Refugee visa insecurity disrupts the brain's default mode network.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Research has largely focused on the psychological consequences of refugee trauma exposure, but refugees living with visa insecurity face an uncertain future that also adversely affects psychological functioning and self-determination.

Objective

This study aimed to examine how refugee visa insecurity affects the functional brain.

Method

We measured resting state brain activity via fMRI in 47 refugees with insecure visas (i.e. temporary visa status) and 52 refugees with secure visas (i.e. permanent visa status) residing in Australia, matched on key demographic, trauma exposure and psychopathology. Data analysis comprised independent components analysis to identify active networks and dynamic functional causal modelling tested visa security group differences i

SUBMITTER: Liddell BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10251781 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature