Improving Immigrant Populations' Access to Mental Health Services in Canada: A Review of Barriers and Recommendations

Overview

Journal J Immigr Minor Health

Publisher Springer

Specialties Public Health
Social Sciences

Date 2015 Mar 7

PMID 25742880

Citations 74

Authors

Mary Susan Thomson

Ferzana Chaze

Usha George

Sepali Guruge

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This article emerges from a scoping review of over two decades of relevant literature on immigrants' access to mental health services in Canada. Key online databases were searched to explore the gaps and opportunities for improving access to mental health services using a review framework provided by Arksey and O'Malley (Int J Soc Res Methodol 8:19-32, 2005). Immigrants and refugees came from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds and had complex mental health-related concerns that were not currently being adequately addressed by existing services. The major barriers to the utilization of mental health services included: those related to the uptake of existing health information and services; those that were related to the process of immigrant settlement; and barriers related to availability of appropriate services. A thematic analysis of the range of recommendations that emerge from these studies for improvement of research, practice and policy is provided.

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