Caroppo Emanuele, Calabrese Carmela, Mazza Marianna, Rinaldi Alessandro, Coluzzi Daniele, Napoli Pierangela, Sapienza Martina, Porfiri Maurizio, De Lellis Pietro
Department of Mental Health, Local Health Authority Roma 2, Rome, Italy.
Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.
Commun Med (Lond). 2023 Nov 22;3(1):162. doi: 10.1038/s43856-023-00385-8.
Forced migration leaves deep marks on the psychological well-being of migrants, with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological conditions being prevalent among them. While research has clarified the extent to which pre-migration trauma is a predictor of mental health outcomes, the role of post-migration stressors in the settlement environment are yet to be fully characterized.
We monitored mental health of a cohort of 100 asylum-seekers during their 14-day COVID-19-related quarantine in reception facilities in Rome, Italy, through the administration of six questionnaires (a demographic survey, the WHO-5 well-being index, the Primary Care PTSD Screen for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5), the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, the Trauma and Loss Spectrum-Self Report, and the LiMEs-Italian version). Through the combination of statistical analysis and supervised learning, we studied the impact of the first contact with the reception system on asylum-seekers' mental health and sought for possible risk and shielding factors for PTSD.
We find that sheltering in refugee centers has a positive impact on migrants' mental health; asylum-seekers with PTSD reported more traumatic events and personality characteristics related to loss and trauma; life events are predictors of PTSD in asylum-seekers.
We identify past traumatic experiences as predictors of PTSD, and establish the positive role the immediate post-migration environment can play on migrants' psychological well-being. We recommend for host countries to implement reception models that provide effective protection and integration of asylum-seekers, similar to those in the Italian system.
被迫迁移给移民的心理健康留下了深刻印记，创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）和其他心理状况在他们当中很普遍。虽然研究已经阐明了迁移前创伤在多大程度上是心理健康结果的预测因素，但迁移后压力源在定居环境中的作用尚未得到充分描述。
我们通过发放六份问卷（一份人口统计学调查问卷、世界卫生组织-5幸福指数、《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》第5版（DSM-5）的初级保健PTSD筛查量表、哈佛创伤问卷、创伤与丧失谱-自我报告以及LiMEs-意大利语版），对100名寻求庇护者在意大利罗马的接待设施中进行为期14天的与COVID-19相关隔离期间的心理健康状况进行了监测。通过统计分析和监督学习相结合的方式，我们研究了首次接触接待系统对寻求庇护者心理健康的影响，并寻找PTSD可能的风险和保护因素。
我们发现，在难民中心避难对移民的心理健康有积极影响；患有PTSD的寻求庇护者报告了更多与丧失和创伤相关的创伤性事件和人格特征；生活事件是寻求庇护者中PTSD的预测因素。
我们确定过去的创伤经历是PTSD的预测因素，并确立了迁移后即刻环境对移民心理健康可发挥的积极作用。我们建议东道国实施类似于意大利系统的接待模式，为寻求庇护者提供有效的保护和融入。
