/ Social inclusion

Do Syrian refugees perceive improved physical and mental health a year after resettling in Canada?

• Brenda Roche and Kwame McKenzie

Refugees often deal with many issues that increase their vulnerability to diseases during the migration process. Refugees are extremely resilient people and while there are diagnosed physical and mental health problems that may be higher among some, upon arrival in a host country refugees often report good self-perceived physical and mental health.

In our latest report, we explore  whether self-reported health has improved or deteriorated among a sample of Syrian refugees who arrived during a large wave of Syrian refugee resettlement in Canada between July 2015 and July 2016. Read the full report below.

Do Syrian refugees perceive improved physical and mental health a year after resettling in Canada?Download
Download
Tags: , , ,
Brenda Roche

Brenda Roche

Dr. Brenda Roche is Director of Research at the Wellesley Institute. She was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Anthropology and Health at the Gender, Violence and Health Centre of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She comes with academic and community-based research experience exploring social and health issues in urban settings, including homelessness, sexual health, violence and psychological trauma and distress. Her doctorate, through the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, examined discourses on trauma that operate within the context of refugee resettlement, and how these influence health and social care practices for women (and their families) seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom.

Kwame McKenzie

Kwame McKenzie

Dr. Kwame McKenzie is CEO of Wellesley Institute, which works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the Greater Toronto Area. A practicing psychiatrist, he also holds positions as a full Professor at the University of Toronto and as the Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). As an international expert on the social causes of illness and the development of equitable social policy and health systems, Dr. McKenzie has advised health, housing, education and social services ministers in Canada and the U.K. and has authored more than 260 peer reviewed papers and six books. He is a member of the National Advisory Council on Poverty, and recently co-chaired Canada’s Expert Task Force on Substance Use. He has also worked as a consultant to the World Health Organization. Dr. McKenzie has been a columnist for The Guardian and The Times and a presenter for BBC Radio, and he is regularly published in the Toronto Star.