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. 2017 Apr;26(2):129-138.
doi: 10.1017/S2045796016000172. Epub 2016 Apr 4.

The mental health of civilians displaced by armed conflict: an ecological model of refugee distress

K E Miller  1 , A Rasmussen  2
Affiliations

The mental health of civilians displaced by armed conflict: an ecological model of refugee distress

K E Miller et al. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2017 Apr.

Abstract

Early research on the mental health of civilians displaced by armed conflict focused primarily on the direct effects of exposure to war-related violence and loss. Largely overlooked in this war exposure model were the powerful effects of ongoing stressors related to the experience of displacement itself. An ecological model of refugee distress is proposed, drawing on research demonstrating that mental health among refugees and asylum seekers stems not only from prior war exposure, but also from a host of ongoing stressors in their social ecology, or displacement-related stressors. Implications of this model for addressing the mental health and psychosocial needs of refugees and other displaced populations are considered.

Keywords: Asylum seekers; daily stressors; ecological; mental health; refugees; trauma.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Armed conflict, displacement and mental health.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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