ADOLESCENT REFUGEE PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOSOCIAL WELLBEING

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ADOLESCENT REFUGEE PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOSOCIAL
WELLBEING
Dr. Jaya Earnest Ms. Sue Gillieatt Centre for
International health, Curtin University of
Technology
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PHASES OF CONFLICT AND DISPLACEMENT
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PEOPLES REACTION TO CONFLICT

• Within a conflict situation, there are
  individuals, families and groups who
• remain in their home areas ("stayees")
• are displaced from their homes but remain
  within the boundaries of their country of origin
  (internally displaced persons)
• cross an international border to escape the
  conflict (refugees).

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UNHCR STATISTICS 2004
UNHCR's founding mandate defines refugees as
persons who are outside their country and cannot
return owing to a well-founded fear of
persecution. At the start of 2004, the number of
people 'of concern' to UNHCR stood at just over
17 million, down from more than 20 million the
year before the lowest total in at least a
decade.
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IMPACT OF ARMED CONFLICT ON CHILDREN
DEATH 2 MILLION SERIOUS
INJURY 6 MILLION ORPHANED OR
UNACCOMPANIED 1 MILLION HOMELESS
12 MILLION EMOTIONALLY TRAUMATISED UNKNOWN
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THE IMPACT OF CONFLICT AND DISPLACEMENT ON
ADOLESCENTS

• Adolescent girls (both married and unmarried)
  who become pregnant may find themselves without
  support
• Unaccompanied minors, whether boys or girls,
  are especially vulnerable to violence and forms
  of sexual exploitation.
• They are also far more vulnerable to other
  forms of high-risk behaviour, including
  substance abuse.
• The ideas of aggressive masculinity inculcated
  in adolescent soldiers and boys can have a
  profound and long-term negative impact on their
  health.

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REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT
The transition from one country to another for
refugees often encompasses changes in every
aspect of daily life from the language one
speaks to the ways in which groups and
individuals interact.
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ACCULTURATION AND ACCULTURATIVE STRESS
Once refugees resettle in a host country, new
belief systems, values and mores challenge their
adjustment. During acculturation four broad
phases take place contact, conflict, crisis and
eventual adaptation (Papadopoulos 2001, Williams
and Berry 1991).
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REFUGEE CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE

• Many refugee children have encountered (Burnett
  Peel, 2001 Davies Webb, 2000).
• violent death of a parent,
• torture towards a family member(s),
• child-soldier activity,
• bombardments and shelling,
• detention and beatings,
• sexual assault,
• disappearance of family members/friends,
• witness to parental fear and panic,
• separation

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PSYCHOSOCIAL WELL-BEING OF ADOLESCENT REFUGEE
CHILDREN
Sourander (1998) found that in addition to PTSD,
depression and anxiety were most common among
their participants. Factors to have a negative
influence on the mental health in refugee
children and adolescents include low
socio-economic status, long-term unemployment of
particularly fathers, school problems, language
problems and discrimination (Hyman et al, 2000
Rousseau, 1995).
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AUSTRALIA AND PSYCHOSOCIAL HEALTH
There is now clearer recognition that, specific
attention must be paid to the cultural dimensions
of mental health service design and the specific
needs of indigenous people, immigrants and
refugees (Minas et al, 1996). In recent years,
there has been an increasing focus on the mental
health of children and adolescents in Australia
(Minas Sawyer, 2002). Todays migration
patterns have shifted in ways that bring new
challenges to the field of refugee mental health
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
2003).
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SCHOOL PSYCHOSOCIAL HEALTH PROMOTION
This process aims at giving power, knowledge,
skills and necessary resources to individuals,
families and the communities (European
Commission, 1999). Layne et al in 2001 used
focus group discussions, stress management,
relaxation skills and practical problem solving
skills with Bosnian school students and had
significant reduction in PTSDs. Atkins et al
(2003) used a similar School Psychosocial Health
promotion and intervention approach in Chicago
with low-income African-American populations.
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SCHOOL PSYCHOSOCIAL HEALTH PROMOTION
School Psychosocial Health Promotion takes place
outside of clinical settings and thus reduces
power disparities. Schools also provide a
potential avenue to engage parents and create a
bridge between the worlds of family and school
(Delgado-Galtan, 1991).
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THE MAIN AIM OF THE STUDY
This research study interweaves migration,
resettlement and identity formation into an
understanding of psychosocial wellbeing of
adolescent refugee children in 3 government
schools in Western Australia.
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THE OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH ARE TO

