Mental health help-seeking and refugee adolescents: Qualitative findings from a mixed-methods investigation

Abstract

There is general agreement in Australia and other Western resettlement countries that many refugee adolescents with social, behavioural, and mental health problems are not accessing mental health care. There is, however, a paucity of research on refugee adolescent mental health service utilisation and help-seeking. Most research to date has centred on adolescents in the general population, and even then is still very limited. This paper presents the findings of 13 focus groups held with 85 refugee adolescents aged 13–17 years from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Serbia, and Sudan. The study was part of a wider investigation of mental health service utilisation by refugee parents of children aged 4–17 years, and by adolescents aged 13–17 years. With respect to adolescents, the focus group findings indicate that most are very reluctant to venture beyond their close friendship networks for help with their psychosocial problems due to a range of individual, cultural, and service-related barriers. Implications for mental health policymakers, service planners, and service providers are discussed.

Key words:

• Adolescence
• attitudes
• beliefs
• cross-cultural psychology
• mental health help-seeking
• refugee
• values