Citation

Newnham EA, Pearman A, Olinga-Shannon S, Nickerson A. Int. J. Public Health 2019; 64(5): 763-772.

Affiliation

School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00038-019-01249-6

PMID

31139848

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Current regional conflicts are creating a surge in forced migration, and heightened visa restrictions are increasingly being applied. The current study aimed to examine the relationship between visa insecurity and psychological outcomes within a large clinical sample of refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia.

METHODS: The sample comprised 781 clients (53.9% male, 16-93 years) attending a clinic for trauma survivors. Country of birth was most frequently identified as Afghanistan (18.1%), Iraq (15.3%) and Iran (15.1%). The Hopkins Symptom Checklist was administered at admission.

RESULTS: Latent class analyses identified four groups varying in severity of symptoms, namely very high (16.1%), high (38.1%), moderate (31.5%), and low (14.3%). People with insecure visa status were at least five times more likely to report high (OR = 5.86, p < 0.001) or very high (OR = 5.27, p < 0.01) depression and anxiety symptoms than those with permanent residency. Women were almost twice as likely to report high (OR = 1.96 p < 0.01) or very high (OR = 1.96, p < 0.05) symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that temporary visas play a significant role in psychological distress and that timely immigration processing has important implications for health outcomes.

Language: en

Keywords

Anxiety; Asylum; Depression; Gender; Migration; Refugee