Digital Mental Health Resources for Asylum Seekers, Refugees, and Immigrants: Protocol for a Scoping Review

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Abstract

Background

Asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants experience a number of risk factors for mental health problems. However, in comparison to the host population, these populations are less likely to use mental health services. Digital mental health approaches have been shown to be effective in improving well-being for the general population. Thus, they may provide an effective and culturally appropriate strategy to bridge the treatment gap for these populations vulnerable to mental health risks.

Objective

This paper aims to provide the background and rationale for conducting a scoping review on digital mental health resources for asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants. It also provides an outline of the methods and analyses, which will be used to answer the following questions. What are the available digital mental health resources for asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants? Are they effective, feasible, appropriate, and accepted by the population? What are the knowledge gaps in the field?

Methods

The scoping review methodology will follow 5 phases: identifying the research question; identifying relevant studies; study selection; charting the data; and collating, summarizing, and reporting the results. Searches will be conducted in the following databases: EBSCOhost databases (CINAHL Plus with Full Text, MEDLINE with Full Text, APA PsycArticles, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and APA PsycInfo), PubMed, and Scopus. Additionally, OpenGrey, Mednar, and Eldis will be searched for gray literature. All primary studies and gray literature in English concerning the use of information and communication technology to deliver services addressing mental health issues for asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants will be included.

Results

This scoping review will provide an overview of the available digital mental health resources for asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants and describe the implementation outcomes of feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of such approaches for those populations. Potential gaps in the field will also be identified.

Conclusions

As of February 2020, there were no scoping reviews, which assessed the effectiveness, feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of the available digital mental health resources for asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants. This review will provide an extensive coverage on a promising and innovative intervention for such populations. It will give insight into the range of approaches, their effectiveness, and progress in their implementation. It will also provide valuable information for health practitioners, policy makers, and researchers working with the population.

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

PRR1-10.2196/19031

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Most cited references 13

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Guidance for conducting systematic scoping reviews.

Micah D.J. Peters, Christina M Godfrey, Hanan Khalil … (2015)

Reviews of primary research are becoming more common as evidence-based practice gains recognition as the benchmark for care, and the number of, and access to, primary research sources has grown. One of the newer review types is the 'scoping review'. In general, scoping reviews are commonly used for 'reconnaissance' - to clarify working definitions and conceptual boundaries of a topic or field. Scoping reviews are therefore particularly useful when a body of literature has not yet been comprehensively reviewed, or exhibits a complex or heterogeneous nature not amenable to a more precise systematic review of the evidence. While scoping reviews may be conducted to determine the value and probable scope of a full systematic review, they may also be undertaken as exercises in and of themselves to summarize and disseminate research findings, to identify research gaps, and to make recommendations for the future research. This article briefly introduces the reader to scoping reviews, how they are different to systematic reviews, and why they might be conducted. The methodology and guidance for the conduct of systematic scoping reviews outlined below was developed by members of the Joanna Briggs Institute and members of five Joanna Briggs Collaborating Centres.

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Internet- and mobile-based depression interventions for people with diagnosed depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Letsch Josefine, Doebler Philipp, Ebert David … (2017)

To summarize and critically evaluate the effectiveness of internet- and mobile-based interventions (IMIs) for depression in adults with a diagnosed depression.

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Effectiveness of Internet-Based Interventions for the Prevention of Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Lasse Sander, Leonie Rausch, Harald Baumeister (2016)

Background Mental disorders are highly prevalent and associated with considerable disease burden and personal and societal costs. However, they can be effectively reduced through prevention measures. The Internet as a medium appears to be an opportunity for scaling up preventive interventions to a population level. Objective The aim of this study was to systematically summarize the current state of research on Internet-based interventions for the prevention of mental disorders to give a comprehensive overview of this fast-growing field. Methods A systematic database search was conducted (CENTRAL, Medline, PsycINFO). Studies were selected according to defined eligibility criteria (adult population, Internet-based mental health intervention, including a control group, reporting onset or severity data, randomized controlled trial). Primary outcome was onset of mental disorder. Secondary outcome was symptom severity. Study quality was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Meta-analytical pooling of results took place if feasible. Results After removing duplicates, 1169 studies were screened of which 17 were eligible for inclusion. Most studies examined prevention of eating disorders or depression or anxiety. Two studies on posttraumatic stress disorder and 1 on panic disorder were also included. Overall study quality was moderate. Only 5 studies reported incidence data assessed by means of standardized clinical interviews (eg, SCID). Three of them found significant differences in onset with a number needed to treat of 9.3-41.3. Eleven studies found significant improvements in symptom severity with small-to-medium effect sizes (d=0.11- d=0.76) in favor of the intervention groups. The meta-analysis conducted for depression severity revealed a posttreatment pooled effect size of standardized mean difference (SMD) =−0.35 (95% CI, −0.57 to −0.12) for short-term follow-up, SMD = −0.22 (95% CI, −0.37 to −0.07) for medium-term follow-up, and SMD = −0.14 (95% CI, -0.36 to 0.07) for long-term follow-up in favor of the Internet-based psychological interventions when compared with waitlist or care as usual. Conclusions Internet-based interventions are a promising approach to prevention of mental disorders, enhancing existing methods. Study results are still limited due to inadequate diagnostic procedures. To be able to appropriately comment on effectiveness, future studies need to report incidence data assessed by means of standardized interviews. Public health policy should promote research to reduce health care costs over the long term, and health care providers should implement existing, demonstrably effective interventions into routine care.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Buaphrao Raphiphatthana:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3236-8913

Menzies School of Health ResearchCharles Darwin UniversityCasuarina campus, Ellengowan Drive, Casuarina, NTDarwin, 0810Australia61 473078803buaphrao.raphiphatthana@menzies.edu.au

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): JMIR Res Protoc

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): JMIR Res Protoc

Journal ID (publisher-id): ResProt

Title: JMIR Research Protocols

Publisher: JMIR Publications (Toronto, Canada )

ISSN (Electronic): 1929-0748

Publication date Collection: August 2020

Publication date (Electronic): 24 August 2020

Volume: 9

Issue: 8

Electronic Location Identifier: e19031

Affiliations

[1 ] Menzies School of Health Research Charles Darwin University Darwin Australia

[2 ] Faculty of Psychology State University of Jakarta Jakarta Indonesia

[3 ] College of Health and Human Sciences Charles Darwin University Darwin Australia

[4 ] University of New South Wales Sydney Australia

Author notes

Corresponding Author: Buaphrao Raphiphatthana buaphrao.raphiphatthana@ 123456menzies.edu.au

Author information

Buaphrao Raphiphatthana https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3236-8913

Herdiyan Maulana https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9137-8583

Timothy Howarth https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3028-0376

Karen Gardner https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9783-3575

Tricia Nagel https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4123-7229

Article

Publisher ID: v9i8e19031

DOI: 10.2196/19031

PMC ID: 7477666

PubMed ID: 32831185

SO-VID: 8bc775fc-139f-4545-bb59-f940a9a8cfb6

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Research Protocols, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.researchprotocols.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.

History

Date received : 1 April 2020

Date revision requested : 14 May 2020

Date revision received : 26 June 2020

Date accepted : 1 July 2020

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Digital Mental Health Resources for Asylum Seekers, Refugees, and Immigrants: Protocol for a Scoping Review

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Abstract

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Methods

Results

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International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

Related collections

JMIR: Research Protocols

Most cited references 13

Guidance for conducting systematic scoping reviews.

Internet- and mobile-based depression interventions for people with diagnosed depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Effectiveness of Internet-Based Interventions for the Prevention of Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

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