Predictors of professional help-seeking for emotional problems in Afghan and Iraqi refugees in Australia: findings from the Building a New Life in Australia Database

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Refugees are particularly vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes due to exposure to pre migration trauma and post migration stressors. Research has demonstrated evidence to suggest that the professional help-seeking among refugee groups is low or problematic. This study seeks to examine help-seeking for emotional problems in two large samples of Iraqi and Afghan refugees in Australia. METHODS: This study uses data from two waves of the Building a New Life in Australia, the longitudinal study of Humanitarian migrants. The data was collected face-to-face between 2013 and 2016, among humanitarian migrants. All participants held a permanent protection visa and had arrived in Austr..