Oluchukwu C. Abana, Panagiotis Pentaris (2019) The Mental Health and Wellbeing of Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Children: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

The increasing number of unaccompanied minor asylum children (UMAC) gives rise to social needs that the host nation is called to accommodate. Some of these needs are easier to understand and respond to, while others are much more complex and, therefore, harder to get to. This paper aims to review the literature that explores UMAC’s experiences when they arrive in their host country and examines the factors that impact both positively and negatively on UMAC’s wellbeing and mental health. A full-text analysis of 13 papers showed that factors like religion, peer relationships and education, all enhance UMAC’s wellbeing and mental health. Equally, however, the same factors may be of negative influence in these areas, too. This paper sheds some further light about the circumstances which make for positive or negative impact and offers to practitioners a more in-depth understanding of current knowledge in this area.

Keywords: unaccompanied minor; asylum seeker; practice; mental health; wellbeing

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