Forte awards funding to research on mental illness among transnational adoptees. A new project aims to provide answers and improve support from healthcare services.
– The project is the first of its kind and aims to strengthen research and improve suicide prevention efforts within the healthcare sector, says Tobias Hübinette, docent in intercultural education and senior lecturer in intercultural studies at Karlstad University, who leads the project.
The research group also includes Mattias Strand at Karolinska institutet and Clara Iversen at Uppsala University.
– We will investigate why transnational adoptees in Sweden show a substantially increased risk of suicide – up to four times higher than the national average – a pattern that has been documented in several registry studies over more than 20 years, says Tobias Hübinette. Despite this, healthcare services have struggled to meet the needs of this group.
To understand adoptees’ experiences concerning healthcare, the project is based on three sub-studies: a textual analysis of public accounts in autobiographies, documentaries, podcasts and media interviews; a review of healthcare investigations into suicide cases reported to the Health and Social Care Inspectorate (IVO); and an analysis of conversations within adoption-competent therapy.
The findings will be shared with relevant professional groups, adoptees and their relatives, and published in a report as well as in international scientific journals.
– We hope that our research will lead to increased knowledge about suicidality among transnational adoptees within relevant professional groups, and contribute to an overall improvement in the support provided by society, says Tobias Hübinette. Also, before the end of 2025, the Swedish government will decide on the proposal for a national resource centre for adoption, which makes these issues even more relevant.
The project “Internationell adoption och psykisk hälsa. Att förstå och motverka självmord bland utlandsadopterade” has been granted SEK 4.9 million in funding from Forte and will be running from 2026 to 2028.
