Umeå universitets logga

Background All human being should enjoy physical, mental and social wellbeing. Asylum seekers are one of the populations with a high risk to have a low mental health. Umeå, a city in Sweden, has a certain structure that shapes the availability and accessibility to mental health care services for asylum seekers. This study aims to explore the availability and the accessibility of the mental health services provided for asylum seekers Umeå, throughout understanding the roles of the different stakeholders.

Methods four semi-structured interviews were conducted with workers from several stakeholder agencies providing social and mental health care in Umeå (Sweden). Informants were recruited regarding their responsibilities in delivering social and mental health services for asylum seekers. Conservative content qualitative analysis was used to analyze interviews through Open Code Software. Bornfenbrenner 1989 ecological model was used for organizing the relationships between different stakeholders on the data analysis.

Results The interviews highlighted several relationships between the different stakeholders that shape the availability and accessibility of mental health services to asylum seekers. The need of legal entitlement to access the services along with the administrative deficiencies on providing the services created a need of action from non-governmental organizations. These last agencies are leading actors in providing mental health and social support to asylum seekers. Additional administrative collaboration was lower than what is needed to overcome challenges and to develop crucial positive change in asylum seekers’ attitude to access mental health care.

Conclusion Asylum seekers have a great need for specialized mental health care services but unsurprisingly this need is reflected in low rates in treatment-seeking due to several constrains in the host country (Sweden). Further cooperation among the involved stakeholders on providing mental health services is a cornerstone in order to improve the general mental state of asylum seekers.