Best Practices for Treating Refugee and Immigrant Populations

 As Illinois prepares to accept Ukrainian Refugees, now is the time to learn more about this population’s unique mental health care needs. Ideally, refugees will have access to a wide array of social, psychiatric, and medical programs when they arrive. But that is rarely the case due to limited resources and other barriers (Rees et al., 2017).

About one in three refugees experience high rates of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, only about 3% of refugees are referred to mental health services following health screenings (APA, 2020). Also, refugee children may present with multiple symptoms that do not represent a single disorder. So, it is important to be familiar with resources available (see below) and make mental health care referrals within the community when necessary.

The CDC has guidelines for mental health screening specifically for refugees that providers can use during medical examinations. Timely referrals may assist refugees to live more productive and healthy lives following resettlement.

It will be helpful for providers to be mindful of the psychological stressors such as traumatic loss, separation from culture and support, and barriers of resettlement that this population may experience (APA, 2020). Building cultural competence improves trust and thus healthcare outcomes. Facilitating the following five factors will help improve refugees’ healthcare encounters with providers: trusting relationship, communication, cultural understanding, careful history taking and training on specific health and social conditions, and allowing for adequate time (Dhesi et al., 2017).