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Mental health service use among migrant and Swedish-born children and youth: a register-based cohort study of 472,129 individuals in Stockholm
- Source :
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Purpose Migrant children underutilize mental health services (MHS), but differences according to age, reason for migration, type of problem, and time have not been thoroughly analyzed. We aimed to explore utilization of MHS among migrant children and youth and to study if the hypothesized lower utilization could be explained by fewer neurodevelopmental assessments. Methods A cohort of the population aged 0–24 years in Stockholm, comprising 472,129 individuals were followed for maximum 10 years, between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2015. We categorized individuals as accompanied refugee migrants, unaccompanied refugee migrants and non-refugee migrants, or Swedish-born. We used survival and logistic analyses to estimate rates of utilization of MHS. Results Migrant children and youth utilized less MHS than the majority population, with hazard ratios ranging from 0.62 (95% CI: 0.57; 0.67) to 0.72 (95% CI: 0.69; 0.76). Refugee and non-refugee children utilized less mental health care than their Swedish peers, apart from the youngest refugees (0–10 years) who had similar utilization as Swedish-born. The lower rates were partly explained by all migrant youths’ lower risk of being diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental condition. Time in Sweden had a major impact, such that unaccompanied refugee minors had a higher utilization in their first 2 years in Sweden (OR: 3.39, 95% CI: 2.96; 3.85). Conclusion Migrant youth use less MHS compared with native-born peers, and this is partly explained by fewer neurodevelopmental diagnoses. Strengthening the awareness about unmet needs, and the referring capacity by professionals in contact with migrant children could help reduce barriers to care.
- Subjects :
- Mental Health Services
medicine.medical_specialty
Health (social science)
Social Psychology
Adolescent
Epidemiology
Refugee
Population
Lower risk
Child and adolescent health
Migrants
Cohort Studies
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Medicine
Humans
Health services utilization
Mental health and psychiatry
030212 general & internal medicine
education
Child
Sweden
Transients and Migrants
education.field_of_study
Original Paper
Refugees
business.industry
Hazard ratio
Mental health
030227 psychiatry
Psychiatry and Mental health
Cohort
business
Demography
Cohort study
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14339285 and 09337954
- Volume :
- 57
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....aa7cded6113ec94b3c27e99a097b131b