Background: 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.
Methods: 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.
Results: 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.
Conclusions: 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.
Traumatic experiences before and during migration can impact the psychological well-being of migrants. This can result in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a disorder in which prior experience of traumatic events can lead to severe anxiety. We asked migrants to fill in questionnaires about their well-being during a 14-day quarantine in reception facilities in Rome, Italy. We evaluated whether the migrants had symptoms of PTSD and the impact of the quarantine on their mental health. We found that migrants who had experienced past traumatic events were more likely to have PTSD, and that staying in a safe and welcoming place in Italy helped improve their mental wellbeing. These findings underline the importance of designing suitable policies to support migrants’ mental health when they arrive in host countries.
© 2023. The Author(s).