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Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

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01-02-2020 | Care | Original Paper

Mental Health Needs of Refugee Children in Specialized Early Education and Care Programs in Germany

Authors: Thimo Buchmüller, Hanna Lembcke, Francesca Ialuna, Julian Busch, Birgit Leyendecker

Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health | Issue 1/2020

Abstract

Refugee children are at risk to develop mental health problems, which have rarely been investigated in educational contexts. We conducted three studies in childcare programs for refugees in Germany. Children’s behavior was assessed by educators on site (n = 84) and online (n = 50) using a two-stage-cluster sampling and on site (n = 107) using complete samples. In Study 1 and 2, children showed elevated attention problems ranging from medium to large effect sizes, r = 0.2 and r = 0.5, respectively, and aggressive behavior problems ranging from small to large effect sizes, r = 0.1 and r = 0.5, respectively, when compared to norm data. In Study 3, children showed elevated peer-problems, r = 0.5. Future research needs to investigate whether these problems are a consequence of adapting to a novel context or a precursor of a psychopathology caused by risk factors in the context of forced displacement.

If Roma people have previously lived in EU countries, they are not classified as refugees or asylum seekers in Germany. According to the UNHCR, however, ‘a refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence’ [16]. Roma from eastern European countries suffer from ethnic discrimination [12] and their risk of being poor is higher than that of refugees living in the same countries [17]. Therefore, in line with other studies (for example [18]), we define Roma people as refugees regardless of whether they come from EU or non-EU countries such as Serbia.

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Title: Mental Health Needs of Refugee Children in Specialized Early Education and Care Programs in Germany
Authors: Thimo Buchmüller
Hanna Lembcke
Francesca Ialuna
Julian Busch
Birgit Leyendecker
Publication date: 01-02-2020
Publisher: Springer US
Keyword: Care
Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health / Issue 1/2020
Print ISSN: 1557-1912
Electronic ISSN: 1557-1920
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-019-00896-4

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Mental Health Needs of Refugee Children in Specialized Early Education and Care Programs in Germany

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