Investigation of factors affecting mental health of refugee women: The case of Afyonkarahisar

Today, many people leave the place where they live and migrate to another place. Recent increases in the rate of forced displacement in the international arena have become a concern for public health. Factors affecting post-migration mental health are important determinants of refugee mental health. Socio-economic difficulties, social and interpersonal difficulties, asylum process and stresses related to immigration policies affect the mental health of refugees. Health personnel and especially nurses have duties and responsibilities in protecting and improving the health of refugee women. Giving psychological care is accepted as the basis in all areas of nursing. The aim of this study is to examine the factors affecting the mental health of refugee women. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 380 women (190 Turkish, 190 refugees) residing in Afyonkarahisar province between 24 June and 29 August 2019. The data were collected with questionnaire forms, accompanied by an interpreter. The questionnaire consists of questions that question the sociodemographic and migration-related features of women, and the Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale (DASS-21), Life Satisfaction Scale and Quality of Life Scale (SF-36). Descriptive statistics, t test, One-Way ANOVA, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis Variance were used to evaluate the data. In addition, multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the factors affecting mental health of Turkish and Refugee women. In our study, the depression, anxiety and stress scores of refugee women were higher than Turkish women; quality of life and life satisfaction levels are lower (p<0.05). Refugee women have lower education and economic status; pregnancy and miscarriage numbers are higher. Refugee women's mental health depression, anxiety and stress scores are high, the absence of other employees in the family, the high number of pregnancies and living with their relatives negatively affect the factors (p<0,05). Mental health, life satisfaction, and quality of life levels of those born in Afghanistan and those who are exposed to violence are more unfavorable (p<0,05). Health personnel have duties and responsibilities in protecting and improving the health of refugee women. The socioeconomic difficulties experienced by refugee women cause them to benefit less from health services. Refugee women should be considered as risky groups for the protection and development of mental health and what their health behaviors should be learned.