Mental Health and Wellbeing Impacts of Societal Attitudes Towards Forcibly Displaced Young People

Abstract

Background: In less time than it takes to read this sentence, someone somewhere in the world will be forcibly displaced. With exponential increases in displacement likely to continue, research into the resettlement experiences and mental health of forcibly displaced people is essential. There is an abundance of research pertaining to the mental health and wellbeing of refugee populations and research that investigates societal attitudes towards refugees. However, there is a little research on the direct impacts of societal attitudes on the mental health and wellbeing of those from a refugee-like background, particularly young people. Method: This scoping review seeks to systematically explore the academic and grey literature around both positive and negative societal attitudes in host countries, and the subsequent positive and negative impacts on young people from a refugee-like background. The search strategy consists of synonyms for the four basic constructs (youth, displaced people, mental health, attitudes). Six scholarly databases and grey literature will be searched. To be included in the Review, papers must study the affective component of attitudes in host countries, as well as reporting on the mental health impacts on young people from a refugee-like background. Findings will be thematically analysed using NVivo and presented in the full Scoping Review.