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Unmet Health Care Needs for Syrian Refugees in Canada: A Follow-up Study

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Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Unmet health care needs are under explored among refugees. Previously we found unmet health care needs in Syrian refugees may be higher than in the general Canadian population (Oda et al. CMAJ Open 5(2):E354–E358, 2017; Oda et al. J Immigr Minor Health, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-018-0780-z). This follow-up study with Syrian refugees who entered Canada between July 2015 and July 2016 aimed to understand if there are changes in unmet health care needs 6 months to a year after baseline collection. The number reporting unmet needs was high (42.6%). Although some refugees had their needs met, unmet health needs persist, and it seems that they are linked with sponsorship pathway and post-migration socio-economic position. While caution should be used generalizing these results, they do suggest that greater coordination between services may be needed as many of the refugees report unmet needs within months of arriving and continue to report needs after being here for a period up to 2 years.

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Funding

This research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 890-2016-4061).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 2017-33 Russell St, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Andrew Tuck, Anna Oda, Branka Agic & Kwame McKenzie

  2. Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Anna Oda & Michaela Hynie

  3. Dala Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Caroline Bennett-AbuAyyash

  4. Wellesley Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Brenda Roche & Kwame McKenzie

Authors
  1. Andrew Tuck
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  2. Anna Oda
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  3. Michaela Hynie
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  4. Caroline Bennett-AbuAyyash
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  5. Brenda Roche
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  6. Branka Agic
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  7. Kwame McKenzie
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Tuck.

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Ethical Approval

Ethics approval was obtained to conduct this research from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Research Ethics Board and Administrative Approval was received from the Office of Research Ethics at the University of Toronto and from the Human Participants Research Committee ethics review board of York University.

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Tuck, A., Oda, A., Hynie, M. et al. Unmet Health Care Needs for Syrian Refugees in Canada: A Follow-up Study. J Immigrant Minority Health 21, 1306–1312 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-019-00856-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-019-00856-y

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