Access to Virtual Mental Healthcare and Support for Refugee and Immigrant Groups: A Scoping Review

Michaela Hynie^{1

2}, Anna Oda³, Michael Calaresu⁴, Ben C H Kuo⁵, Nicole Ives⁶, Annie Jaimes⁷, Nimo Bokore⁸, Carolyn Beukeboom⁹, Farah Ahmad¹⁰, Neil Arya¹¹, Rachel Samuel¹², Safwath Farooqui¹³, Jenna-Louise Palmer-Dyer¹³, Kwame McKenzie^{14

15

16}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada. mhynie@yorku.ca.
² Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON, M3J1P3, Canada. mhynie@yorku.ca.
³ Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON, M3J1P3, Canada.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada.
⁶ School of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Quebec in Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
⁸ School of Social Work, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
⁹ School of Nursing, Western University, London, Canada.
¹⁰ School of Health Policy and Management, York University, Toronto, Canada.
¹¹ Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
¹² Counseling Psychology, Yorkville University, Fredericton, Canada.
¹³ Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada.
¹⁴ Wellesley Institute, Toronto, Canada.
¹⁵ Division of Health Equity, CAMH, Toronto, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

PMID: 37407884
PMCID: PMC10509103
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-023-01521-1

Access to Virtual Mental Healthcare and Support for Refugee and Immigrant Groups: A Scoping Review

Michaela Hynie et al. J Immigr Minor Health. 2023 Oct.

. 2023 Oct;25(5):1171-1195.

doi: 10.1007/s10903-023-01521-1. Epub 2023 Jul 5.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada. mhynie@yorku.ca.
² Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON, M3J1P3, Canada. mhynie@yorku.ca.
³ Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON, M3J1P3, Canada.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada.
⁶ School of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Quebec in Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
⁸ School of Social Work, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
⁹ School of Nursing, Western University, London, Canada.
¹⁰ School of Health Policy and Management, York University, Toronto, Canada.
¹¹ Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
¹² Counseling Psychology, Yorkville University, Fredericton, Canada.
¹³ Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada.
¹⁴ Wellesley Institute, Toronto, Canada.
¹⁵ Division of Health Equity, CAMH, Toronto, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

PMID: 37407884
PMCID: PMC10509103
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-023-01521-1

Erratum in

Correction: Access to Virtual Mental Healthcare and Support for Refugee and Immigrant Groups: A Scoping Review.
Hynie M, Oda A, Calaresu M, Kuo BCH, Ives N, Jaimes A, Bokore N, Beukeboom C, Ahmad F, Arya N, Samuel R, Farooqui S, Palmer-Dyer JL, McKenzie K. Hynie M, et al. J Immigr Minor Health. 2023 Oct;25(5):1196. doi: 10.1007/s10903-023-01525-x. J Immigr Minor Health. 2023. PMID: 37522972 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Immigrant and refugee populations face multiple barriers to accessing mental health services. This scoping review applies the (Levesque et al. in Int J Equity Health 12:18, 2013) Patient-Centred Access to Healthcare model in exploring the potential of increased access through virtual mental healthcare services VMHS for these populations by examining the affordability, availability/accommodation, and appropriateness and acceptability of virtual mental health interventions and assessments. A search in CINAHL, MEDLINE, PSYCINFO, EMBASE, SOCINDEX and SCOPUS following (Arksey and O'Malley in Int J Soc Res Methodol 8:19-32, 2005) guidelines found 44 papers and 41 unique interventions/assessment tools. Accessibility depended on individual (e.g., literacy), program (e.g., computer required) and contextual/social factors (e.g., housing characteristics, internet bandwidth). Participation often required financial and technical support, raising important questions about the generalizability and sustainability of VMHS' accessibility for immigrant and refugee populations. Given limitations in current research (i.e., frequent exclusion of patients with severe mental health issues; limited examination of cultural dimensions; de facto exclusion of those without access to technology), further research appears warranted.

Keywords: Healthcare Accessibility; Immigrants; Mental Health; Refugees; Telemedicine; Telepsychiatry; Virtual Mental Health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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References

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Access to Virtual Mental Healthcare and Support for Refugee and Immigrant Groups: A Scoping Review

Affiliations

Access to Virtual Mental Healthcare and Support for Refugee and Immigrant Groups: A Scoping Review

Authors

Affiliations

Erratum in

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

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