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Experience of discrimination during COVID-19 pandemic : the impact of public health measures and psychological distress among refugees and other migrants in Europe

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Abstract
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionately hard impact on refugees and other migrants who are often exposed to the virus with limited means to protect themselves. We tested the hypothesis that during the COVID-19 pandemic, refugees and other migrants have suffered a negative impact on mental health and have been unjustly discriminated for spreading the disease in Europe (data collection from April to November 2020). Methods Participants in the ApartTogether Survey (N = 8297, after listwise deletion of missing items final N = 3940) provided data regarding to their difficulties to adhere to preventive recommendations against COVID-19 infection (CARE), self-perceived stigmatization (SS), and psychological distress (PD). Structural Equation Modeling was used to investigate PD as a mediator in the pathway linking CARE to SS, while adjusting for the housing and residence status. To improve confidence in the findings, single hold-out sample cross-validation was performed using a train/test split ratio of 0.8/0.2. Results In the exploratory set (N = 3159) SS was associated with both CARE (B = 0.200, p < 0.001) and PD (B = 0.455, p < 0.001). Moreover, PD was also associated with CARE (B = 0.094, p = 0.001) and mediated the effect of CARE on SS (proportion mediated = 17.7%, p = 0.001). The results were successfully replicated in the confirmation set (N = 781; total effect = 0.417, p < 0.001; proportion mediated = 29.7%, p < 0.001). Follow-up analyses also found evidence for an opposite effect (i.e., from SS to CARE, B = 0.132; p < 0.001), suggesting that there might be a vicious circle between the self-perceived stigmatization and the access to health care and the use of preventive measures against COVID-19 infection. Conclusions Refugees and other migrants who had more difficulties in accessing health care and preventive measures against COVID-19 infection experienced worse mental health and increased discrimination. These negative effects appeared to be stronger for those with more insecure housing and residence status, highlighting from one side the specific risk of insecure housing in the impact of COVID-19 upon mental health and infection protection, and for another side the need to proper housing as a strategy to prevent both COVID-19 and mental distress.
Keywords
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, COVID-19, Migrants, Social stigma, Mental health, Public health, PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION, MENTAL-HEALTH, STIGMA, WORKERS, RACISM, CALL, HIV

