Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Human Medicine, Philipps-University Marburg, Schützenstraße 49, 35039, Marburg, Germany.
Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Gutenbergstraße 18, 35037, Marburg, Germany.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2022 Aug;31(8):1-15. doi: 10.1007/s00787-020-01678-2. Epub 2020 Nov 9.
In recent years, there has been a rising interest in the mental health of unaccompanied minor refugees (UMR), who are a high-risk group for mental disorders. Especially the investigation of predictive factors of the mental health of young refugees has received increasing attention. However, there has been no review on this current issue for the specific group of UMR so far. We aimed to summarize and evaluate the existing findings of specific risk and protective factors to identify the most verified influences on the mental health of UMR. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature search. Study designs were limited to quantitative cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. Eight databases were searched in four different languages and article reference lists of relevant papers were screened. 27 studies were included (N = 4753). Qualitative synthesis revealed the number of stressful life events to be the most evaluated and verified risk factor for mental health of UMR. A stable environment and social support, on the other hand, can protect UMR from developing poor mental health. Besides that, several other influencing factors could be pointed out, such as type of accommodation, family contact, gender and cultural competences. Because of the large heterogeneity of outcome measures, quantitative synthesis was not possible. This review helps to improve our understanding of determinants of UMRs mental health and thus to provide more targeted treatment. Furthermore, it provides information on how to prevent the development of mental health problems by specifying factors that can be modified by different health and immigration sectors in advance. Further research is needed focusing on the interaction between the various predictive factors.
近年来，人们对无人陪伴未成年难民（UMR）的心理健康越来越感兴趣，他们是精神障碍的高风险群体。特别是对年轻难民心理健康的预测因素的研究越来越受到关注。然而，迄今为止，对于 UMR 这一特定群体，还没有关于这一当前问题的综述。我们旨在总结和评估特定风险和保护因素的现有研究结果，以确定对 UMR 心理健康最有验证影响的因素。因此，我们进行了系统的文献检索。研究设计仅限于定量的横断面和纵向设计。在四种不同的语言中搜索了八个数据库，并筛选了相关论文的文章参考文献列表。共纳入 27 项研究（N=4753）。定性综合表明，生活应激事件的数量是评估和验证 UMR 心理健康的最重要风险因素。另一方面，稳定的环境和社会支持可以保护 UMR 免受心理健康恶化的影响。除此之外，还可以指出其他一些影响因素，如住宿类型、家庭联系、性别和文化能力。由于结果测量的高度异质性，无法进行定量综合。本综述有助于提高我们对 UMR 心理健康决定因素的理解，从而提供更有针对性的治疗。此外，它还提供了有关如何通过提前确定不同卫生和移民部门可以改变的因素来预防心理健康问题发展的信息。需要进一步研究关注各种预测因素之间的相互作用。
