The mental health and access to mental health care among the Sámi in Sweden; which are the main social determinants?

Mental health is a major public health problem among the world’s Indigenous peoples, especially those in the Arctic.

A recent review about the mental health situation of Sámi revealed that this population can be particularly vulnerable to mental ill-health, and concluded with a call to expand the research on mental health and to include a focus on their social determinants.The aim of this project is to assess the mental health and mental health care access of the Sámi (reindeer- and non-reindeer herders) in Sweden in the last two decades (2000-2019) and to investigate the social determinants associated to their mental health, and mental health care access.Sámi and non-Sámi populations will be identified via registers.

Mortality and in-patients mental health outcomes will be also obtained from registers and self-reported mental health and access to health services through a population-based survey.

Prevalence ratios and differences of the mental health and health care outcomes as well as mental health morbidity and suicide mortality ratios will be calculated.

Multilevel modeling will be applied to identify key social determinants.This research will contribute to increase knowledge about Sámi health in Sweden, and it will additionally place it in the international context of research on social determinants of mental health and health care in Sápmi, in the Arctic region and in the context of Indigenous health in high income countries.