Supporting refugee parents of young children: “knowing you’re not alone”

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and test an accessible and culturally appropriate social support intervention designed to meet the support needs and preferences identified by African refugee parents of young children. Design/methodology/approach The study was built on the research team’s preceding study assessing social support needs and intervention preferences of Sudanese and Zimbabwean refugee parents of young children. Face-to-face support groups led by peer and professional mentors were conducted bi-weekly over seven months. Qualitative data collection methods were employed through group and individual interviews. Findings In total, 85 refugee parents (48 Sudanese, 37 Zimbabwean; 47 male, 38 female) in two Canadian provinces participated in the social support intervention. Results demonstrated that this intervention increased participants’ social support by: providing information, enhancing spousal relationships, and expanding engagement with their ethnic community. This pilot intervention decreased refugee new parents’ loneliness and isolation, enhanced coping, improved their capacity to attain education and employment, and increased their parenting competence. Practical implications Peer mentors who were refugee parents of young children were key to facilitating the support intervention and to enhancing confidence of group members to raise their children in Canada. They acted as role models as they had faced similar challenges. Success of this intervention can also be attributed to its flexibility and participant-centered focus. Originality/value This is the first reported study to design and test the impacts of support interventions for African refugee parents of young children.

Transnationalism and care of migrant families during pregnancy, postpartum and early-childhood: an integrative review

“… Stewart 2017 [ 102 ] To examine support needs of African refugee new parents in Canada to guide development of a tailored support intervention Canada Psychosocial intervention for refugee parents with young children (4 months to 5 years) Mixed-methods (qualitative descriptive and questionnaires) 29 fathers and 43 mothers (additional parents also participated in the group interviews but unclear how many), and 15 service-providers and 15 policy-influences/makers Zimbabwe, Sudan LOT: < 5 years Refugee, asylum seeker Individual and group interviews and questionnaires (social support, coping) 62. Stewart 2018 [ 103 ] To develop and test an accessible and culturally appropriate social support intervention designed to meet the support needs and preferences identified by African refugee parents of young children Canada Social support intervention for refugee parents with young children (4 months to 5 years) Qualitative descriptive 47 fathers and 38 mothers Sudan, Zimbabwe Individual and group interviews LOT: < 5 years Refugee 63. Tobin 2014 [ 104 ] To explore midwives’ perceptions and experiences of providing care to women in the asylum process and to gain insight into how midwives can be equipped and supported to provide more effective care to this group in the future Ireland Maternity care Qualitative descriptive 10 midwives N/A Interviews 64.…”

“…Sixteen papers (23% of the literature) focused on care, an intervention or a program during early-childhood (see Tables 3 and 4 ). These included: studies that examined migrant mothers’ general experiences of accessing primary healthcare [ 52 , 62 , 79 ] or early-childhood programs [ 105 ] for their children; one study that explored nurses’ experiences in providing primary healthcare to refugee families with a child aged 0 to 6 years [ 108 ]; papers that reported on parents and care-providers’ perspectives of peer support group interventions meant to enhance parenting skills, promote child development and reduce isolation among immigrant mothers [ 22 ] and refugee mothers/parents [ 80 , 101 – 103 ]; and literature that described and/or evaluated specialized early-education programs for migrant and refugee families, or that investigated the experiences of educators in providing these services [ 60 , 73 , 76 , 90 , 98 , 99 ].…”

“…The research literature ( n = 66 studies) primarily reflects parents’ views and experiences with care, services and/or programs/interventions; 80% of studies included parents and 42% included care-providers (see Table 4 ). Parents’ perspectives are mainly those of mothers’ ( n = 52 studies); ten studies included fathers [ 68 , 79 , 85 , 98 , 101 – 103 , 105 , 109 , 110 ]. The migrant populations studied were mostly from non-western countries; more than half of the studies (57%) included migrant parents from Sub-Saharan Africa.…”

“…Across the literature, it was evident that many migrant families value their ‘ways of belonging’ and wish to maintain a transnational identity, especially for their children [ 21 , 31 , 49 , 67 , 69 – 72 , 85 , 86 , 89 , 93 – 100 , 102 , 103 , 105 , 109 ]. A number of papers also showed that cultural, religious and linguistic ties are often acknowledged and addressed in health and social care.…”

“…Cultural and religious ways of belonging were attended to in various ways. These included: the use of community-based doulas, mostly other mothers from the same communities, who acted as “cultural bridges” and provided information on different cultural birthing customs [ 47 ]; hiring of a cleric to conduct religious traditions and prayers in the hospital [ 21 ]; the involvement of peers in support/community groups and programs towards enhancing social support and healthy behaviors through the sharing of knowledge [ 41 , 70 , 80 , 90 – 92 , 101 ]; the creation and use of culturally-adapted materials including a prenatal training course [ 75 ], a psycho-education program [ 99 ], a specialized antenatal clinic [ 100 ], perinatal health education videos [ 68 ], and a mhealth application developed to support a healthy pregnancy and to connect women to services and other women in their ethnic community [ 48 , 49 ]; and the adaptation or tailoring of care to respond to different cultural and religious needs and expectations, for example having a female care-provider, asking about food preferences and providing culturally appropriate recommendations on prenatal nutrition, baby care, and parenting [ 41 , 53 , 54 , 58 , 61 , 65 , 78 , 79 , 84 , 86 , 92 – 95 , 97 , 98 , 103 , 106 – 108 , 110 ].…”