Educational, psychosocial, and protection outcomes of child‐ and youth‐focused programming with Somali refugees in Dollo Ado, Ethiopia

Abstract

Child-and youth-friendly spaces have become a common feature of emergency humanitarian provision. This study reports on the outcomes of child and youth learning centres (CYLCs) in Ethiopia's Buramino Camp established for those fleeing conflict in Somalia. Eighty-five youths completed baseline assessments shortly after arrival and follow-up assessments three to six months later. Caregivers of 106 younger children completed similar appraisals. 693 children attending the CYLCs completed pre-and post-educational assessments, which indicated major gains-significant at p < 0.0001-in both literacy (younger children, t = 9.06; youth, t = 13.87) and numeracy (younger children, t = 13.94; youths, t = 17.10). Children's CYLC attendance increased reports of met needs among caregivers (t = 2.53, p < 0.05) and youths (t = 2.57, p < 0.05), and, among caregivers but not youths, significantly moderated protection concerns (t = 2.39, p < 0.05, and t =-1.90, p = 0.06, respectively). There was general improvement in psychosocial well-being over time for all children; CYLC attendance predicted greater reductions in reported difficulties only among younger children (t = 2.51, p < 0.05).

Academic Achievement and Psychosocial Adjustment in Child Refugees: A Systematic Review

“…2018; Locke et al., 1996; Mares & Jureidini, 2004; McCallin, 1988; McCloskey et al., 1995; Metzler et al. 2019; Montgomery & Foldspang, 2006; Mueller et al., 1996; Nielsen et al., 2007; O'Shea et al., 2000; Paardekooper et al., 1999; Papageorgiou et al., 2000; Rousseau et al., 1996; Rousseau et al., 1998; Sekhon, 2008; Sim, 2018; Son, 1995; Sourander, 1998; Usman 2012; Thai, 1982; Wiegersma et al., 2011; Wolff et al., 1995; Ziaian et al., 2013, 2018; see Supplementary Table S2 for a summary of the characteristics of the included studies). In addition, the included studies also investigated a wide range of covariates (e.g., age, sex, parents’ mental disorders, history of trauma; Supplementary Table S2).…”

“…In total, 11,997 school-aged child refugees aged 5-12 years were included. The studies were conducted in Australia (Bryant et al, 2018;Dodds et al, 2010;Driver & Beltran, 1998;El Habir et al, 1994;Hanes et al, 2019;Lau et al, 2018;Mares & Jureidini, 2004;Ziaian et al, 2013Ziaian et al, , 2018, Canada (Rousseau et al, 1996(Rousseau et al, , 1998Usman, 2012), Costa Rica (McCallin, 1988), Denmark (Montgomery & Foldspang, 2006;Nielsen et al, 2007), Eritrea (Wolff et al, 1995), Ethiopia (Metzler et al, 2019), Finland (Sourander, 1998), Germany (Buchmüller et al, 2020), Greece (Bilanakis et al, 1999;Papageorgiou et al, 2000), Italy (Pellizzoni et al, 2020), Lebanon (Sim et al, 2018), the Netherlands (Goosen et al, 2014;Wiegersma et al, 2011), South Korea (Nho et al, 2019), Sweden (Goldin et al, 2008), Saudi Arabia (Al-Eissa, 1995), Thailand (Annan et al, 2017;Son, 1995), Turkey (Çeri & Nasiroglu 2018;Eruyar et al, 2018;Nasiroglu et al, 2018), Uganda (Paardekooper et al, 1999), the United Kingdom (O'Shea et al, 2000), and the United States (Ballard et al, 2018;Birman & Tran, 2017;Chiu et al, 1989;…”

“…A variety of outcome measures were employed. Approximately one-third of the studies used the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Ballard et al, 2018;Bilanakis et al, 1999;Bryant et al, 2018;Buchmüller et al, 2020;Çeri & Nasiroglu, 2018;Eruyar et al, 2018;Hanes et al, 2019;Lau et al, 2018;Nielsen et al, 2007;Metzler et al, 2019;O'Shea et al, 2000;Papageorgiou et al, 2000;Sim, 2018;Sekhon, 2008;Wiegersma et al, 2011;Ziaian et al, 2013Ziaian et al, , 2018. However, different versions (bib49parent, teacher, or student) were used.…”

“…The other two-thirds of the studies used other tools to measure the outcomes, including the Behavioral Screening Questionnaire (BSQ), Child Behavior Checklist (CBC), Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and the Children's Revised Impact of Events Scale (CRIES-8; see Supplementary Table S2). Only 10 studies examined the academic performance of the children (Birman & Tran, 2017;Dodds et al, 2010;Lau et al, 2018;Mueller et al, 1996;Metzler et al, 2019;Nykiel-Herbert, 2010;Pellizzoni et al, 2020;Rousseau et al, 1996;Ruangthai, 1984;Thai, 1982), and 40 studies focused on psychosocial, emotional, and behavioral difficulties (Al-Eissa, 1995;Annan et al, 2017;Ballard et al, 2018;Bilanakis et al, 1999;Birman & Tran 2017;Bryant et al 2018;Buchmüller, 2020;Ceri & Nasiroglu et al, 2018;Chiu et al, 1989;Dodds et al, 2010;Driver & Beltran 1998, El Habir et al, 1994Eruyar et al, 2018;Goldin et al, 2008;Goosen et al 2014;Hanes et al 2019;Lau et al 2018;Locke et al, 1996;Mares & Jureidini, 2004;McCallin, 1988;McCloskey et al, 1995;Metzler et al 2019;Montgomery & Foldspang, 2006;Mueller et al, 1996;Nielsen et al, 2007;…”

“…Ten studies reported on academic performance of child refugees ( Supplementary Table S3). Overall, child refugees from different ethnic backgrounds in different settings were shown to be diverse with regard to educational performance (Birman & Tran, 2017;Dodds et al, 2010;Lau et al, 2018;Metzler et al, 2019;Mueller et al, 1996;Nykiel-Herbert, 2010;Pellizzoni et al, 2020;Rousseau et al, 1996;Ruangthai, 1984;Thai, 1982). Two studies reported lower scores in math and reading among child refugees (Rousseau et al 1998;Ruangthai 1984); one of these studies assessed child refugees using a comprehensive test of basic skills (Thai, 1982), whereas the other study compared child refugees to children from low-income families in the United States (Mueller et al, 1996).…”