Supporting Mental Health in Young Refugees: A Resilience Perspective

Vindevogel, Sofie; Verelst, An

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-45278-0_4

Cited by 12 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…100 Post-resettlement stressors include a state of precarity with regards to residence status, 101,102 loneliness, 93,103 acculturation difficulties, 104 unemployment, intergenerational conflicts, 59 gender role changes, 105,106 discrimination, 107 education and inclusion. 108,109…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Afghan mental health and psychosocial well-being: thematic review of four decades of research and interventions

Alemi,

Panter-Brick,

Oriya

et al. 2023

BJPsych open

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Four decades of war, political upheaval, economic deprivation and forced displacement have profoundly affected both in-country and refugee Afghan populations. Aims We reviewed literature on mental health and psychosocial well-being, to assess the current evidence and describe mental healthcare systems, including government programmes and community-based interventions. Method In 2022, we conducted a systematic search in Google Scholar, PTSDpubs, PubMed and PsycINFO, and a hand search of grey literature (N = 214 papers). We identified the main factors driving the epidemiology of mental health problems, culturally salient understandings of psychological distress, coping strategies and help-seeking behaviours, and interventions for mental health and psychosocial support. Results Mental health problems and psychological distress show higher risks for women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and youth. Issues of suicidality and drug use are emerging problems that are understudied. Afghans use specific vocabulary to convey psychological distress, drawing on culturally relevant concepts of body–mind relationships. Coping strategies are largely embedded in one's faith and family. Over the past two decades, concerted efforts were made to integrate mental health into the nation's healthcare system, train cadres of psychosocial counsellors, and develop community-based psychosocial initiatives with the help of non-governmental organisations. A small but growing body of research is emerging around psychological interventions adapted to Afghan contexts and culture. Conclusions We make four recommendations to promote health equity and sustainable systems of care. Interventions must build cultural relevance, invest in community-based psychosocial support and evidence-based psychological interventions, maintain core mental health services at logical points of access and foster integrated systems of care.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Afghan mental health and psychosocial well-being: thematic review of four decades of research and interventions

Alemi,

Panter-Brick,

Oriya

et al. 2023

BJPsych open

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Individualistic views of resilience assume the individual responsibility for risk aversion [ 68 ], implying that the responsibility to display adaptive functioning and mental health is principally on the individual and not on the environment [ 69 ]. However, as Schiltz and colleagues’ [ 68 ] study questioned, it is also important to put in question how access to resources is granted or denied within refugee and asylum policy, the socio-ecological position of the individual, and resources at their disposal determine the resilience of refugees or asylum seekers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The socio-ecological view of resilience repositions resilience and successful transition processes in the social sphere and provides a second way to understand resilience beyond the individual sphere. In the socio-ecological understanding of resilience, resilience is understood in terms of person–environment interactions, involving multilevel dynamics in the larger social ecology [ 69 ]. When it comes to refugees and asylum seekers, the concept of resilience within policy and practice initiatives have ignored the importance of an enabling environment and how granting access to resources allows refugees and asylum seekers to become resilient.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Migration Life Adversity and Mental Health of Refugees and Asylum Seekers: The Mediating Role of Resilience between Perceived Discrimination, Socio-Economic Strains, Structural Strains, and Mental Health

Feyissa

Yeop

Yoon

2022

Behavioral Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study made a claim that perceived discrimination, socio-economic strain, and structural strain on displaced people have an adverse impact on their mental health. Our claim also acknowledges that these people potentially have a unique set of strengths and abilities that they rely on to overcome their immediate and future problems. The aim of this study is thus to examine the relationship between post-migration life adversity and mental health problems, and assess the potential mediating role of resilience among asylum seekers and refugees (219 asylum seekers and 42 recognized refugees) living in South Korea. Structural equation modelling was used to examine hypothesized pathways between post-migration life adversity, mental health and resilience. Fit indices showed adequate to excellent fit of the examined models with mental health as the outcome. Mental health was positively regressed on PMLA and negatively regressed on R. In addition, R partially mediated the association between PMLA and MH. In addition to providing the academic contributions of this study to the ongoing study of resilience and its social welfare implications, the result of the study indicated the necessity of improving the present and future socio-environmental factors that foster resilience among refugees and asylum seekers.

show abstract

“…children must be seen as actively involved in the construction of their own social lives, the lives of those around them and the societies in which they live’ (p. 2). In the context of children affected by war (Boyden, 2003; Boyden and De Berry, 2004; Denov and Akesson, 2017; Kohli and Mather, 2003; Vindevogel and Verelst, 2020) researchers emphasise the need for psychosocial support programmes that take into account child agency by working ‘towards the affirmation of [children’s] strengths, personal agency, motivation and sense of mastery to identify and utilize what can help them towards a positive transition in the post-migration context’ (Vindevogel and Verelst, 2020 p. 59).…”

Section: Impact Of War and Displacementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artbooks as witness of everyday resistance: Using art with displaced children living in Johannesburg, South Africa

Clacherty

2021

Global Studies of Childhood

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Artbooks, which are a combined form of picture and story book created using mixed media, can be a simple yet powerful way of supporting children affected by war and displacement to tell their stories. They allow children to work through the creative arts, which protects them from being overwhelmed by difficult memories. They also allow, even very young children, to show us how they cope with past violence and present injustice by recalling and representing the small everyday overcomings of their lives – a garden they planted in DRC, a mother who walks them across a busy Johannesburg street, a curtain blowing in the door of their new home – just as it did in their old home. The books allow them to witness to the injustice of xenophobic violence by neighbours and the immoveable bureaucracy attached to accessing documents, through representing the small details of their lives in crayons and paint. Making artbooks also allows for some measure of meaning-making in the chaos of the everyday in a hostile city where their parents struggle to maintain a normal life for them. Books are also a powerful way for children to safely share their stories and advocate for changed attitudes, laws and policies in the increasingly migrant-hostile South African society. The article will tell the story of a book-making project run over a number of years at a community counselling centre that works with families on the move in Johannesburg South Africa. It will also describe how some of the children’s books have become a powerful advocacy tool through their inclusion in the digital library of the African Storybook project. The article will explore some of the practical details of the project and the theory around the power of the representation of the everyday which we are beginning to derive from the work.

show abstract

Supporting Mental Health in Young Refugees: A Resilience Perspective

Cited by 12 publications

References 32 publications

Afghan mental health and psychosocial well-being: thematic review of four decades of research and interventions

Afghan mental health and psychosocial well-being: thematic review of four decades of research and interventions

Post-Migration Life Adversity and Mental Health of Refugees and Asylum Seekers: The Mediating Role of Resilience between Perceived Discrimination, Socio-Economic Strains, Structural Strains, and Mental Health

Artbooks as witness of everyday resistance: Using art with displaced children living in Johannesburg, South Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About