Establishing the psychometric properties of constructs from the conceptual ‘Settlement Services Literacy’ framework and their relationship with migrants’ acculturative stress in Australia

Abstract

Background Effective migration often requires supports for new arrivals, referred to as settlement services. Settlement services literacy (SSL) is key to ensuring new migrants have the capability to access and utilise the information and services designed to support the resettlement process and achieve positive settlement outcomes. To date, however, no research has sought to empirically validate measures of SSL or to assess individual migrants’ levels of SSL. The aim of this study was to establish the psychometric properties of constructs from the conceptual SSL framework. Design Using a snowball sampling approach, trained multilingual research assistants collected data on 653 participants. The total sample was randomly divided into two split-half samples: one for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA; N = 324) and the other for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; N = 329) and scale validation. The final SSL scale included 30 questions. The full data set was used to test the nomological validity of the scale regarding whether the components of SSL impact on migrants’ level of acculturative stress. Results The EFA yielded five factors: knowledge (eight items, α = 0.88), empowerment (five items, α = 0.89), competence (four items, α = 0.86), community influence (four items, α = 0.82), and political (two items, α = 0.81). In the CFA, the initial model demonstrated a poor to marginal fit model. Its re-specification by examining modification indices resulted in a good model fit: CMIN/DF = 3.07, comparative fit index = 0.92, root mean square error of approximation = 0.08 and standardised root mean square residual = 0.07, which are consistent with recommendations. All the path coefficients between the second-order construct (SSL) and its five dimensions (knowledge, empowerment, competence, community influence and political) were significant at an α = .05 level, giving evidence for the validity of different SSL dimensions. We found that SSL is significantly related to migrants’ acculturative stress (β = - 0.39, p < 0.05) in the nomological model. Conclusions The study provides evidence of the construct validity and reliability of the SSL tool. It provides the basis for integrating the measures of SSL into evaluation of settlement services. This will allow for more effective decision-making in designing and implementing settlement services as well as funding and service agreements to address any deficiencies.

The importance of information acquisition to settlement services literacy for humanitarian migrants in Australia

“…As illustrated in Fig 1, the findings of this study identified multiple information landscapes, with context specific knowledge and skill requirements particular to each service domain. Therefore, the concept of multiliteracies can be applied to basic SSL, that is, the recognition of multiple or plural literacies inherent to basic SSL competency [58]. Well researched and documented types of literacy such as health [18,38,[59][60][61] and financial [62,63] literacies, recognise the context specific knowledge and skill requirements important to humanitarian migrants to effectively engage with these service systems and information landscapes.…”

Consumption coping strategies and well‐being among refugee consumers

“…Thus, shedding the light on the effects of social support on the interplays between stress, consumption copings, and refugee well‐being highlights nuanced aspects of social support intervention areas. In this vein, recent work recognizes the key role of social support programs such as settlement services literacy (Renzaho et al, 2022) and interventions targeted toward refugees (Polonsky et al, 2022) in fostering their inclusion and improving their well‐being.…”

Accessing and navigating healthcare: A scoping review of the experiences of women of refugee background from Myanmar

“…The scope and governance of these services vary depending on resettlement location and in some countries, by visa type (Kumar, 2021 ; Taylor & Lamaro Haintz, 2018 ). Settlement services are typically designed to target newly arrived refugee background populations (Renzaho et al, 2022 ). Given the complex and prolonged nature of their health needs, healthcare access and health outcomes remain poor following resettlement (Parajuli & Horey, 2020 ; Taylor & Lamaro Haintz, 2018 ).…”