Roma Mental health: integrative literature review

Cien Saude Colet. 2025 Apr;30(4):e15662023. doi: 10.1590/1413-81232025304.15662023. Epub 2024 Apr 17.

ABSTRACT

Roma people are considered socioeconomically vulnerable and exposed to historical processes of exclusion and violence, which are still present today. Mental health is an essential component of health, a fundamental human right, and central to the correlations of analyses on poverty, ethnic and racial discrimination, and inequalities. Through this integrative review, we sought to conceive a state of the art regarding the mental health of Roma people. The search followed the PRISMA guidelines and was conducted in six databases (BVS, ProQuest, PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science); 27 articles comprised the final sample. Seven categories of analysis were constructed: mental disorders, suicide, childhood and adolescence, psychological aspects, risk and protective factors, gender, and mental health prevention. The studies point to several situations of vulnerabilities in the experience of Roma people regarding mental health. We highlight the exclusionary role of majority supremacist societies in relegating Roma communities to marginalization and invisibility, expressed, for example, through the low scientific production regarding these communities, especially in the Latin-American context.

PMID:40298728 | DOI:10.1590/1413-81232025304.15662023