Grant: Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA)

Newcomer youth are predisposed to various determinants of mental health such as pre-and post-immigration experiences, family and school environments, discrimination, and a lack of equitable access to health care. Newcomer youth also experience bicultural stress as they try to renegotiate their cultural identity by fitting into two cultures: their own birth culture and the new culture where they settled. Within Saskatchewan, anecdotal reports from community representatives and healthcare providers point to a growing number of newcomer youth seeking and needing mental health services. As such, a gap in mental health resources for newcomer youth using settlement agencies in Regina exists, highlighting the need to engage affected youth to identify their needs and develop resources that can support self-care for newcomers receiving support, settling and integrating into Regina. Co-developing an intervention to increase mental health literacy and self-care for newcomer youth using lived experiences will ensure that the resources developed are relevant and relatable to the users. This study will adopt a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach which ensures that the affected community is actively involved in all aspects of the research process to improve their well-being through action for social change. The research is to be implemented in four phases i.e. phase 1- online survey to document their knowledge of mental illnesses, and self-care practices of mental illness. In phase 2, they will undertake a photovoice activity where they will take photos that depict the impact of immigration and settlement on their mental well-being. These images will be exhibited in phase 3 and will inform the development of a mental health resource for newcomer youth.