Addressing Mental Health Stigmas among Refugees: A Narrative Review from a Socio-Ecological Perspective

Mental health stigmas have been predominantly prevalent among different refugee populations resettled in both western and non-western countries. It significantly affects refugees' mental healthcare seeking behaviors. The current narrative review is to examine the anti-stigma strategies/interventions/programs that specifically address refugees' mental health stigma. Twenty-six out of 711 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, commentaries, reports, dissertations, and theses published in 2019 or prior in English were included in the final themes analysis. Results were organized using a socio-ecological multilevel framework (intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy levels), which include increasing refugee individuals' awareness of mental health and improving their attitudes and perceptions towards mental disorders; enhancing interpersonal interactions between refugee patients and people who can encourage them to seek mental healthcare and can provide them with culturally competent mental health services; delivering mental healthcare through schools and ethnic organizations; developing community-based bottom-up interventions and mobilizing community assets to destigmatize and normalize mental illnesses within refugee communities; and advocating for a change of social norm towards mental illnesses and mental health treatment. There is a significant lack of studies designed to explore the effectiveness of anti-stigma approaches among refugees, which leads to an urgency of developing these studies and supporting evidence-based practice.