Mental Health of Migrants in the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected the mental health of individuals due to both the process and the restrictions it imposes. Migrants, especially one of the vulnerable groups, have been adversely affected by the pandemic due to both the difficulties brought by the migration itself and the living conditions unsuitable for Covid-19. All these negative situations caused the migrants to experience psychosocial problems and created a threat in terms of mental health. A limited number of studies have been found in the literature on the psychosocial problems and mental health of migrants. The aim of this study is to review the studies on the evaluation of psychosocial problems and mental health of immigrants during the Covid-19 pandemic and to systematically examine the results of these studies. Systematic searches were conducted in “PubMed”, “Web of Science”, “ScienceDirect” and “Scopus” database with using to ‘migrants, migrant workers, Covid-19 pandemic, mental health, psychosocial issues’ keywords and combinations. Seventeen studies were included in the systematic review. The sample size of the studies varies between 10 and 28.853. As a result of the data, it was determined that the most common psychosocial problems of migrants in the Covid-19 pandemic are depression, anxiety, distress, hopelessness, decrease in socioeconomic level, and social isolation. As a result of the study, it was found that many psychosocial problems that migrants experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic negatively affected their mental health. The evidence determined in this study may guide the psychosocial evaluation of migrants in Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords

• migrants
• Covid-19
• mental health
• psychosocial issues

Covıd-19 Pandemisinde Göçmenlerin Ruh Sağlığı: Sistematik Derleme

Öz

Covid-19 pandemisi hem süreç olarak hem de getirdiği kısıtlamalar dolayısıyla bireylerin ruh sağlığı üzerinde olumsuz etkiler yaratmıştır. Özellikle incinebilir gruplardan biri olan göçmenler hem göçün kendisinin getirdiği güçlükler hem de Covid-19’a uygun olmayan yaşam koşulları nedeniyle pandemiden daha da olumsuz etkilenmiştir. Tüm bu olumsuzluklar göçmenlerin psikososyal sorunlar yaşamalarına neden olmuş ve ruh sağlığı yönünden bir tehdit oluşturmuştur. Literatürde göçmenlerin yaşadıkları psikososyal sorunları ve ruh sağlıklarını ele alan sınırlı sayıda çalışmaya rastlanmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Covid-19 pandemisinde göçmenlerin yaşadığı psikososyal sorunların ve ruh sağlıklarının değerlendirilmesine yönelik çalışmaların gözden geçirilmesi ve bu çalışmalardan elde edilen sonuçların sistematik bir şekilde incelenmesidir. Konu ile ilgili “PubMed”, “Web of Science”, “Scopus” “GoogleScholar” ve “ScienceDirect” elektronik veri tabanları taranmıştır. Tarama yapılırken her bir veri tabanı için de anahtar kelime ve kombinasyonları olarak “göçmen, psikososyal sorun, Covid-19 pandemisi, migrants, migrant workers, Covid-19 pandemic, mental health issues, psychosocial issues” kullanılmıştır. Dahil edilme kriterlerine uyan 17 çalışma incelenmiştir. Çalışmaların örneklem sayıları 10 ila 28.853 arasında değişmektedir. Elde edilen veriler sonucunda Covid-19 pandemisinde göçmenlerin en sık yaşadığı psikososyal sorunlar depresyon, anksiyete, distres, umutsuzluk, sosyoekonomik düzeyde azalma, sosyal izolasyon olarak belirlenmiştir. Çalışma sonucunda göçmenlerin Covid-19 pandemisinde yaşadıkları birçok sorunun ruh sağlıklarını olumsuz etkilediği bulunmuştur. Bu çalışmadan elde edilen kanıtların Covid-19 pandemisinde göçmenlerin psikososyal açıdan değerlendirilmesi için literatüre katkı sağlayacağı düşünülmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• göçmen
• Covid-19
• ruh sağlığı
• psikososyal sorun

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