Barriers and facilitators to quality mental health care for forcibly displaced children and adolescents in the WHO European Region: protocol for a scoping review

Introduction Forcibly displaced children and adolescents in the WHO European Region have high mental health needs, yet few manage to access mental health services and even fewer receive high-quality care. Addressing this gap is crucial, as inadequate mental health support has profound and lasting negative effects on individuals, families and communities. This scoping review aims to identify and synthesise the available evidence on the barriers and facilitators to quality mental healthcare for forcibly displaced children and adolescents in the WHO European Region. Methods and analysis Quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method studies that examine barriers and facilitators of quality mental healthcare for forcibly displaced children and adolescents in the WHO European Region will be included. Eligible participants include forcibly displaced children and adolescents, mental healthcare providers, policymakers and humanitarian actors in the mental health and psychosocial support field. We will adhere to the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines. A comprehensive search of databases, including Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus and Web of Science, will be conducted. We will systematically search for relevant studies published between January 2004 and December 2024. At least two reviewers will independently screen titles, abstracts and full texts. Data extraction will involve systematically charting relevant information from included studies. We will use the WHO Quality Standards for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services as an analytical lens to map the evidence. Our study will provide a comprehensive overview of the barriers and facilitators to quality mental healthcare for forcibly displaced children and adolescents, and identify knowledge gaps and areas for potential quality improvement. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval will not be required since this study will retrieve data from already published research and no new data will be collected. The results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at international conferences in order to disseminate to academic and non-academic stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations, government bodies and community organisations involved in mental healthcare for forcibly displaced persons. Review registration details https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/AK74F .