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Despite reporting elevated rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), refugees are less likely than other groups to seek psychological treatment. Relatively little attention has been paid to the role of negative help-seeking beliefs in influencing treatment uptake. The current study sought to develop and psychometrically validate a novel measure indexing negative help-seeking beliefs for refugees (Help-Seeking Beliefs Scale [HSBS]). In this study, 262 Arabic-speaking refugee participants completed an online survey consisting of the HSBS along with measures indexing similar constructs (self-stigma of PTSD and help-seeking, perceived stigma, negative help-seeking attitudes, and help-seeking intentions). Factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure aligning with key themes identified in the literature: (a) Fear of Negative Consequences, (b) Inappropriateness, and (c) Perceived Necessity. The scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency, convergent validity, and predicted reduced help-seeking intentions. Results support the utility of a novel measure capturing a prominent help-seeking barrier in a population with high psychopathology and low treatment uptake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Many refugees experience prolonged separation from family members, which research suggests has adverse effects on mental health and post-displacement outcomes in refugee populations. We examine mental health differences in refugees separated and not separated from their families, and key post-migration factors and cultural mechanisms that may underlie this impact. Methods: A sample of 1085 refugees resettled in Australia, of which 23.3% were separated from all of their immediate family, took part in an online battery of survey measures indexing pre- and post-migration refugee experiences, mental health symptoms, disability and individualistic/collectivistic self-identity. Family separation was used as a predictor of mental health outcomes in a series of linear regressions, and the separated and non-separated groups were compared in multigroup path analysis models to examine group-specific indirect effects. Results: The separated group reported greater exposure to pre-migration potentially traumatic events and higher levels of post-migration living difficulties compared to the non-separated group. Family separation predicted higher post-traumatic stress and depression symptoms, but not disability, after controlling for potentially traumatic event exposure, age and sex. Path analyses revealed distinct indirect effects for separated and non-separated groups. Principally, higher collectivistic self-identity was associated with elevated post-traumatic stress, depression and disability symptoms via social-related post-migration living difficulties such as isolation and loneliness in the separated group; whereas collectivism was linked with increased depression symptoms via economic-related post-migration living difficulties in the non-separated group. Conclusion: These findings indicate that family separation powerfully influences mental health outcomes, but that its effect may be mediated by the type of post-migration stress experienced in the settlement environment and culturally bound differences in how the sense of self is interconnected with family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Emotion regulation (ER) plays a central role in psychopathology. Understanding person-centred patterns of ER strategies is crucial for prevention and intervention strategies. However, there is a paucity of research on ER profiles and their psychological correlates in forcibly displaced people (FDP)., Objective: This study aimed to identify habitual ER profiles and to examine the predictive role of different psychological variables on these profiles in Syrian FDP in Germany., Method: In a sample of 991 individuals, we conducted a latent profile analysis (LPA) to assess habitual reappraisal and suppression of emotion as ER strategies, as well as self-efficacy, resilience, well-being comparisons, trauma exposure and International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms as potential predictors of ER profile membership., Results: LPA identified four distinct ER profiles: high regulators (12.8%), low regulators (20.6%), reappraisal regulators (25.1%) and suppressive regulators (41.5%). In multinomial regression analysis, self-efficacy, resilience, appetitive well-being comparisons and trauma exposure were significantly associated with profile membership, while PTSD and aversive well-being comparisons showed no significant association. High regulators exhibited the highest levels of self-efficacy, resilience and appetitive well-being comparisons, followed by reappraisal, suppressive and low regulators. Additionally, high regulators reported the highest number of traumatic events, followed by suppressive and low regulators., Conclusions: Our results indicate a higher adaptiveness in high regulation ER profiles as opposed to low regulation ER profiles., Clinical Implications: Given that most FDP in our sample relied predominantly on one ER strategy, developing interventions that focus on cultivating a broad repertoire of ER strategies may be beneficial., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. Published by BMJ.)