Key policy makers will gather Aug. 14 to discuss the findings and implications of a multi-year research study conducted by Wayne State University School of Medicine researchers into the stress and needs of newly arrived refugees from the Middle East, particularly Iraqi refugees.
The "Health, Health Care Resource Needs and Utilization in Newly Arrived Middle Eastern Refugees: Implications of Findings from a Two-Year Follow-up Study of Newly Arrived Iraqi Refugees" workshop will take place from noon to 2 p.m. at the WSU Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, 3939 Woodward Ave., in Detroit. The goal of the workshop is to identify concrete means to address newly arrived refugee needs and to provide input to policy change to optimize the health of refugees.
The results and implications to be unveiled are the outcome of a National Institutes of Health-funded study conducted by WSU School of Medicine researchers led by Bengt Arnetz, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., professor of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences and director of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Health. The team, in collaboration with community organizations, followed the health trajectory and health care utilization among newly arrived refugees exposed to trauma in their homelands as they attempt to adapt to new lives in Michigan.
The researchers worked with community partners, such as the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, to identify study participants. ACCESS assists the Arab and Middle Eastern immigrant population in adapting to life in America. The organization provides a variety of services, including employment services, youth programs, educational and cultural programs, English language courses and mental health programs. Other organizations that participated in the study included Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, the Chaldean Federation of America and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit.
Metropolitan Detroit has long been home to one of the world's largest populations of Arabic peoples outside of the Middle East. Increasingly, more are relocating to the region to escape the horrors of war and ethnic and religious conflict.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 35 percent of U.S. residents who were born in Iraq now live in Michigan. This number includes about 12,000 Muslims and 90,000 Chaldeans or Christian Iraqis. Much of the Chaldean population has settled in Oakland and Macomb counties.
Many of these new immigrants have brought with them their dreams for a better future. Unfortunately, a substantial number also carry the nightmares associated with the horrors they saw and experienced in their native homeland. Many people damaged by their experiences need help to overcome these nightmares. Dr. Arnetz and his team conducted one of the largest studies ever on stress resiliency and the social programs designed to ease post-traumatic stress disorder among Iraqi war refugees.
The researchers tracked Iraqi refugees in metropolitan Detroit who have been exposed to war in their home country to determine the effect of post-migration factors such as employment, language classes, and mental and social health services in mitigating stress and post-traumatic stress disorder. While the study focused on refugees from Iraq, the results are expected to yield valuable information for other refugee groups.
"The results will be valuable no matter the ethnicity or nationality, especially whether the post-migration social and institutional support attenuates the mental and behavioral effects from wartime exposure," Dr. Arnetz said. "If that is the case, it would decrease mental suffering and medical-psychiatric and social costs, as well as enhance refugee contributions to society."
Refugees, he said, are at an elevated risk of suffering from post-displacement mental disorders, which increases the demand on and costs of mental health and social services. Increasing scientific evidence points to adverse post-displacement mental health effects related to trauma, including violence and marginalization. As a result, there is a need to assess the efficacy of post-displacement institutional resources, such as language and vocational training," Dr. Arnetz said.
While resources are devoted to post-displacement programs, there is a dearth of controlled studies examining their effectiveness in promoting refugees' mental health.
Those interested in attending the workshop should email hjamil@med.wayne.edu. Lunch will be served at the event.