Efficient identification of mental health problems in refugees in Germany: the Refugee Health Screener

Kaltenbach, Elisa; Härdtner, Eva; Hermenau, Katharin; Schauer, Maggie; Elbert, Thomas

doi:10.1080/20008198.2017.1389205

Cited by 66 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The Refugee Health Screener-15 (RHS-15) [6] was designed to identify refugees who present with issues that likely demand psychiatric attention. The RHS-15 was standardized to create "diagnostic proxies" for PTSD, depression, and anxiety, with good sensitivity and specificity across diverse nationalities [6][7][8]. Diagnostic proxies were used in place of diagnostic interviews to decrease financial and time resources spent by completing fully structured diagnostic interviews [6].…”

Section: Identifying Refugees In Need Of Mental Health Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traumatic Experiences and Mental Health Risk for Refugees

Schlaudt

Bosson

Williams

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Refugees who settle in Western countries exhibit a high rate of mental health issues, which are often related to experiences throughout the pre-displacement, displacement, and post-displacement processes. Early detection of mental health symptoms could increase positive outcomes in this vulnerable population. The rates and predictors of positive screenings for mental health symptoms were examined among a large sample of refugees, individuals with special immigrant visas, and parolees/entrants (N = 8149) from diverse nationalities. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine if demographic factors and witnessing/experiencing violence predicted positive screenings. On a smaller subset of the sample, we calculated referral acceptance rate by country of origin. Refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan were most likely to exhibit a positive screening for mental health symptoms. Refugees from Sudan, Iraq, and Syria reported the highest rate of experiencing violence, whereas those from Iraq, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo reported the highest rate of witnessing violence. Both witnessing and experiencing violence predicted positive Refugee Health Screener-15 (RHS-15) scores. Further, higher age and female gender predicted positive RHS-15 scores, though neither demographic variable was correlated with accepting a referral for mental health services. The findings from this study can help to identify characteristics that may be associated with risk for mental health symptoms among a refugee population.

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Section: Identifying Refugees In Need Of Mental Health Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traumatic Experiences and Mental Health Risk for Refugees

Schlaudt

Bosson

Williams

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…We calculated a sum score of exposure to traumatic and adverse event types. PTSD symptoms were assessed using the wellvalidated 20-item PTSD Check List for DSM-5 (PCL-5; Weathers et al, 2013), which has been used in various cultural settings (Kaltenbach, Härdtner, Hermenau, Schauer, & Elbert, 2017;Verhey, Gibson, Brakarsh, Chibanda, & Seedat, 2018). Cronbach's Alpha for the score of all items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (0-4) was .94 for mothers and .91 for fathers.…”

Section: Parent Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and co-existence of morbidity of posttraumatic stress and functional impairment among Burundian refugee children and their parents

Scharpf

Kyaruzi

Landolt

et al. 2019

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Background: Although the family constitutes the prime source of risk and resilience for the well-being of children growing up in adverse conditions, the mental health of children living in refugee camps has rarely been investigated in conjunction with their parents' mental health. Objectives: To examine the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems among Burundian refugee children and their parents living in Tanzanian refugee camps and to identify patterns of comorbidity among children and their parents based on PTSD symptom levels and functional impairment. Methods: We recruited a representative sample of 230 children aged 7-15 years and both of their parents (n = 690) and conducted separate structured clinical interviews. Latent Class Analysis was applied to identify patterns of comorbidity. Results: Children and parents were exposed to multiple traumatic event types. In total, 5.7% of children fulfilled DSM-5 criteria for PTSD in the past month and 10.9% reported enhanced levels of other mental health problems. 42.6% indicated clinically significant functional impairment due to PTSD symptoms. PTSD prevalence was higher among mothers (32.6%) and fathers (29.1%). Latent Class Analysis (LCA) revealed a familial accumulation of PTSD symptoms as children with high symptom levels and impairment were likely to live in families with two traumatized parents. Conclusions: Although the number of children who need support for trauma-related mental health problems was relatively low, taking into account parental trauma could aid to identify at-risk children with elevated PTSD symptom levels and impairment even in the face of existing barriers to mental health care access for children in refugee camp settings (e.g. lack of targeted services, prioritization of managing daily stressors).

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“…Furthermore, there are instruments that can help to identify mental health problems in refugees (e.g. Kaltenbach, Härdtner, Hermenau, Schauer, & Elbert, 2017). …”

Section: Recommendations For Action In Terms Of Health Policy Legislamentioning

confidence: 99%

The psychotherapeutic care of refugees in Europe: treatment needs, delivery reality and recommendations for action

Münz¹,

Melcop²

2018

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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The special issue of the European Journal of Psychotraumatology released on 7 November 2017 focused on traumatized refugees and on the mental health burden, screening instruments and interventions in different groups of refugees. This contribution takes up this discussion on the needs and challenges for mental healthcare of traumatized refugees from the point of view of the practitioners. It reports on the findings of a survey on the treatment situation and the delivery reality of healthcare for refugees in 14 European countries, identifies treatment gaps, and sets recommendations for action at the political and therapeutic levels. The survey was conducted by the Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists with the assistance of the Network for Psychotherapeutic Care in Europe. The findings underline the need for appropriate mental healthcare for this population.

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Efficient identification of mental health problems in refugees in Germany: the Refugee Health Screener

Cited by 66 publications

References 46 publications

Traumatic Experiences and Mental Health Risk for Refugees

Traumatic Experiences and Mental Health Risk for Refugees

Prevalence and co-existence of morbidity of posttraumatic stress and functional impairment among Burundian refugee children and their parents

The psychotherapeutic care of refugees in Europe: treatment needs, delivery reality and recommendations for action

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