According to the United Nations, an estimated 26.6 million people worldwide were refugees in 2021. Experiences before, during, and after flight increase psychological distress and contribute to a high prevalence of mental disorders. The resulting high need for mental health care is generally not reflected in the actual mental health care provision for refugees. A possible strategy to close this gap might be to offer smartphone-delivered mental health care. This systematic review summarizes the current state of research on smartphone-delivered interventions for refugees, answering the following research questions: (1) Which smartphone-delivered interventions are available for refugees? (2) What do we know about their clinical (efficacy) and (3) nonclinical outcomes (e.g., feasibility, appropriateness, acceptance, and barriers)? (4) What are their dropout rates and dropout reasons? (5) To what extent do smartphone-delivered interventions consider data security? Relevant databases were systematically searched for published studies, gray literature, and unpublished information. In total, 456 data points were screened. Twelve interventions were included (nine interventions from 11 peer-reviewed articles and three interventions without published study reports), comprising nine interventions for adult refugees and three for adolescent and young refugees. Study participants were mostly satisfied with the interventions, indicating adequate acceptability. Only one randomized controlled trial (RCT; from two RCTs and two pilot RCTs) found a significant reduction in the primary clinical outcome compared to the control group. Dropout rates ranged from 2.9 to 80%. In the discussion, the heterogeneous findings are integrated into the current state of literature.
Most cited
This page lists all time most cited articles for this title. Please use the publication date filters on the left if you would like to restrict this list to recently published content, for example to articles published in the last three years. The number of times each article was cited is displayed to the right of its title and can be clicked to access a list of all titles this article has been cited by.
- Cited by 4
Smartphone-delivered mental health care interventions for refugees: A systematic review of the literature
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 23 December 2022, e6
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Validating measures of stigma against those with mental illness among a community sample in Kilifi Kenya
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 03 June 2022, pp. 241-248
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Changes in prevalence of mental disorders among internally displaced persons in central Sudan: a 1-year follow-up study
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 07 September 2020, e24
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Facilitators and barriers to implementation of suicide prevention interventions: Scoping review
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 13 March 2023, e15
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Opportunities for improving data sharing and FAIR data practices to advance global mental health
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 03 March 2023, e14
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Pandemic anxiety and its correlates among young doctors working frontline in Pakistan
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 30 September 2020, e27
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
National characteristics associated with prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms: a cross-sectional ecological study
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 18 February 2022, pp. 65-71
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
A cross-cultural exploration of compassion, and facilitators and inhibitors of compassion in UK and Sri Lankan people
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 23 February 2022, pp. 99-110
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Mental health and lived experience: The value of lived experience expertise in global mental health
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 15 June 2023, e38
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
COVID-19 post-vaccination depression in older Israeli adults: the role of negative world assumptions
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 31 January 2022, pp. 45-48
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Barriers and facilitators of child and guardian attendance in task-shifted mental health services in schools in western Kenya
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 30 June 2020, e16
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Levels of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among Ugandan adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional evidence from a mobile phone-based population survey
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 30 June 2022, pp. 274-284
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Gender-informed psycho-educational programme to promote respectful relationships and reduce postpartum common mental disorders among primiparous women: long-term follow-up of participants in a community-based cluster randomised controlled trial
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 25 September 2018, e30
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Mobilizing digital technology to implement a population-based psychological support response during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lima, Peru
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 28 July 2022, pp. 355-365
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 4
Towards decolonising research methods training: the development of a locally responsive online learning course on research methods for mental health in war and conflict for researchers and practitioners in the Gaza Strip
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 16 November 2021, e42
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 3
Is everyone invited to the discussion table? A bibliometric analysis COVID-19-related mental health literature
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 29 July 2022, pp. 366-374
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 3
Incidence of catastrophic healthcare expenditure and its main determinants in Mexican households caring for a person with a mental disorder
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 11 January 2021, e2
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 3
The Community Resiliency Model, an interoceptive awareness tool to support population mental wellness
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 24 July 2023, e43
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 3
Decolonising global mental health: The role of Mad Studies
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 May 2023, e30
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
- Cited by 3
An analysis of funding patterns in development assistance for mental health: who, when, what, and where
-
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 08 January 2021, e1
-
- Article
-
- You have access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation