This background paper on refugee needs assessment discusses the assumptions, goals, objectives, strategies, models, and methods that the state refugee programs can consider in designing their strategies for assessing the mental health needs of refugees. It begins with a set of background assumptions about the ethnic profile of recent refugee populations and the unique aspects of these refugees' experience. The next section defines the needs assessment as a policy tool and lists its purposes in relation to the intended users: policymakers, administrators and managers, planners, clinicians, advisory committees and groups, and consumers. The third section discusses needs assessment in the specific context of a state refugee mental health delivery system. It is noted that such an assessment must consider the system's community environment, the rules (statutes, procedures, case law, and conventions) under which it operates; its administrative structure; its financing; its facilities and equipment; its programs; its staff; and its consumers. The fourth section enumerates the major models and methods of needs assessment that state programs may employ, and provides general comments on their appropriateness for assessing the mental health needs of refugees. Methods discussed include the use of social indicators, key informants, public forums, rates in service, surveys, and data analysis. A bibliography is included. (TE)