Mental health and wellbeing of Rohingya refugees: A scoping review

The Rohingya population are being exiled form Myanmar during several humanitarian crises since 1978 with a recent spike in 2017. Reportedly, the violence, persecution and trauma have posed grievous impacts on the mental health of these forcibly displaced people. This scoping review aims to synthesize the evidence regarding overall epidemiologic burden of psychological problems of Rohingya refugees with their associated factors. We evaluated five major databases and additional sources till 08/05/2022 and included articles according to the eligibility criteria following the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) checklist. Out of 331 citations retrieved from multiple sources, we included 24 articles in this review. Most of the articles reported high prevalence of different psychological symptoms of Rohingya refugees, such as, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, persistent complex bereavement disorder, feeling of afraid etc. Several correlates of mental health problems were reported, including older age, female, illiteracy, experiences of torture, sexual violence, unemployment, food insecurity, statelessness, separation from family, lack of healthcare access, overcrowded and unhygienic campsites, preexisting health problems etc. There is huge gaps in community level intervention studies, however, Group Integrated Adapt Therapy (IAT-G) and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services are widely used. The available evidence suggests a huge burden of mental health disorders with several biopsychosocial factors that may assist in better policymaking and implementation of multilayered approaches like improving healthcare access, training healthcare providers, more community-based intervention studies, and introducing tele-mental health services for Rohingya refugees.