Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-f46jp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-14T00:03:29.143Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact of forced migration on the mental health of the elderly: a scoping review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2016

Ashwini Virgincar ,
Shannon Doherty  and
Chesmal Siriwardhana
Ashwini Virgincar
Affiliation:
King's College London, Faculty of Life Science & Medicine, London, SE1 1UL, UK
Shannon Doherty
Affiliation:
Global Public Health, Migration & Ethics Research Group, Faculty of Medical Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Bishop Hall Lane, Chelmsford CM1 1SQ, UK
Chesmal Siriwardhana*
Affiliation:
Global Public Health, Migration & Ethics Research Group, Faculty of Medical Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Bishop Hall Lane, Chelmsford CM1 1SQ, UK Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Chesmal Siriwardhana, Anglia Ruskin University, Bishop Hall Lane, Chelmsford CM1 1SQ, UK. Phone: +44 (0)1245 68 4199. Email: chesmal.siriwardhana@anglia.ac.uk.
Get access

Abstract

Background:

The worldwide elderly population fraction is increasing, with the greatest rise in developing countries. Older adults affected by conflict and forced migration mainly taking place in developing countries may be particularly vulnerable to poor mental health due to other age-specific risk factors. This review aims to explore global evidence on the effect of conflict-induced forced migration on the mental health of older adults.

Methods:

Seven bibliographic databases were searched. The title and abstract of 797 results were reviewed for qualitative and quantitative studies meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results:

Six studies were selected for the in-depth review. Five papers assessed mental health in older adult populations displaced as refugees. One paper assessed mental health of older adults with varying immigration status.

Conclusions:

This review highlights the dearth of evidence about the impact of forced migration on the mental health of older adults. Further research is needed to explore the risk factors and processes that contribute to adverse mental health outcomes among older adult populations. This is essential to the development of interventions for this vulnerable and at-risk population, particularly in resource-poor settings.

Keywords

forced migrationmental healthelderly
Type
Review Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 28 , Issue 6 , June 2016 , pp. 889 - 896
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bhugra, D. et al. (2011). WPA guidance on mental health and mental health care in migrants. World Psychiatry, 10, 2–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burton, A. and Breen, C. (2002). Older refugees in humanitarian emergencies. The Lancet, 360, s47–s48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Centre for Systemic Peace. (2014). Global trends in armed conflict, 1946–2014. Available at: http://www.systemicpeace.org/conflicttrends.html; last accessed 19 October 2015.Google Scholar
Chaaya, M., Sibai, A. M., Fayad, R. and El-Roueiheb, Z. (2007). Religiosity and depression in older people: evidence from underprivileged refugee and non-refugee communities in Lebanon. Aging & Mental Health, 11, 37–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chee, Y. K. and Levkoff, S. E. (2001). Culture and dementia: accounts by family caregivers and health professionals for dementia-affected elders in South Korea. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 16, 111–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummings, S., Sull, L., Davis, C. and Worley, N. (2011). Correlates of depression among older Kurdish refugees. Social Work, 56, 159–168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Jong, J., Komproe, I. H. and Van Ommeren, M. (2003). Common mental disorders in postconflict settings. The Lancet, 361, 2128–2130. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)13692-6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
HelpAge International. (2012). Older people in emergencies: identifying and reducing risks. HelpAge International, 1–11.Google Scholar
Hinton, L., Franz, C. E., Yeo, G. and Levkoff, S. E. (2005). Conceptions of dementia in a multi-ethnic sample of family caregivers. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 53, 1405–1410. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.53409.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howells Wrobel, N., Farrag, M. F. and Hymes, R. W. (2009). Acculturative stress and depression in an elderly Arabic sample. Journal of Cross Cultural Gerontology, 24, 273–290. doi:10.1007/s10823-009-9096-8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Working Group. (2008). Humanitarian action and older persons: an essential brief for humanitarian actors. IASC, 2–7.Google Scholar
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). (2015). Global overview 2015: people internally displaced by conflict and violence. IDMC, 1–99.Google Scholar
Karunakara, U. and Stevenson, F. (2012). Ending neglect of older people in the response to humanitarian emergencies. PLOS Medicine, 9, 1–3. doi:10.1371/journal/pmed.1001357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirmayer, L. J. et al., (2010). Common mental health problems in immigrants and refugees: general approach in primary care. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 183, E959–E967.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuittinen, S. et al., (2014). Depressive symptoms and their psychological correlates among older Somali refugees and native Finns. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45, 1434–1452. doi: 10.1177/0022022114543519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levkoff, S. E., Macarthur, I. W. and Bucknall, J. (1995). Elderly mental health in the developing world. Social Science & Medicine, 41, 983–1003.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loi, S. and Sundram, S. (2014). To fell, or not to flee, that is the question for older asylum seekers. International Psychogeriatrics, 26, 1403–1406. doi: 10.1017/S1041610214001057.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, G. N., Schell, T. L., Elliott, M. N., Berthold, S. M. and Chun, C. (2005). Mental health of Cambodian refugees 2 decades after resettlement in the United States. JAMA, 294, 571–579.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mirsky, J. (2009). Mental health implications of migration: a review of mental health community studies on Russian-speaking immigrants in Israel. Social Psychiatry Psychiatric Epidemiology, 44, 179–187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mölsä, M. et al., (2014). Mental and somatic health and pre- and post-migration factors among older Somali refugees in Finland. Transcultural Psychiatry, 51, 499–525. doi: 10.1177/1363461514526630.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porter, M. and Haslam, N. (2005). Predisplacement and postdisplacement factors associated with mental health of refugees and internally displaced persons. Journal of the American Medical Association, 294, 602–612.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, B. and Browne, J. (2011). A systematic review of factors influencing the psychological health of conflict-affected populations in low-and middle-income countries. Global Public Health, 6, 814–829.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siriwardhana, C. et al., (2013). Prolonged internal displacement and common mental disorders in Sri Lanka: the COMRAID study. PLOS One, 8, 1–9. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064742.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
STROBE. (2007). STROBE checklist for cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies (combined) Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology. Available at: http://www.strobe-statement.org/fileadmin/Strobe/uploads/checklists/STROBE_checklist_v4_combined.pdf; last accessed 2 March, 2015.Google Scholar
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2015). World population prospects: the 2015 revision, key findings and advance tables. Working Paper No. ESA/P/WP.241.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (WHO). (2006). Older persons in emergencies: WHO Draft Fact Sheet, 1–2. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs404/en/; last accessed 19 October, 2015.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (WHO). (2015). Definition of an older or elderly person: Proposed working definition of an older person in Africa for the MDS project. Available at: http://www/who.int/healthinfo/survey/ageingdefnolder/en/index/html; last accessed 12 May, 2015.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Virgincar supplementary material

Supplementary Table

Download Virgincar supplementary material(File)
File 17.4 KB