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MLA
Marchi, Mattia, et al. “Experience of Discrimination during COVID-19 Pandemic : The Impact of Public Health Measures and Psychological Distress among Refugees and Other Migrants in Europe.” BMC PUBLIC HEALTH, vol. 22, no. 1, 2022, doi:10.1186/s12889-022-13370-y.
APA
Marchi, M., Magarini, F. M., Chiarenza, A., Galeazzi, G. M., Paloma, V., Garrido, R., … Derluyn, I. (2022). Experience of discrimination during COVID-19 pandemic : the impact of public health measures and psychological distress among refugees and other migrants in Europe. BMC PUBLIC HEALTH, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13370-y
Chicago author-date
Marchi, Mattia, Federica Maria Magarini, Antonio Chiarenza, Gian Maria Galeazzi, Virginia Paloma, Rocío Garrido, Elisabeth Ioannidi, et al. 2022. “Experience of Discrimination during COVID-19 Pandemic : The Impact of Public Health Measures and Psychological Distress among Refugees and Other Migrants in Europe.” BMC PUBLIC HEALTH 22 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13370-y.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Marchi, Mattia, Federica Maria Magarini, Antonio Chiarenza, Gian Maria Galeazzi, Virginia Paloma, Rocío Garrido, Elisabeth Ioannidi, Katerina Vassilikou, Margarida Gaspar de Matos, Tania Gaspar, Fabio Botelho Guedes, Nina Langer Primdahl, Morten Skovdal, Rebecca Murphy, Natalie Durbeej, Fatumo Osman, Charles Watters, Maria van den Muijsenbergh, Gesine Sturm, Rachid Oulahal, Beatriz Padilla, Sara Willems, Eva Spiritus-Beerden, An Verelst, and Ilse Derluyn. 2022. “Experience of Discrimination during COVID-19 Pandemic : The Impact of Public Health Measures and Psychological Distress among Refugees and Other Migrants in Europe.” BMC PUBLIC HEALTH 22 (1). doi:10.1186/s12889-022-13370-y.
Vancouver
1.
Marchi M, Magarini FM, Chiarenza A, Galeazzi GM, Paloma V, Garrido R, et al. Experience of discrimination during COVID-19 pandemic : the impact of public health measures and psychological distress among refugees and other migrants in Europe. BMC PUBLIC HEALTH. 2022;22(1).
IEEE
[1]
M. Marchi et al., “Experience of discrimination during COVID-19 pandemic : the impact of public health measures and psychological distress among refugees and other migrants in Europe,” BMC PUBLIC HEALTH, vol. 22, no. 1, 2022.
@article{8752637,
  abstract     = {{Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionately hard impact on refugees and other migrants who are often exposed to the virus with limited means to protect themselves. We tested the hypothesis that during the COVID-19 pandemic, refugees and other migrants have suffered a negative impact on mental health and have been unjustly discriminated for spreading the disease in Europe (data collection from April to November 2020). Methods Participants in the ApartTogether Survey (N = 8297, after listwise deletion of missing items final N = 3940) provided data regarding to their difficulties to adhere to preventive recommendations against COVID-19 infection (CARE), self-perceived stigmatization (SS), and psychological distress (PD). Structural Equation Modeling was used to investigate PD as a mediator in the pathway linking CARE to SS, while adjusting for the housing and residence status. To improve confidence in the findings, single hold-out sample cross-validation was performed using a train/test split ratio of 0.8/0.2. Results In the exploratory set (N = 3159) SS was associated with both CARE (B = 0.200, p < 0.001) and PD (B = 0.455, p < 0.001). Moreover, PD was also associated with CARE (B = 0.094, p = 0.001) and mediated the effect of CARE on SS (proportion mediated = 17.7%, p = 0.001). The results were successfully replicated in the confirmation set (N = 781; total effect = 0.417, p < 0.001; proportion mediated = 29.7%, p < 0.001). Follow-up analyses also found evidence for an opposite effect (i.e., from SS to CARE, B = 0.132; p < 0.001), suggesting that there might be a vicious circle between the self-perceived stigmatization and the access to health care and the use of preventive measures against COVID-19 infection. Conclusions Refugees and other migrants who had more difficulties in accessing health care and preventive measures against COVID-19 infection experienced worse mental health and increased discrimination. These negative effects appeared to be stronger for those with more insecure housing and residence status, highlighting from one side the specific risk of insecure housing in the impact of COVID-19 upon mental health and infection protection, and for another side the need to proper housing as a strategy to prevent both COVID-19 and mental distress.}},
  articleno    = {{942}},
  author       = {{Marchi, Mattia and Magarini, Federica Maria and Chiarenza, Antonio and Galeazzi, Gian Maria and Paloma, Virginia and Garrido, Rocío and Ioannidi, Elisabeth and Vassilikou, Katerina and de Matos, Margarida Gaspar and Gaspar, Tania and Guedes, Fabio Botelho and Primdahl, Nina Langer and Skovdal, Morten and Murphy, Rebecca and Durbeej, Natalie and Osman, Fatumo and Watters, Charles and van den Muijsenbergh, Maria and Sturm, Gesine and Oulahal, Rachid and Padilla, Beatriz and Willems, Sara and Spiritus-Beerden, Eva and Verelst, An and Derluyn, Ilse}},
  issn         = {{1471-2458}},
  journal      = {{BMC PUBLIC HEALTH}},
  keywords     = {{Public Health,Environmental and Occupational Health,COVID-19,Migrants,Social stigma,Mental health,Public health,PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION,MENTAL-HEALTH,STIGMA,WORKERS,RACISM,CALL,HIV}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{14}},
  title        = {{Experience of discrimination during COVID-19 pandemic : the impact of public health measures and psychological distress among refugees and other migrants in Europe}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13370-y}},
  volume       = {{22}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}

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