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Social support, social conflict, and immigrant women's mental health in a C anadian context: a scoping review
Author(s) -
Guruge S.,
Thomson M. S.,
George U.,
Chaze F.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1111/jpm.12216
Subject(s) - mental health , cinahl , social support , psycinfo , psychological intervention , context (archaeology) , distress , psychology , medicine , medline , social psychology , psychiatry , clinical psychology , political science , paleontology , law , biology
Accessible summary Social support has positive and negative dimensions, each of which has been associated with mental health outcomes. Social networks can also serve as sources of distress and conflict. This paper reviews journal articles published during the last 24 years to provide a consolidated summary of the role of social support and social conflict on immigrant women's mental health. The review reveals that social support can help immigrant women adjust to the new country, prevent depression and psychological distress, and access care and services. When social support is lacking or social networks act as a source of conflict, it can have negative effects on immigrant women's mental health. It is crucial that interventions, programmes, and services incorporate strategies to both enhance social support as well as reduce social conflict, in order to improve mental health and well‐being of immigrant women.Abstract Researchers have documented the protective role of social support and the harmful consequences of social conflict on physical and mental health. However, consolidated information about social support, social conflict, and mental health of immigrant women in C anada is not available. This scoping review examined literature from the last 24 years to understand how social support and social conflict affect the mental health of immigrant women in C anada. We searched MEDLINE , PsycINFO , CINAHL , H ealthstar, and EMBASE for peer‐reviewed publications focusing on mental health among immigrant women in C anada. Thirty‐four articles that met our inclusion criteria were reviewed, and are summarized under the following four headings: settlement challenges and the need for social support; social support and mental health outcomes; social conflict and reciprocity; and social support, social conflict, and mental health service use. The results revealed that social support can have a positive effect on immigrant women's mental health and well‐being, and facilitate social inclusion and the use of health services. When social support is lacking or social networks act as a source of conflict, it can have negative effects on immigrant women's mental health. The results also highlighted the need for health services to be linguistically‐appropriate and culturally‐safe, and provide appropriate types of care and support in a timely manner in order to be helpful to immigrant women.