Psychotherapy use among migrants: a register-based longitudinal study

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Mental Health Services Research
• Sociology of Health

Background:

• Migrants utilize mental health services less than non-migrant populations.
• Limited data exists on long-term psychotherapy use among migrants.
• Finnish register data enables comprehensive study of migrant psychotherapy access.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the utilization of rehabilitative psychotherapy among migrants in Finland.
• To compare psychotherapy access and duration between migrants and Finnish-born individuals.
• To identify factors influencing psychotherapy use in the migrant population.

Main Methods:

• Large-scale register-based study using Finnish data (n=185,605 migrants, n=185,605 controls).
• Analysis of rehabilitative psychotherapy reimbursements from 2007-2020.
• Cox and multinomial logistic regression models to assess migrant status effects on therapy initiation and duration.

Main Results:

• Finnish-born individuals received psychotherapy more frequently than migrants (7258 vs. 1516).
• Migrants had a significantly lower adjusted hazard ratio (0.27) for initiating psychotherapy.
• Migrants, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia and recent arrivals, were least likely to receive therapy and more likely to receive shorter treatment periods.

Conclusions:

• The lower use of psychotherapy by migrants in Finland is unlikely due to reduced need.
• Significant disparities in access to rehabilitative psychotherapy exist for migrant populations.
• Targeted interventions are necessary to ensure equitable access to mental health services for migrants.