Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala Universitet, Uppsala, Sweden
Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
BMJ Open. 2023 Jun 6;13(6):e069237. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069237.
Asylum seekers and refugees are at an elevated risk of self-harm, with younger age and traumatic experiences found to further increase such risk. Despite this, evidence regarding self-harm among unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugee minors has not been synthesised. As self-harm among minors is a risk factor for a range of adverse clinical and social outcomes, including suicide, such information may help to inform evidence-based prevention strategies among these vulnerable populations. This systematic review will synthesise findings from the literature regarding the prevalence, methods and characteristics of self-harm, including risk and protective factors, among unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugee minors internationally.
We searched key electronic databases (PsycINFO, Scopus, PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE) and grey literature for relevant studies published in English from database inception to 10 February 2023. Our primary outcome is self-harm among unaccompanied asylum seekers and/or refugee minors. With the exception of single-case studies, clinical trials and case-control studies, we will include all types of study design that examine the prevalence of self-harm in unaccompanied asylum seekers and/or refugee minors. We will exclude dissertations, conference abstracts, letters, book chapters, editorials, study registrations, registered protocols and qualitative studies. Only studies reporting on participants aged <18 years will be eligible for inclusion. The Methodological Standard for Epidemiological Research Scale will be used to assess the quality of included studies. If there are sufficient studies and homogeneity between them, we will conduct meta-analyses to calculate pooled estimates of self-harm rates, as well as comparisons between subgroups of relevance. If the studies do not report sufficient data, or there is substantial heterogeneity, we will provide a narrative synthesis of the findings.
This review is exempt from ethics approval. Our findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.
CRD42021292709.
寻求庇护者和难民自残的风险较高，年龄较小和创伤经历进一步增加了这种风险。尽管如此，有关无人陪伴的寻求庇护者和未成年难民自残的证据尚未综合。由于未成年人自残是一系列不良临床和社会后果的风险因素，包括自杀，因此这些信息可能有助于为这些弱势群体提供循证预防策略。本系统评价将综合国际上关于无人陪伴的寻求庇护者和未成年难民自残的流行率、方法和特征的文献发现，包括风险和保护因素。
我们从数据库创建开始到 2023 年 2 月 10 日，在关键的电子数据库（PsycINFO、Scopus、PubMed 和 Ovid MEDLINE）和灰色文献中搜索了相关研究。我们的主要结局是无人陪伴的寻求庇护者和/或未成年难民的自残。除了单病例研究、临床试验和病例对照研究外，我们还将纳入所有类型的研究设计，以检查无人陪伴的寻求庇护者和/或未成年难民的自残流行率。我们将排除学位论文、会议摘要、信件、书籍章节、社论、研究注册、注册协议和定性研究。只有报告参与者年龄<18 岁的研究才有资格纳入。将使用流行病学研究方法学标准量表来评估纳入研究的质量。如果有足够的研究并且它们之间具有同质性，我们将进行荟萃分析以计算自残率的汇总估计值，以及相关亚组之间的比较。如果研究没有报告足够的数据，或者存在很大的异质性，我们将对研究结果进行叙述性综合。
本综述豁免伦理批准。我们的研究结果将通过同行评审的出版物和会议演讲传播。
PROSPERO 注册号：CRD42021292709。
