The challenges of conducting mental health research among resettled refugee populations: An ecological framework from a researchers’ perspective

Abstract

Researchers who are aiming to conduct high quality mental health research in resettled refugee populations are likely to experience multiple challenges in their work. To our knowledge, there is no overview of these challenges and their implications for the quality of research from a researchers’ perspective. We conducted a systematic literature search to further complete the overview of challenges. Lastly, we placed the findings of the thematic analysis and the literature search in a conceptual framework derived from the social ecological model of Bronfenbrenner. Our findings indicate that common research challenges, such as high drop-out rate or low treatment fidelity, must be understood in the light of multiple levels such as the individual, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem level. This will help future researchers to increase the understanding of the complex interplay of factors that play a role when facing challenges in their work and to create possibilities for improvement.