Abstract
BackgroundAustralia is a multicultural nation with a humanitarian program that welcomes a large number of Iraqi refugees. Despite the high prevalence of trauma related disorders, professional help-seeking in this group is very low. This study sought to evaluate a face-to-face mental health literacy (MHL) Course that teaches community-based workers how to provide initial help to Iraqi refugees with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related problems.MethodsAn uncontrolled pre, post and follow-up design was used to measure improvement in MHL in community-based workers assisting Iraqi refugees.ResultsEighty-six participants completed the pre- and post-training questionnaires. Forty-five (52%) completed all 3-time point questionnaires. Fifty-six percent (48/86) of participants were able to correctly recognise ‘PTSD’ as the problem depicted in a vignette before the training. This increased to 77% (66/86) after training and was maintained at follow-up with 82% (37/45) correctly recognising the problem (p = 0.032). Recognition of depression also increased from 69% (59/86) at pre-training to 83% (71/86) after training and to 82% (37/45) at follow-up. There was a significant increase in perceived helpfulness of professional treatments for depression after training (p < 0.001 at post-training, p = 0.010 at follow-up). Significant changes were reported in confidence of participants when helping an Iraqi refugee with PSTD (p < 0.001 at post-training, p < 0.001 at follow-up) and depression (p < 0.001 at post-training, p = 0.003 at follow-up). A decrease were also found on social distance mean scores associated with PTSD (p = 0.006 at post-training, p < 0.001 at follow-up) and depression (p = 0.007 at follow-up). Changes were not significant following training for offering help and helping behaviours in both PSTD and depression vignettes and, the ‘dangerous/unpredictable’ subscale in the depression vignette.ConclusionThis training is a recommendable way to improve and better equip staff on how to respond to mental health crises and offer Mental Health First Aid in a culturally sensitive manner to Iraqi refugees.
Highlights
Australia is a multicultural nation with a humanitarian program that welcomes a large number of Iraqi refugees
Evaluation activity and conclusion a Sourced from ALGEE—see Fig. 1 for details b Sourced from important considerations when providing Mental Health First Aid to Iraqi refugees: a supplementary booklet for people working with Iraqi refugees
The first vignette described a fictional male Iraqi refugee, ‘Dawood’, who had been exposed to trauma prior to leaving Iraq and who was suffering symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to criteria outlined in 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5) [36] (Additional file 2)
Summary
Australia is a multicultural nation with a humanitarian program that welcomes a large number of Iraqi refugees. In New South Wales (NSW), and in the South Western Sydney area, there are several organisations, such as migrant resources centres, ethnic community-based organisations and English colleges, which are responsible for helping refugees to settle [7] The concentration of such organisations in the South Western Sydney area reflects the high density of resettled refugees residing locally, being one of the most culturally-diverse districts nationwide [8]. In terms of those who provide these social services, their training is often diverse (English tutors, community case workers) [7], but most often lacks a component of mental health training. Given that these workers are often the first point of contact and play an important role in assisting resettling refugees to help navigate the Australian system [7], having basic mental health skills would be valuable
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