School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia, Magill Campus, St Bernards Road, Magill, SA 5072, Australia.
Transcult Psychiatry. 2009 Dec;46(4):584-607. doi: 10.1177/1363461509351363.
The large and diverse bodies of literature on refugee child and adolescent mental health have not been matched by a commensurate interest in help-seeking. Most help-seeking research has centred on Western and, to a lesser extent, non-refugee ethnic minority adult populations. An emerging child and adolescent help-seeking literature consistently reports widespread underutilization of mental health services by children in the general population. Current research and opinion suggest a similar trend for refugee and other ethnic minority children. While service underutilization appears to be an issue for all children, those from refugee backgrounds may be at increased risk of mental health problems and have greater difficulty accessing mental health care. From a policy and practice perspective, the most important explanation for low uptake of services by refugee families concerns an overall failure of Western mental health systems to accommodate the needs of ethnically diverse populations in general and refugees in particular. In order to effectively plan for the mental health needs of refugee children and adolescents, Western host country governments need a clear understanding of help-seeking behaviour.
关于难民儿童和青少年心理健康的大量文献与寻求帮助的兴趣并不相称。大多数寻求帮助的研究都集中在西方，在较小程度上也集中在非难民少数民族成年人群体。新兴的儿童和青少年寻求帮助文献一致报告称，普通人群中的儿童广泛未能利用心理健康服务。目前的研究和观点表明，难民和其他少数族裔儿童也存在类似的趋势。尽管服务利用率低似乎是所有儿童面临的一个问题，但来自难民背景的儿童可能面临更大的心理健康问题风险，并且更难以获得心理健康护理。从政策和实践的角度来看，造成难民家庭服务利用率低的最重要原因是西方心理健康系统总体上未能满足不同种族群体，特别是难民的需求。为了有效规划难民儿童和青少年的心理健康需求，西方收容国政府需要清楚地了解寻求帮助的行为。
