Paper short abstract:

Among psychiatrists and psychologists, cell phones work as a mental health care device for highly transient patients arriving from the world over. This study aims to show how Italian psychiatrists and psychologists take advantage of cell phones to not only provide care but also meet with refugees.

Paper long abstract:

In the last ten years, refugees have been coming to Italy from all over the world, often en route to other destinations in Europe, like Germany or Sweden. The problem among psychiatrists and psychologists is how to provide appropriate mental health services to this migrant population.

Because of their broad cultural diversity and mobility, it is almost impossible to deliver services for refugees based on sufficient cross-cultural communication, or to promote their mental well-being through social inclusion. Thus, the consulting room becomes a place of encounter with "others," who may likewise elude their understanding. In dealing with such patients, many therapists try to communicate via mobile phones. Exchanging messages has become an indispensable medium for delivering mental health service for refugees.

This study discusses how therapists in Italy take advantage of mobile phones for refugees' mental health care. Forty-three therapists (13 psychiatrists and 30 psychologists) were recruited for the study, which comprised semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that mobile phones can function as a useful device to not only deliver appropriate care anytime and anywhere, but also to trace each refugee's history and experience by means of its applications and data collection capacities, so that therapists can consult with transient and elusive "others."