As host to over one million Syrian refugees, Lebanon continues to experience challenges addressing the needs of refugee families. This research examined the experiences of Syrian…
Abstract
Purpose
As host to over one million Syrian refugees, Lebanon continues to experience challenges addressing the needs of refugee families. This research examined the experiences of Syrian families with the refugee support system in Lebanon. The purpose of this study was to better understand the strengths and gaps in existing mechanisms of support for these Syrian families, including informal support from family, neighbors and community and more formalized support provided through entities such as nongovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 46 families displaced by the war and living in Lebanon (N = 351 individuals within 46 families). Collaborative family interviews were conducted with parents, children and often extended family.
Findings
The data identified both strengths and gaps in the refugee support system in Lebanon. Gaps in the refugee support system included inadequate housing, a lack of financial and economic support, challenges with a lack of psychosocial support for pregnant women and support for disabled youth. Despite these challenges, families and community workers reported informal community support as a strong mediator of the challenges in Lebanon. Furthermore, the data find that organizations working with Syrian families are utilizing informal community support through capacity building, to create more effective and sustainable support services.
Originality/value
This study provides an overview of strengths and gaps in supports identified by refugees themselves. The research will inform the development and improvement of better support systems in Lebanon and in other refugee–hosting contexts.
Details
Keywords
Wael ElRayes, Sana Malik, Bree Akesson, Iftikher Mahmood, Md Golam Hafiz, Mohammed Aldalaykeh, Arman Mahmood, Bhagwati Gautam, Shahidul Hoque, Farhana Ul Haque and Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway
This paper aims to understand the mental health experiences and needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from the perspective of mental health-care providers and hospital…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand the mental health experiences and needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from the perspective of mental health-care providers and hospital administrators.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper conducted a mixed methods study. Clinical data about refugee mental health care of 722 adult and pediatric patients were analyzed, and four focus groups with mental health providers (n = 4), primary health-care providers (n = 5), hospital administrators (n = 4) and midwives (n = 5) were held.
Findings
Clinical data analysis found that patients were diagnosed and treated for a variety of mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, psychotic and neurological disorders. Misalignment between diagnosis and psychotropic medication prescription partly exists because of the unavailability of medications. Focus group findings indicate a lack of awareness of mental health conditions, and Rohingya visit hospitals for symptomatic physical ailments. Cultural and social factors discourage people from seeking mental health care. Patients are often brought by concerned family members or community health workers. A limited number of mental health-care providers are available to diagnose and treat Rohingya refugees, and follow-up care is often lacking.
Research limitations/implications
First, this paper only drew data from one field hospital in the camps. Future research should sample practitioners working in other health centers across all camps for a more comprehensive look at the prevalence and variations in mental health issues and mental health services provision. Second, this paper did not interview patients for this study as the study focused on the perspectives of administrators, health-care providers and support staff. Nevertheless, the inclusion of patients would have illuminated perceptions and attitudes and the social, familial and religious dynamics toward identifying mental health problems and seeking mental health services. Therefore, future research should aim to focus on participants’ voices and experiences.
Practical implications
Clinics across the camps should enhance the screening of refugees for common mental disorders and encourage them to report cases within their families. Further, health-care providers and support staff should explain to refugees the importance of non-pharmacological treatment approaches and that, according to studies, their effectiveness is equal to or sometimes more effective than pharmacological treatment.
Social implications
To address mental health-related stigma, conducting awareness campaigns in close collaboration with local leaders is critical to improving the level of knowledge among refugees, which could improve mental health-seeking behaviors.
Originality/value
This paper fulfills an identified gap in the mental health experiences and needs among the Rohingya refugees. The true prevalence of the range of mental health challenges among the Rohingya population is not accurately known; however, its impact is immense. The data indicates that mental health providers in remote regions be provided with training opportunities so they can effectively treat mental health conditions. Additionally, existing underlying root causes should be addressed through inclusive awareness programs in tandem with increasing the number of mental health clinics and providers across the camps and allocating more resources to provide medications for appropriate case treatment.
