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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Rehabilitation
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1430688
This article is part of the Research Topic Impact and correlation between migration and psychiatric disorders View all 3 articles

The role of community resilience as a protective factor in coping with mental disorders in a sample of psychiatric migrants

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Department of Education Sciences, School of Social Sciences, University of Genoa, Genova, Italy
  • 2 Faculty of Economics, Mercatorum University, Rome, Lazio, Italy
  • 3 Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, and Mother-Child, School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Genoa, Genova, Liguria, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Over the past decade in Italy migration to Italy has increased significantly for various reasons including armed conflicts. Generally, tThethe migration process is in general exposeds to different risk factors during different periods of migration, whichthat can compromise well-being and promote the onset or exacerbation of mental disorders. A community with resources and the perception ofperceiving one's community as resilient can be an important protective factor in the context of migration. Purpose: This study aims to understand which variables in migration predict an increase in perceived community resilience and to understand the role of community resilience in the relationship between mental disorders and subjective well-being in a sample of 100 adult migrants at the first consultation interview inat the ambulatories of Psychiatry Unit. Methods: After defining the inclusion and exclusion criteria, migrants were asked to fill out self-report questionnaires to collect socio-demographic data and to assess perception of mental disorders, perceived community resilience and perception of subjective well-being. Descriptive analysis, simple regression, and moderation analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. Results: The results show that the variable meaning attributed to the community with reference to the host community, migration with someone, and longer durationlength of stay in Italy contribute to increased perceptions of community resilience. In addition, a direct negative effect of mental disorders on subjective well-being and thea moderating role of community resilience in relationship between mental disorders and subjective well-being have been demonstrated. Conclusions: This result underscores the importance of perceived community resilience in mitigating the negative effects of mental disorders on subjective well-being. Perceiving one's community as more resilient seems to protect against the impact of mental disorders on subjective well-being. Our results support an ecological model of migrants' mental health that values the community and its resources in coping with mental disorders in the context of migration.

    Keywords: Mental Disorders, Migration, Perceived community resilience, Subjective wellbeing, Protective factor

    Received: 10 May 2024; Accepted: 15 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Olcese, Madera, Cardinali, Serafini and Migliorini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Francesco Madera, Department of Education Sciences, School of Social Sciences, University of Genoa, Genova, 16128, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.