Development of a Refugee Health Research Agenda in North America

Sarah E Brewer; Amy J Zeidan; Elizabeth E Dawson-Hahn; Pooja Agrawal; Rachel Talavlikar; Elizabeth D Barnett; Brittany M DiVito; Fern R Hauck; Mark L Wieland; Lisa H Gren; Fatima M Karaki; Colleen Payton

doi:10.1007/s10903-024-01639-w

Development of a Refugee Health Research Agenda in North America

J Immigr Minor Health. 2024 Oct 17. doi: 10.1007/s10903-024-01639-w. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Family Medicine and ACCORDS, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA. Sarah.Brewer@CUAnschutz.edu.
² Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
³ Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁴ Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
⁵ Department of Family Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
⁶ Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
⁸ Department of Family Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
⁹ Division of Community Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care, Rochester, MN, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹¹ Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹² School of Nursing and Public Health, Moravian University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 39419935
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-024-01639-w

Abstract

The lack of a cohesive, stakeholder-informed refugee health research agenda has been a barrier to promoting, funding, and conducting health research with refugee populations in North America. A cross-sectional study was conducted among individuals working in refugee health in North America (N = 93) to describe major domains within the field of refugee health research and to develop refugee health research priorities. Open-ended survey questions included: (1) What research topics specific to refugee research would you like to see in an international research agenda? (2) Please describe current and important gaps that you believe exist in refugee research and why? Overarching themes focused on the need for the development of research partnerships with refugee communities that are intentional, effective, and driven by the needs of refugee communities. The survey also identified a need for best practices in creating sustainable, community-based research partnerships (effective models and evidence-based strategies) that translate across 12 domains. The refugee health research priorities for North America described in this manuscript should continue to be modified over time as political, economic, social, and medical contexts change.

Keywords: Health services research; Priorities; Refugee health; Survey.