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Bree Akesson and Omri Grinberg
Palestinian children have been described as targets of the Israel government’s melange of mechanisms used to control the Palestinian people and territories. In this role…
Abstract
Palestinian children have been described as targets of the Israel government’s melange of mechanisms used to control the Palestinian people and territories. In this role, Palestinian children are subjected to direct violence, bureaucratic constructs, interrogation, incarceration, and other various means of marginalisation and oppression. Simultaneously, Palestinian children have also been depicted as nationalised subjects and resources for the future of Palestine, upon which historical and ongoing national symbols are projected. Palestinian children, therefore, play a dual role within the conflict and in everyday life: both innocent and in need of protection while also embodying sites of resistance. Nowhere is this dual role more pronounced than within the Palestinian home. In order to explore the multiple roles that children represent within the physical structure of the home, this chapter draws upon the authors’ research experience using collaborative family interviews and testimony collections in home environments. The authors’ methodological engagement with children and families at the home-level has found children to be a present absence within the home, with adult family members dominating the data-gathering discourse. In other words, children are ubiquitous within Palestinian landscapes, but they are rarely heard from. However, in research, children’s voices may be acknowledged for brief moments when data-gathering methods such as drawing or neighbourhood walks are used. Children may also be cherished as a focus of family protection and future resistance against the occupation. While much research has considered children affected by political violence as both victims and actors, this chapter adds another layer by exploring the multiple roles and representations of children within the Palestinian home. The authors focus is not on how these representations are imposed upon children by adults, but rather how representations of children are enacted and negotiated within oftentimes protective home spaces.
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Of the approximate 18 million refugees worldwide, between 2 and 5 percent are estimated to be separated children, a figure which represents between 360,000 and 900,000 children…
Abstract
Purpose
Of the approximate 18 million refugees worldwide, between 2 and 5 percent are estimated to be separated children, a figure which represents between 360,000 and 900,000 children. Place and placemaking represent vital components and realities during flight. The concept of place addresses the physical and social environments within which separated children move through and live in. Place and placemaking both include elements of physical setting, activity, and meaning, with placemaking specifically constituting the act of transforming the places one finds oneself into the places in which one lives.
Originality/value
Uncertainty continues to surround the concept and meaning of place and placemaking in large part due to their contextual and subjective nature. Furthermore, the notion of place is often under‐explored and under‐theorized when considering separated children's experiences and realities.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon in‐depth interviews and a focus group with 17 youth respondents living in Canada, this paper explores the realities of place and placemaking in the lives of separated children.
Findings
The paper highlights the meaning and significance of place during flight. It examines the ways in which respondents “made place” in contexts of violence and insecurity through social networks, through reliance on language and cultural traditions, and through place attachment and identity.
Practical implications
The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of place and placemaking for policy and practice with separated children.
Details
Keywords
Nada A. Alnaji, Leeza A. Struwe and Danstan Bagenda
Refugee mothers are at a significantly increased risk of suffering from postpartum depression. However, available tools to screen for it often use a Western paradigm of mental…
Abstract
Purpose
Refugee mothers are at a significantly increased risk of suffering from postpartum depression. However, available tools to screen for it often use a Western paradigm of mental health, which may not be culturally appropriate, and may not account for the background stress experienced by refugees. The purpose of this study is to test and validate refugee health screener-13 (RHS-13), which was developed by consultation with refugees from different backgrounds among a group of Syrian refugee mothers living in Beqaa’s valley in Lebanon.
Design/methodology/approach
The tool was tested on a sample of 103 women. Internal consistency of the items for each subscale was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. An interitem correlation was performed to examine the most correlated items on the scale. Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated between each subscale and its diagnostic proxy. To find the best fit cutoff point between sensitivity and 1-specificity, ROC curves were used.
Findings
RHS-13 is a reliable and valid tool to detect depression and anxiety among postpartum Syrian mothers (internal consistency 0.803, correlation with patient health questionnaire: 0.63 and correlation with generalized anxiety disorder-7: 0.73). The best fit cutoff points were 12, 15 and 25, indicating the severity of symptoms from mild to severe, respectively.
Originality/value
RHS-13 is a valid tool among postpartum refugees in Lebanon and can be used by primary care physicians, mental health providers and social workers working with refugees from the Middle East to screen mothers for depression and anxiety.