Psychosocial assessment and needs in Ukrainian refugees

Main objective

We have recently carried out the pilot study “Should we talk about mental health” and the results indicate that there is both unmet psychosocial health care needs among Ukrainian refugees, as well as a desire to talk about reactions to war and flight soon after arrival. Our findings have provided us with a good knowledge base for planning future research studies on the psychosocial needs of newly arrived refugees from Ukraine.

We are currently in the process of piloting a survey of psychosocial conditions and support needs in newly arrived children and adolescents from Ukraine. This pilot study will seek to collaborate with community health services in the municipalities in implementation of systematic assessment of psychosocial conditions. This to obtain an overview of the support needs of children and adolescent refugees.

The main aim of the project is to pilot the systematic implementation of assessment of psychosocial conditions and support needs of recently arrived children and adolescents’ refugees from Ukraine.

Subsidiary objectives

• Assessing the prevalence of moderate to severe mental and stress-related health problems in children and adolescent refugees from Ukraine, and thus the extent of the need for psychosocial measures. 

• Evaluate the implementation, use and value of assessment via community services

Method

The pilot is a naturalistic cross-sectional implementation study. In collaboration with selected municipalities, we will implement a systematic assessment of children and young refugees’ psychosocial conditions and support needs quickly after settlement. During the study period from June to November 2023, we will request that the municipalities ask all children and adolescents arriving from Ukraine to be assessed, and quantitatively investigate the number of children under 18 years of age who come to the municipality, the number of these who consent (parents of children under 16 ) to assessment, and the number of these who confirm moderate to severe mental or stress-related health problems with the assessment instrument. Through qualitative interviews, we will explore the municipal employees’ experiences with, and barriers to, the use of the assessment instrument. We will also carry out a mid-term evaluation and final workshop with municipal employees, the user group, and international partners.

Further information

Assessment instruments in English, Ukrainian and Russian here >