Assessing the Psychometric Qualities of the Refugee Post-Migration Stress Scale: A Study of Syrian Immigrants in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to adapt the Refugee Post-Migration Stress Scale (RPMS) to Syrian immigrants living in Türkiye and to determine the factors associated with RPMS. In this context, the WHO-5 Well-Being Index was administered with RPMS to 250 participants living in Mardin, one of Turkey's border provinces with Syria, for the study's first phase. In the second stage, RPMS and Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale were administered to 409 Syrians together with the demographic information form prepared by the researchers. According to the CFA results applied in the first stage, the psychometric properties of the adapted version of the scale were found to be satisfactory. In the second study, it was found that social support was negatively related to the post-migration stress levels of the participants and PMS differed significantly in terms of marital status, educational status, social support, income and employment status, language proficiency, hope for the future, and ethnicity variables. Study implications and limitations are discussed.