Review: Unaccompanied refugee minors' perception of mental health services and professionals: a systematic review of qualitative studies.

BACKGROUND: Unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) are a population at risk of mental health problems and a population with whom the therapeutic alliance can be difficult to set up. The therapeutic alliance's quality can impact the result and effectiveness of psychotherapeutic interventions. The aim of the present study was to gather URMs' points of view about mental health services and mental health professionals (MHP) in the host country. A summary of interviews conducted with URMs will allow a better understanding of their perception and expectations. METHODS: Seven databases were searched with English and French keywords. In the end, nine studies were selected. RESULTS: The review of the interviews shows that URMs do not have a clear perception of MHP - it seems difficult for them to trust MHP, but also to understand the value of sharing past painful experiences to reduce current symptoms. They can have a negative perception of mental health and consider that this is not a priority. URMs prefer to focus on day-to-day problems, do activity-based interventions and do group sessions to value social interactions. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical and methodological implications are discussed. The development of an instrument to evaluate therapeutic care for URMs could be interesting for future research and for clinicians.

Dealing with difference: a scoping review of psychotherapeutic interventions with unaccompanied refugee minors.

Unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) are a population at risk for developing mental problems, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and/or depression. Therapists working with URMs often have to overcome language and cultural barriers, while taking into account these young people's specific needs. A growing literature describes a wide range of interventions designed to reduce psychopathologies and improve well-being. We summarized the different interventions used with URMs to get an overview of techniques used for reducing psychopathologies and difficulties of URMs and to give recommendations to help professionals. We searched eight databases for articles and books, imposing no restrictions on publication date or geographical region, and using English and French keywords. We included all studies (RCTs, case series, case study) that assessed an intervention with one or more URMs. Seventeen studies, reported in papers or book chapters, met the criteria for inclusion in our analysis. Only one RCT has been conducted with URMs but because of small sample size we cannot conclude on its efficacy. Other studies are case series or case studies and because of their study design, we cannot conclude whether one intervention is superior to others. Further research, with higher level of evidence, is needed to determine which types of intervention are most effective when working with URMs.