1. Examine how adolescent refugee children perceive
   the process of migration, resettlement and
   consequent acculturation
2. Discuss refugee adolescent views of their social
   environment, the nature of everyday experiences
   at school, struggles over language and skill
   acquisition and formation of emerging identities
   
3. Identify the multiple stressors that refugee
   adolescents and youth have to cope with during
   the process of acculturation and adaptation
4. Develop new strategies for school based
   psychosocial well-being promotion.

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GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS WITH INTENSIVE ENGLISH CENTRES
(IECs) IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Primary Schools Beaconsfield (96 students),
Highgate (90 students), Koondola (160
students). Nollamara (60 students), Mandurah (20
students), Mirrabooka (45 students). Secondary
Schools Balga (94 students), Perth Modern (86
students). Post Compulsory Cyril Jackson (124
students). Nationalities Represented Afghanistan,
Bosnia, China, Congo, Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Sierra Leona, Somalia,
Sudan
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THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK(Psychosocial Working
Group, 2003).
The conceptual framework used for this study
rests on the assumption that psychosocial
well-being of an individual is defined with
respect to three core domains human capacity,
social ecology and culture and values. These
domains map in turn the human social and cultural
capital available to people responding to the
challenges of prevailing events and conditions
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THE INTERLOCKING CIRCLES OF HUMAN CAPACITY,
SOCIAL ECOLOGY AND VALUES(PSYCHOSOCIAL WORKING
GROUP, 2003)
Economic Resources
Social Ecology
Human Capacity
Culture Values
Physical Resources
Environmental Resources
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THE RESEARCH DESIGN
This study is qualitative using a within method
triangulation approach (Meijer, P. et al,
2002). The research used the case study approach
and made use of the constructive and critical
theory perspective (Denzin Lincoln, 2000). The
critical theory perspective implies that reality
is shaped over time by social, political,
cultural, ethnic and gender factors (Guba
Lincoln, 1994). This study draws on a
constructive perspective, in which the
researchers and subjects create their own
understanding (von Glasersfeld, 1987 1993).
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METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

• The qualitative approach includes
• in-depth interviews,
• focus group discussions,
• school visits
• key informant interviews and
• reflective narratives
• (Punch, 1998, Erickson, 1998).

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THE RESEARCH SETTING AND SAMPLE
The data for this research is being obtained from
45 secondary school students from 3 government
secondary schools in Perth. The schools are
Perth Modern School, Balga High and Cyril Jackson
Senior High School. The adolescent and young
refugees are in the age group of 13 to 19
years. The researcher is working closely with
the Department of Community Development,
Department of Education, Office of Children and
Youth and the Office of Multicultural Interests.
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KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS
In-depth interviews are being held with a small
number of key informants such as parents,
teachers and school psychologists, departmental
officers, local staff from Case for Refugees and
AsETTS Community leaders exploring the issues of
community support, Services provided to refugee
children.
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ANALYSIS OF THE INTERVIEW THEMES

• Analysis will grapple with two notable
  characteristics.
• The first has to do with the role, flight,
  displacement and resettlement plays in students
  construction and understanding of being a refugee
  and their current sense of belonging in their new
  nation state.
• The second characteristic is connected with the
  influence that changing realities exert on
  learning processes. The need by the resettled
  refugee adolescents to acquire new skills and
  cope with procedures in the resettled country
  will also be explored.

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PHOTOS FROM KOSOVO
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MEMORIES FROM EAST TIMOR
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CHILDREN IN RWANDA
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• This study is ongoing and is supported by a
  Healthway Starter Grant
• Preliminary interviews analysis indicates that
• Refugee adolescent females cope better and have
  more success at school
• Schools need more support to help adolescent
  refugee children
• Alternative frameworks may be needed for
  adolescents who have never been to school or who
  have had disrupted school years
• Government departments need to work together to
  develop strategies and interventions.