Interviews with African migrants in Australia about barriers to seeking mental health help. Stigma, cultural and religious beliefs and the way Australian health care is set up were key barriers.
Resource type: Peer-reviewed study
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A Qualitative Exploration of Sources of Help for Mental Illness in Arabic-, Mandarin-, and Swahili-Speaking Communities in Sydney, Australia
Interviews with Arabic-, Mandarin- and Swahili-speaking communities in Sydney about where people go for help with mental illness. Informal sources of help, such as family and friends, were used more than professional services.
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The mental health and help-seeking behaviour of resettled Afghan refugees in Australia
A survey of 150 Afghan refugees in Adelaide found 44% had clinically significant PTSD symptoms. It looks at what makes people more or less likely to seek help.
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Cohort Profile: Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA): the longitudinal study of humanitarian migrants
Describes the design of the BNLA study, which recruited 2,399 humanitarian migrants in 2013–14 and followed them over several yearly waves. It explains what was measured, including health, mental health, English and settlement.
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Mental health literacy of resettled Iraqi refugees in Australia: knowledge about posttraumatic stress disorder and beliefs about helpfulness of interventions
Surveyed 225 Iraqi refugees in Western Sydney English classes about how well they recognised PTSD and what help they thought would work. It measured gaps in mental health knowledge, which can stop people from seeking treatment.
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Trauma and Mental Health in Resettled Refugees: Mediating Effect of Host Language Acquisition on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms
A study of Bosnian refugees long resettled in Australia and Austria found that learning the host country’s language partly explained the link between past trauma and mental health symptoms. It supports language learning as part of recovery.
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Understanding the patterns and predictors of elevated psychological distress among humanitarian migrants compared to the host population: comparative matched analysis using two national data sources from Australia
Compared serious psychological distress in BNLA humanitarian migrants with matched Australian-born adults from the National Health Survey. It identifies which factors predict high distress in each group.
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Trends and determinants of mental illness in humanitarian migrants resettled in Australia: Analysis of longitudinal data
Used five waves of BNLA data to track PTSD and psychological distress among humanitarian migrants over time and to find the factors linked to them. It helps show who remains at risk years after arrival.
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Trauma, post-migration living difficulties, and social support as predictors of psychological adjustment in resettled Sudanese refugees
A study of 63 Sudanese refugees resettled in Australia found that social support, especially from their own ethnic community, was strongly linked to better mental health. A quarter reported high levels of distress.
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Long-term effect of psychological trauma on the mental health of Vietnamese refugees resettled in Australia: a population-based study
A community study of 1,413 Vietnamese refugees in Sydney, interviewed by bilingual workers, found that trauma experienced before arrival was still linked to mental illness and disability many years after resettlement.