Explore the impact of hostile environmental policy on psychological distress in British ethnic minority groups
Brexit in 2016 has a crucial impact on people’s mental health, especially those with ethnic minority backgrounds. But are there some incidents in the UK that may have similar impact on individuals?
Yes! The “hostile environment” policy was announced in 2012.
The process began with the wish of Theresa May, then family secretary, “Create a truly hostile environment for illegal immigration in the UK”. This led to the passage of the Immigration Act of 2014 and 2016. This is where the research we summarize in this blog (Dotsikas et al., 2024) becomes relevant. The researchers studied the effects of these behaviors by comparing people from ethnic minority backgrounds with a longitudinal survey of British families using British whites.
Hostile environmental policies stem from attempts to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the UK. Furthermore, the government’s purpose is to identify those who may have entered the UK by illegal means. However, to do this, various agencies (such as landlords or employers) have gained immigration control and if they are to hire or rent accommodation, they have reason to believe that they may live illegally or work in the UK.
To ensure the precise handling of the Immigration Act 2016, these authorities have begun to demonstrate structural racism, whether by not renting “foreigners”, conducting discriminatory inspections, adopting restrictions based on race, etc.
In response and building foundations in previous work, a group of researchers from UCL, Sorbonne, University of New South Wales, and the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trusts gathered to understand how individuals’ mental health can impact through comparing the former policy (2009-2012); transition (2012-2016); and ongoing policies (2016-2020). Discovery shows psychology Pakistan and Bangladesh are increasing After the introduction of policy, the Caribbean policy era showed a small decline, while levels in the white British population remained stable. Therefore, this hypothesis predicts an increase in psychological distress throughout the study period, especially among minority groups.
The UK’s “hostile environment” policy is believed to be harmful to the mental health of individuals of ethnic minorities.
method
The researchers used the collected data National Survey “Understanding Society: The British Family Longitudinal Survey (UKHL)”. To understand the impact of legislation on mental health and psychological distress, they will General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) from Black Caribbean Sea,,,,, Black Africans,Indian,,,,, Bangladesh,,,,, Pakistanand White British background.
GHQ is a self-assessment questionnaire that measures the outcomes of depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. Higher GHQ scores indicate greater psychological distress.
The researchers studied the average GHQ scores for each race over three periods:
- Pre-political era (2009-2012): Before implementing the policy.
- Transitional Era (2012-2016): Policy changes aimed at increasing social exclusion from undocumented immigrants are starting to take place.
- Ongoing policy era (2016-2020): After formulating policies.
The study included data from 42,968 participants, with 35,918 white British participants, between 1,132-1,905 participants of other races.
result
exist The pre-political era, Pakistan and Bangladesh People have the highest average psychological distress score, and Indian and White British Personally have lowest.
The average GHQ score is Bangladesh and Caribbean Sea Personally transition Times, then a little reduce exist In progress Policy era. Instead, GHQ scores African and Indian personal reduce exist transition A little earlier era Increase In the following period. Finally, their average score is lower than White British People who remain stable throughout the era.
Finally, average GHQ score Pakistan People are transition and In progress Policy era.
Among Pakistan and Bangladesh groups, hostile policies have the greatest impact.
in conclusion
Contrary to expectations, the “hostile environment” policy has no overall significant impact on the psychological distress of ethnic groups included in the study. GHQ scores across different races follow different patterns of change throughout the policy period.
This highlights the importance of seeing race as different entities. Indeed, even if exposed to the same stressor (policy), the mental health of people of different backgrounds is affected differently.
The study found that the “hostile environment” policy had no overall significant impact on the psychological distress of the entire race.
Advantages and limitations
The advantages of this study include 12 General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) as multi-dimensional measures of mental health. The questionnaire has also been widely validated as it has been extensively studied and has shown strong reliability and universality. However, even though GHQ was validated in different cultures and the psychological distress was evaluated in more detail, in the case of the Kessler psychological distress scale, GHQ as a result measure is not sensitive to changes over time.
In addition, the lack of data on key variables such as psychological distress can affect the effectiveness of the results. Furthermore, if the exited participants are characterized differently from those left behind, it may affect the generality of the findings. Since the lost data comes from certain groups, i.e., it is not random, the effect studied may be overestimated or underestimated.
Psychological distress is measured using subjective self-reported questionnaires, and personal perceptions of suffering may be influenced by cultural and racial context. Cultural factors need to be considered as they can influence the potential bias of understanding the wording of statements.
Although the analytical methods are extensive, this study does not consider Cross-sex Since this analysis does not adequately illustrate factors such as gender, age, class or immigration status interacting with race, this may lead to vulnerability of hostile environmental policies at different levels. Furthermore, it may be constructive if qualitative interviews of the above-mentioned ethnic groups are supplemented to see if individual policies have different effects on mental health.
Self-reported distress can be shaped by cultural and ethnic perspectives, a need for culturally sensitive tools.
Impact on practice
Clear guidelines on policyholder responsibilities may be implemented to alleviate psychological distress experienced. For example, establish inter-departmental collaboration (public health, social services, immigration) to systematically track the impact of mental health and make necessary policy adjustments. Or implement a mental health impact assessment as part of the policy design to ensure that future immigration policies are subject to pre- and post-implementation assessments.
Due to this study, targeted support for affected communities may be required. Mental health support group leaders and healthcare providers should be trained to detect policy-driven psychological distress. This could help identify policy-driven symptoms of psychological distress (e.g., anxiety associated with immigration uncertainty), implement culturally acculturated intervention strategies to better support minority communities, and introduce voluntary mental health screenings in high-risk populations to ensure early intervention.
Inter-sectoral collaboration between public health, social services and immigration can help track the impact of policy on the well-being of all citizens.
Statement of interests
There is no declared conflict of interest.
Contributors
grateful UCL Mental Health MSC Students who wrote this blog from the Drini student group: Christina Tzenios, Alia Galal, Saba Ghouri, Joel Barnett, Alaine Fernandes, Yipeng Zhang, Yalan Wang, Katharina Zankel and Hilal Karaduman.
UCL MSC in Mental Health Research
This blog was written by a group of students with a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Sciences at University College London. A complete list of UCL MSC students’ blogs can be found here.
We regularly publish blogs written by individual students or students studying at universities that subscribe to the National Elves Service. If you want to learn more about how your university works, please contact us.
Link
Main paper
Dotsikas, K., McGrath, M., Osborn, DPJ et al. (2024) Exploring the impact of the “hostile environment” policy on psychological distress in the British ethnic group: a differential analysis. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol (2024).
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