Self-reported general health/psychological status of Ukrainian female refugees in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Abstract 533 490 refugees from Ukraine received ‘temporary protection’ from the Czech government. The data for the cross-sectional study (919 females) were obtained via an online survey which recorded self-reported physical health and psychological status, specific aspects of mental health, coping strategies and demographic characteristics. The average age of participants was about 38 years old and more than 70% had children. Most respondents have a university education (71%), came from cities and towns (88.7 %), and had employment in Ukraine (73.8 %). As regards, self-reported health, 43% of females reported their general health as good, 46.8% as fair, and 10.2% as bad and very bad. In addition, 27.9% reported that their health has worsened during the last month and 4.5% that their health had worsened or that they had sustained injury due to the war. Also, 52.7% self-reported their psychological status as fair, 26% as bad, and 7.7% as having very bad status. Preliminary results showed that refugees more often used problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies and less avoidant coping strategies. Ineffective coping strategies of self-blame and behavioural disengagement were associated with poorly reported physical health/psychological status. Effective coping strategies were positively associated with better-reported psychological status. The majority of Ukrainian female refugees (75.2%) have a moderate level of perceived stress, and 20.3% have a high level. Total stress score was moderately positively correlated with the avoidant coping strategy (r = .48), so the higher the perceived stress the higher the possibility for respondents to employ avoidant coping strategy. Moreover, there were strong positive correlations between perceived stress and self-reported emotional and psychological status (r = .61) and positive correlations with self-reported physical health (r = .29). The higher level of perceived stress related to the worst self-reported physical and mental health. Key messages • The research outcomes could be used in the social policy of the Czech government to help Ukrainian female refugees to better adapt to the country and avoid worsening physical and mental health status. • Social policies can reduce the negative physical and mental health outcomes associated with refugees’ resettlement.