Abstract
Extant literature has documented a higher level of mental health issues among refugee populations compared with that of the general population. Mental health problems may significantly decrease refugees’ quality of life and interfere with a successful transition to their country of resettlement. Using the social determinants of mental health framework, we examined factors affecting psychological distress among Karen refugees from Burma residing in a mid-size city in a northeastern state in the United States. A total of 201 participants completed face-to-face interviews conducted in the Karen language. Results showed that trauma and religious participation were positively associated and education and health status were negatively associated with psychological distress. The findings of this study reiterate the importance of trauma and health conditions to mental health and suggest potential points of interventions among the resettled Karen refugees.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express our special thanks to the members of the research team: Aye Bay Na Sa, Lahmay Paw, Hsa Tha Blay Wah, and LaeYudra Greely for conducting interviews, Biplab Sudhin Bhattacharya, Omeed Fathi, Mary Keovisai, and Qian Zhang for their help in the interview process, Carmen Zhang for data entry, and ThinThin Conlon, Daniel Leong, and Faustina Palmatier for their role as community advisors. We also thank the Karen Society of Buffalo for their support and all the Karen community members who participated in this study.
Funding
This study was partially funded by the Buffalo Center for Social Research Les Brun Research Endowment Fund, Community for Global Health Equity Seed Grant, and HomeBASE funding from the University at Buffalo.
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Kim, W., Kim, I., Lin, L. et al. Social Determinants of Mental Health Among Karen Refugees from Burma. Community Ment Health J 58, 749–760 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-021-00880-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-021-00880-z