Refugee Students’ Psychological Wellbeing and Experiences in the Australian Education System: A Mixed‐methods Investigation

Abstract

Objectives: Refugee children and adolescents are widely acknowledged to experience multiple disadvantages that place them at increased risk of poor education and employment outcomes, which in turn affect their mental health and well-being. The aim of this study is to explore the interconnection between their educational and schooling experiences, and mental health outcomes. Method: We used a mixed methods approach. Participants included a multiethnic sample of 495 South Australian refugee children (4-12 years) and adolescents (13-17 years) from Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and former Yugoslavia. Mental health outcomes were assessed using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Thirteen focus groups with 85 refugee adolescents aged 13-17 years explored their educational experiences and well-being. Results: Quantitative analysis revealed differences between teacher, parent, and adolescent self-ratings, with teachers identifying a higher proportion of refugee students with mental health problems than parents or adolescents. The focus groups identified inadequate educational support, parental pressure to excel, heavy family and household responsibilities, supporting psychologically distressed parents, and school based discrimination and racism as barriers to their educational progress. Qualitative results also afforded plausible explanations for the discrepancy between teacher-ratings with parent-and adolescent self-ratings of the mental health. Conclusion: Analysis of both quantitative and qualitative findings provides insight into the interconnection between educational and schooling experiences of young refugees and their mental health. Avenues for further research include developing and evaluating more holistic models of education to address the interrelated education and mental health needs of refugee youth.

Refugee Youth and Transition to Further Education, Training, and Employment in Australia: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study

“…As people with a refugee background access and participate in education and employment, the likelihood of their successful integration into the larger community increases [20,43]. With effective delivery, education can not only support well-being and connection for young people [44] but it is also a means to employment through the provision of vocational skill development, support of young people’s maturity, and establishment of opportunities for professional intervention [21].…”

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

“…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.…”

“…Some of the included studies explored the effect of risk factors on the overall mental health of child refugees. Four studies (Bryant et al, 2018;Lau et al, 2018;Sim, 2018;Ziaian et al, 2018) reported higher rates of hyperactivity and emotional, conduct, and peer problems in child refugees, which were associated with parents' PTSD and a harsh parenting style. Several studies (Driver & Beltran, 1998;Goosen et al, 2014;Nasiroglu et al, 2018;Nielsen et al, 2007) showed that the high level of psychopathic behavior in child refugees was related to the traumatic experience of being placed in detention (Hanes et al, 2019), and this was more significant among children who had multiple relocations within the asylum system (Nielsen et al, 2007).…”

Resettled Bhutanese Refugees in Ottawa: What Coping Strategies Promote Psychological Well-Being?

“…Systemic and structural barriers in Canada can thwart refugee integration (Stewart et al., 2008; Wilkinson & Garcea, 2017). Vulnerable refugees in their initial state of resettlement to a new country have reported optimism toward a new life and the new living environment (Kirmayer et al., 2011); but over time, refugees can experience dissatisfaction in the new culture and country because of barriers in language, as well as inequalities felt from racism and discrimination within educational institutions (Mohamed & Thomas, 2017; Ziaian, de Anstiss, Puvimanasinghe, & Miller, 2018) and by health-care providers (Chen, Wai, Fung, & Wong, 2015; Kirmayer et al., 2011). Equally important are explorations with specific refugee cultural groups to assess their postmigration coping responses (Patil, Maripuu, Hadley, & Sellen, 2015).…”