@article{ref1,
title="The mental health effects of visa insecurity for refugees and people seeking asylum: a latent class analysis",
journal="International journal of public health",
year="2019",
author="Newnham, Elizabeth A. and Pearman, April and Olinga-Shannon, Stephanie and Nickerson, Angela",
volume="64",
number="5",
pages="763-772",
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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1661-8556",
doi="10.1007/s00038-019-01249-6",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00038-019-01249-6"
}