Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, Bergen, Norway.
Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2023 Mar;32(3):439-449. doi: 10.1007/s00787-021-01876-6. Epub 2021 Sep 19.
Building knowledge on how child welfare services (CWS) should tailor services for unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) is important. URMs and youth in foster care are high-risk groups taken care of by the CWS in Norway. Little is known on whether knowledge gained from youth in foster care can inform services for URMs, and if these groups are comparable in terms of experiences of potential traumatic events (PTEs) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom load. Eighty-one URMs reported PTEs and PTSD-symptoms using an adapted version of the Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen (CATS). Responses were described and compared with a sample of 303 youth in foster care in linear regression models. We present relative risks (RR) and standardized mean differences (SMD) for the PTEs and the PTSD subscale and total score between the groups in forest plots. URMs had experienced a mean (standard deviation) of 6.4 (3.4) PTEs and 43.9% reported to have PTSD-symptoms at or above the clinical cut off. Compared to the foster youth, URMs reported more exposures of interpersonal violence outside of the family (RRs ranging from 66.4 [95%CI 18.1; 243.5) to 1.3 (1.0, 1.5)], and more PTSD-symptoms in the re-experiencing subscale [SMD = 0.3 (95% CI 0.1, 0.6)]. The frequency and types of PTEs and the PTSD-symptom load and profile among URMs and youth in foster care differed. Findings underscore the importance of qualified and targeted care for URMs, and that this care should differ to that of other high-risk groups in the CWS.
了解儿童福利服务（CWS）应该如何为无人陪伴的未成年难民（URM）定制服务很重要。URM 和寄养青少年是挪威 CWS 照顾的高风险群体。关于从寄养青少年那里获得的知识是否可以为 URM 的服务提供信息，以及这两个群体在潜在创伤事件（PTE）和创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状负担方面是否具有可比性，知之甚少。81 名 URM 使用经过改编的儿童和青少年创伤筛查（CATS）报告了 PTE 和 PTSD 症状。使用线性回归模型对这些反应进行了描述，并与 303 名寄养青少年样本进行了比较。我们在森林图中呈现了两组之间 PTE 和 PTSD 子量表和总分的相对风险（RR）和标准化均数差（SMD）。URM 经历了 6.4（3.4）次 PTE，43.9%的人报告 PTSD 症状达到或超过临床截止值。与寄养青少年相比，URM 报告了更多家庭以外的人际暴力暴露（RR 范围从 66.4[95%CI 18.1；243.5]到 1.3[1.0，1.5]），以及更多 PTSD 症状再体验子量表[SMD=0.3（95%CI 0.1，0.6)]。URM 和寄养青少年的 PTE 频率和类型以及 PTSD 症状负担和特征不同。研究结果强调了为 URM 提供合格和有针对性的护理的重要性，并且这种护理应该与 CWS 中的其他高风险群体的护理有所不同。
