The mental health of migrant

Background Globally, systematic reviews (SR) on migrant mental health are increasing; however findings are inconsistent. A synthesis of SR findings could provide a more consolidated evidence-base on migrant mental health. In Northern Ireland (NI) limited research into migrants’ health exists and the recent NI Racial Equality Strategy was criticised for basing its recommendations on research conducted with settled ethnic minorities and overlooking more recent migrants. In NI, GP registration, prescription, and census data can be used to research the migrant population. However, it is unclear how accurate these datasets are for quantifying the migrant population and therefore further exploration of the accuracy of these datasets is warranted. Moreover, high-quality register-based research on migrant mental health is scarce and mostly focuses on migrants to Scandinavia. Methods The study has three stages. First, a narrative review of reviews on migrant mental health was conducted (May 2015-January 2016). Second, two focus groups (FGs) were conducted with 17 professionals working with migrants exploring their views on issues with the use of the datasets for quantifying the NI migrant population (October –December 2015). Further FGs are planned for migrants. Third, psychotropic prescription data will be linked with 2011 census data to initially asses the mental health of migrants compared to the settled majority (estimated commencement June 2016).

Findings The review of reviews found mainly low quality evidence indicating that migrants have poorer mental health than the settled majority. FGs indicated that EU migrants to NI may encounter difficulties with GP registration and some migrants may not complete the census due to the additional effort required to obtain the census in the appropriate language. Implications SR findings provide a clearer evidence-base on migrant mental health possibly aiding clinical decision-making and policy decisions. Issues highlighted in FGs will be considered when interpreting findings from the linkage study.