Trauma, cultural identity and integration: A psycho-social approach to investigating the mental health of refugees in Australia

This post forms part of our series in showcasing abstracts of presentations featured at our annual postgraduate interdisciplinary conference on refugee and forced migration research, hosted in November 2018 at The University of Melbourne.

DZENANA KARTAL, MAURICE EISENBRUCH & DAVID KISSANE

War-related traumatic events can affect the mental health of refugees long after their resettlement. Migratory stressors such as unemployment, host-language difficulties and discrimination are associated with integration difficulties, and also have a cumulative negative affect on the mental health of refugees. Research studies conducted with refugees have however studied these factors in isolation from one another, concentrating on investigating either the traumatic impact of traumas or the impact of acculturative stress on mental health.

Using structural equation modeling, this study examined the relationships between traumatic exposure, acculturative stressors, cultural identity and mental health outcomes (i.e., post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety symptoms) in two samples of Bosnian refugees that have resettled in two different host nations – Austria and Australia. The findings indicated that traumatic exposure is still the strongest direct and indirect predictor of PTSD, depression and anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, acculturative stressors affected the host cultural orientation and identity, hence mediating the effects of traumatic exposure on all mental health outcomes. These findings point toward the importance of assessing both psychological and social stressors when assessing mental heath of refugees. While provision of psychotherapy to refugees with mental health problems should remain a priority, addressing acculturative stressors could not only assist better integration, but also improve mental health outcomes.

Dzenana Kartal is a Research Specialist at the Phoenix Australia – Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health. Dzenana specialises in mental health service delivery and research including implementation and evaluation of evidence-based treatments, knowledge translation and evidence synthesis. She has published on a variety of topics including refugee mental health, acculturation, implementation and assessment of effectiveness of psychological treatments for PTSD.

Image Credit: SBS (2017): https://www.sbs.com.au/radio/article/2017/06/14/settlement-guide-access-mental-health-services-vital-refugees