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. 2023 May 19;11(1):164.
doi: 10.1186/s40359-023-01208-0.

Views and experiences of migrants and stakeholders involved in social and health care for migrants in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Claudia Lotito  1   2 , Giulia Turrini  3   4 , Marianna Purgato  1   2 , Richard A Bryant  5 , Mireia Felez-Nobrega  6   7 , Josep Maria Haro  6   7 , Vincent Lorant  8 , David McDaid  9 , Roberto Mediavilla  10   11   12 , Maria Melchior  13 , Pablo Nicaise  8 , Michela Nosè  1   2 , A-La Park  9 , Kerry R McGreevy  10   11 , Rinske Roos  14 , Andrea Tortelli  13 , James Underhill  15 , Julian Vadell Martinez  13 , Anke Witteveen  14 , Marit Sijbrandij  14 , Corrado Barbui  1   2
Affiliations

Views and experiences of migrants and stakeholders involved in social and health care for migrants in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Claudia Lotito et al. BMC Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had major and potentially long-lasting effects on mental health and wellbeing across populations worldwide. However, these impacts were not felt equally, leading to an exacerbation of health inequalities, especially affecting vulnerable populations such as migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Aiming to inform the adaptation and implementation of psychological intervention programmes, the present study investigated priority mental health needs in this population group.

Methods: Participants were adult asylum seekers, refugees and migrants (ARMs) and stakeholders with experience in the field of migration living in Verona, Italy, and fluent in Italian and English. A two-stage process was carried out to examine their needs using qualitative methods including free listing interviews and focus group discussions, according to Module One of the DIME (Design, Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation) manual. Data were analyzed using an inductive thematic analyses approach.

Results: A total of 19 participants (12 stakeholders, 7 ARMs) completed the free listing interviews and 20 participants (12 stakeholders and 8 ARMs) attended focus group discussions. Salient problems and functions that emerged during free listing interviews were discussed during the focus group discussions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ARMs struggled with many everyday living difficulties in their resettlement country due to social and economic issues, revealing a strong influence of contextual factors in determining mental health. Both ARMs and stakeholders highlighted a mismatch between needs, expectations and interventions as factors that may hamper proper implementation of health and social programmes.

Conclusions: The present findings could help in the adaptation and implementation of psychological interventions targeting the needs of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants aiming to find a match between needs, expectations, and the corresponding interventions.

Trial registration: Registration number 2021-UNVRCLE-0106707, February 11 2021.

Keywords: Asylum seeker; COVID-19; Focus group; Free listing interviews; Mental health; Migrant; Psychological distress; Qualitative study; Refugee.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

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