Mental health and mental health help-seeking behaviors among first-generation voluntary African migrants: A systematic review

Edith N Botchway-Commey; Obed Adonteng-Kissi; Nnaemeka Meribe; David Chisanga; Ahmed A Moustafa; Agness Tembo; Frank Darkwa Baffour; Kathomi Gatwiri; Aunty Kerrie Doyle; Lillian Mwanri; Uchechukwu Levi Osuagwu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0298634

Mental health and mental health help-seeking behaviors among first-generation voluntary African migrants: A systematic review

PLoS One. 2024 Mar 18;19(3):e0298634. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298634. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Brain and Mind Group, Clinical Sciences, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
² Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
³ School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University, Southwest Campus, Bunbury, Australia.
⁴ Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁵ Department of Energy Environment and Climate Action, Agriculture Victoria, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁶ Faculty of Society and Design, School of Psychology, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
⁷ The Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁸ Faculty of Medicine and Health, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁹ School of Humanities, Social Science and Creative Industries, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
¹⁰ Faculty of Health, Centre for Children & Young People, Southern Cross University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
¹¹ Translational Health Research Institute, School of Medicine, Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing CAG, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia.
¹² Centre for Public Health Research Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
¹³ Bathurst Rural Clinical School, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia.

Abstract

Purpose: Mental health challenges are highly prevalent in African migrants. However, understanding of mental health outcomes in first-generation voluntary African migrants is limited, despite the unique challenges faced by this migrant subgroup. This review aimed to synthesize the literature to understand the mental health challenges, help-seeking behavior, and the relationship between mental health and mental health help-seeking behavior in first-generation voluntary African migrants living outside Africa.

Methods: Medline Complete, EMBASE, CINAHL Complete, and APA PsychINFO were searched for studies published between January 2012 to December 2023. Retrieved articles were processed, data from selected articles were extracted and synthesized to address the study aims, and included studies were evaluated for risk of bias.

Results: Eight studies were included, including four quantitative and four qualitative studies, which focused on women with postnatal depression. Mental health challenges reported in the quantitative studies were depression, interpersonal disorders, and work-related stress. Risk (e.g., neglect from health professionals and lack of social/spousal support) and protective (e.g., sensitivity of community services and faith) factors associated with mental health were identified. Barriers (e.g., cultural beliefs about mental health and racial discrimination) and facilitators (sensitizing African women about mental health) of mental health help-seeking behavior were also identified. No significant relationship was reported between mental health and mental health help-seeking behavior, and the risk of bias results indicated some methodological flaws in the studies.

Conclusion: This review shows the dearth of research focusing on mental health and help-seeking behavior in this subgroup of African migrants. The findings highlight the importance of African migrants, especially mothers with newborns, examining cultural beliefs that may impact their mental health and willingness to seek help. Receiving countries should also strive to understand the needs of first-generation voluntary African migrants living abroad and offer mental health support that is patient-centered and culturally sensitive.

Copyright: © 2024 Botchway-Commey et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Help-Seeking Behavior*
Humans
Mental Health
Mental Health Services*
Transients and Migrants* / psychology

Grants and funding

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. The APC was funded by the Research Support Programme Fellowship from The Translational Health Research Institute (THRI), School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia, for one of the corresponding authors (ULO).