Journal article

The association between visa insecurity and mental health, disability and social engagement in refugees living in Australia

A Nickerson, Y Byrow, M O’Donnell, V Mau, T McMahon, R Pajak, S Li, A Hamilton, S Minihan, C Liu, RA Bryant, D Berle, BJ Liddell

European Journal of Psychotraumatology | Published : 2019

Abstract

Background: The vast majority of the world’s refugees and people seeking asylum live in a state of sustained displacement. Little is known, however, about the mental health impact of prolonged insecurity. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between insecure visa status and mental health, suicidality, disability and social engagement in a sample of refugees and asylum-seekers living in Australia Method: Participants were 1,085 refugees with secure (i.e. permanent residency or Australian citizenship, n = 826, 76.1%) and insecure (i.e. asylum-seeker claim, bridging visa, temporary visa, n = 259, 23.9%) visa status who had arrived in Australia since January 2011, and were ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

This study is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant [AN, MOD, VM, DB; LP160100670].

Keywords