COVID-19 stressors and mental health problems amongst women who arrived as refugees and those born in Australia

Author:

Rees Susan J.ORCID,Mohsin Mohammed,Kuowei Tay Alvin,Moussa Batool,Klein LouisORCID,Nadar Nawal,Hussain Fatima,Krishna Yalini,Khalil Batoul,Yousif Mariam,Silove Derrick,Fisher JaneORCID

Abstract

Women from refugee background residing in high income countries are at greater mental health risk during the COVID-19 pandemic given their higher baseline prevalence of mental disorders, trauma exposures and social adversities. During the COVID-19 pandemic we drew on data from wave-4 of the WATCH cohort study, collected between October 2019 and June 2021. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis to compare the prevalence of common mental disorders (CMDs) from the sample of 650 consecutively recruited women, 339 (52.2%) from the refugee-background who were resettled in Australia and 311 (48.8%) randomly and contemporaneously selected Australian born women. We assessed COVID-19 psychosocial stressors: 1. COVID-related material hardship and 2. COVID-related fear and stress. We examined for associations between scores on these two items and CMDs in each group respectively. Compared to Australian-born woman, women from refugee background recorded a significantly higher prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (19.8% vs 13.5%), PTSD (9.7% vs 5.1%), Separation Anxiety Disorder (SEPAD) (19.8% vs 13.5%) and Persistent Complicated Bereavement Disorder (PCBD) (6.5% vs 2.9%). In refugee women, associations were found between COVID-related material hardship and CMDs [MDD, Relative Risk (RR) = 1.39, 95%CI: 1.02–1.89, p = 0.02] as well as between COVID-related fear and stress and CMDs (MDD, RR = 1.74, 95%CI: 1.04–2.90, p = 0.02 p = 0.02). For Australian-born women, associations were more commonly found between CMDs and material hardship. Our study demonstrates that both women from refugee background and those born in Australia are experiencing significant rates of CMD during the pandemic and that material hardship is an associated factor. We found that women from refugee background are at greater risk for mental health problems and are more likely to report an association of those problems with fear and stress related to COVID_19. All women, and particularly those from refugee background, require urgent and specialised attention to their mental health and psychosocial problems during this pandemic.

Funder

National Health and Medical Research Council

Publisher

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Reference48 articles.

1. Mental health of people in Australia in the first month of COVID-19 restrictions: a national survey.;JR Fisher;Med J Aust.,2020

2. Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic—United States, June 24–30, 2020.;ME Czeisler;MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep,2020

3. Acute mental health responses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.;O Newby JM;PLoS One.,2020

4. Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal probability sample survey of the UK population;M Pierce;The Lancet Psychiatry,2020

5. Mental health and health behaviours before and during the initial phase of the COVID-19 lockdown: longitudinal analyses of the UK Household Longitudinal Study.;CL Niedzwiedz;J Epidemiol Community Health,2021

Cited by 2 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3