCPs). Objective The objectives of this study are (1) to assess if refugee women are more likely to screen risk-positive for depression and anxiety than nonrefugee women, using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS); (2) to assess if screening in pregnancy using the EPDS enables better detection of symptoms of depression and anxiety in refugee women than current routine care; (3) to determine if a screening program for perinatal mental health in a maternity setting designed for refugee women is acceptable to women; and (4) to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the perinatal mental health screening program from the perspective of HCPs (including the barriers and enablers to implementation). Methods This study uses an internationally recommended screening measure, the EPDS, and a locally developed psychosocial questionnaire, both administered in early pregnancy and again in the third trimester. These measures have been translated into the most common languages used by the women attending the clinic and are administered via an electronic platform (iCOPE). This platform automatically calculates the EPDS score and generates reports for the HCP and woman. A total of 119 refugee women and 155 nonrefugee women have been recruited to evaluate the screening program’s ability to detect depression and anxiety symptoms and will be compared with 34 refugee women receiving routine care. A subsample of women will participate in a qualitative assessment of the screening program’s acceptability and feasibility. Health service staff have been recruited to evaluate the integration of screening into maternity care. Results The recruitment is complete, and data collection and analysis are underway. Conclusions It is anticipated that screening will increase the identification and management of depression and anxiety symptoms in pregnancy. New information will be generated on how to implement such a program in feasible and acceptable ways that will improve health outcomes for refugee women. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/13271