{"id":38690,"date":"2026-04-13T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/?p=38690"},"modified":"2026-04-03T11:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T09:56:11","slug":"mental-health-and-resilience-in-eritrean-and-somali-refugees-in-switzerland-a-cross-sectional-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/?p=38690","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health and Resilience in Eritrean and Somali Refugees in Switzerland: A Cross-Sectional Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8cf370e7 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Author(s): Jennifer Giovanoli Evack, Charles Abongomer, James Okuma, Johanna Kurscheid, Yeabio Melake, Afona Chernet, Tesfalem Ghebreghiorghis, Anna Verjans, Fiona Vanobberghen, George Abongomera, Jan Fehr, Naser Morina, Daniel H. Paris<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/ijph.2026.1608308\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/ijph.2026.1608308<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Objectives:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this study, we determined the frequency of clinically relevant mental health conditions among Eritrean and Somali refugees in Basel and Zurich, Switzerland and assessed their levels of resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Methods:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A cross-sectional study among refugees aged \u226516 years involved validated questionnaires, screening for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), somatic disorders, anxiety, depression, and assessments of alcohol use and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Results:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 102 participants were young (median age 34 years), Eritrean (N = 88; 86%), males (N = 62), with long periods of staying in Switzerland (median 8.6 years). Almost three-quarters (N = 69\/99; 70%) had high resilience scores (median 86). We found low frequencies of moderate or severe symptoms of PTSD (7%), anxiety (0%) and depression (1%). However, symptoms for somatic disorders (18%) and harmful levels of alcohol use (12%) were more common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the overall levels of resilience are impressively high, a large proportion of participants exhibited symptoms of somatic disorders and harmful levels of alcohol use &#8211; well beyond the early adaptation phase. This highlights the need for long-term mental healthcare beyond the time of arrival to ensure their wellbeing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author(s): Jennifer Giovanoli Evack, Charles Abongomer, James Okuma, Johanna Kurscheid,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[854,7,9,527,185,177,187,188,103,437,540,440],"class_list":["post-38690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-854","tag-article","tag-english-language","tag-eritreans","tag-mental-health","tag-psychological-well-being","tag-psychosomatic-disorders","tag-ptsd","tag-refugees","tag-resilience","tag-somalis","tag-substance-abuse"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38691,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38690\/revisions\/38691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissmig.unine.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}