REMAIN (Refugee Minors and Integration) is an international, multidisciplinary research project that ran from 2019 to 2025. The aim of the project was to advance knowledge on the mental health and social integration of refugee minors and young people, and to identify effective strategies to support those experiencing psychological distress and difficulties in daily functioning.
Refugee youth are at increased risk of mental health problems due to past trauma, ongoing stressors, and challenges related to integration in host societies. REMAIN addressed this gap by examining both risk and protective factors for mental ill-health and by evaluating scalable psychological interventions tailored to this population.
A central component of the project was the adaptation and evaluation of the World Health Organization’s Problem Management Plus (PM+), a brief psychological intervention designed to reduce depression, anxiety, and stress while improving psychosocial functioning. Within REMAIN, PM+ was adapted for older adolescents and young adults with a refugee background, including the addition of an Emotional Processing module (PM+EP) to better address trauma-related experiences.
As part of REMAIN, a clinical trial was conducted in the Netherlands, focusing on refugee youth aged 16 to 25 years. This study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of PM+ and PM+EP among Arabic-, Tigrinya-, and Ukrainian-speaking participants living in the Netherlands. The trial has been completed and contributed key evidence on the use of brief, scalable interventions delivered by trained non-specialist helpers.
REMAIN was carried out by a research consortium of five institutions in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Austria, coordinated by Karolinska Institutet and funded by the Swedish Research Council. By combining registry-based research with intervention studies, REMAIN contributes to improving mental health care and supporting the social integration of refugee youth across Europe.
