Embedding Chaplaincy Services in Primary Care for Immigrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers: A Boston Pilot Intervention.

This Boston-based pilot research was an exploratory study that integrated outpatient chaplaincy into a refugee and immigrant health primary care clinic. Patients were screened for spiritual distress and offered a meeting with chaplaincy interns. Forty-eight patients were seen in clinic, 28 were screened, and 9 met with a chaplain. Most frequent domains of spiritual distress were grief (n = 8), feelings of abandonment (n = 5), guilt (n = 4), betrayal (n = 4), fear of death (n = 3), shame (n = 3), and trust (n = 3). Faith was relevant to treatment decision-making for 6 patients. It was found that outpatient chaplaincy services are a feasible intervention to address spiritual distress in immigrant and refugee patients.

COVID-19 and U.S.-based refugee populations: Commentary.

The arrival of the pandemic known as COVID-19 has resulted in an emergency appraisal of the way mental health services are delivered to refugee and asylum-seeker populations at the Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts. The following commentary summarizes some of the main approaches used to address the unique needs of this vulnerable population under lockdown. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

BeWell: quality assurance health promotion pilot.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to determine the experience participating in a health promotion program for refugee and asylum seekers and torture survivors in a safety net clinical setting. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Refugee and asylum seeker torture survivors participated in a seven-week health promotion program at a safety-net clinic. Participants interviewed before, during and after the program was designed to improve and maintain health promotion program quality. FINDINGS: Six major themes emerged: social networks; tools/techniques/skills; wellness planning; spiritualism; health maintenance; and social/group interaction. Preliminary results suggest that this multi-pronged approach is feasible and acceptable to foreign-born torture survivors. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Torture impacts many facets of one's life. A program which addresses health from a multidisciplinary perspective has promise to facilitate healing. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The impact of torture and human rights violations significantly affects many facets of peoples' lives including emotional, social, physical and spiritual dimensions. Therefore a program which utilizes a multidisciplinary integrated bio-psychosocial and spiritual approach has the potential to simultaneously address many domains facilitating healing. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: BeWell, a bio-psychosocio-spiritual health promotion strategy aimed at improving health service quality and increasing patient satisfaction to support positive health outcomes by implementing in-classroom/person modules for patients, to the authors' knowledge is unique in its efforts to encompass multiple domains simultaneously and fully integrate an approach to wellbeing.

Oral health status of refugee torture survivors seeking care in the United States.

We assessed the oral health status of 216 refugee torture survivors seeking care at an urban torture treatment center in the United States. Results showed that patients' dental health ranged from poor to fair; 76% had untreated cavities, and approximately 90% required immediate or near-immediate dental care. Torture treatment centers, in addition to offering safe environments for educating and examining patients, are ideal settings to provide basic oral health services without the risk of retraumatization.

Impact of September 11 on refugees and those seeking asylum.

September 11, 2001 profoundly affected the American public. We share the views of a cohort of refugees and those seeking asylum from the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights. Of the 63 individuals from 18 countries interviewed, many had concerns about their personal safety following September 11, as well as fears related to deportation, arrest, detention, imprisonment, discrimination, physical violence and the destruction of property, and war. Asylum seekers were more likely than refugees to have concerns about their safety before their departure and during flight, as well as fear deportation and arrest after September 11. In the wake of September 11, most common coping strategies utilized included prayer (77.8%), speaking with friends from their own social group (47.6%), family (44.4%), and belief in fate (42.9%).