R Atwell, I Correa‐Velez and S Gifford
Recently arrived older refugees in resettlement countries are a particularly vulnerable population who face many risks to their health and well‐being, and many challenges in…
Abstract
Recently arrived older refugees in resettlement countries are a particularly vulnerable population who face many risks to their health and well‐being, and many challenges in accessing services. This paper reports on a project undertaken in Victoria, Australia to explore the needs of older people from 14 recently arrived refugee communities, and the barriers to their receiving health and aged care. Findings from consultations with community workers and service providers highlight the key issues of isolation, family conflict and mental illness affecting older refugees, and point to ways in which policy‐makers and service providers can better respond to these small but deserving communities.
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Mara Gabrielli and Jordi Pàmies Rovira
This study provides an in-depth understanding of the structural and contextual factors that foster or hinder the educational pathways and employment opportunities of young…
Abstract
This study provides an in-depth understanding of the structural and contextual factors that foster or hinder the educational pathways and employment opportunities of young refugees and asylum-seekers in Catalonia (Spain), and how their expectations and aspirations vary and change before and after forced migration. The authors implemented a multimodal ethnographic methodology that explore, the potential of photography, to analyze how these young people, belonging to differentiated social locations – class, ethnicity, status, gender, and/or sexual orientation – have been exposed to similar systems of oppression. These systems function at their mutual intersection within a general matrix of domination. The vulnerability of asylum-seeker status is the main obstacle to social integration. However, these young people stand out for their great capacity for resilience and a strong desire to advance in education as a proactive response that helps them resist new “structural and contextual oppression” in the host society.
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Ignacio Correa-Velez, Celia McMichael and Augustine Conteh
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between flood exposure and levels of social trust among a cohort of adult men from refugee backgrounds who were affected…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between flood exposure and levels of social trust among a cohort of adult men from refugee backgrounds who were affected by the 2011 floods in Queensland, Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative questionnaire was administered to 141 men from refugee backgrounds almost two years after the 2011 Queensland floods. The survey was administered in-person by trained peer interviewers, and included a number of standardized instruments assessing respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, levels of social trust toward and from neighbors, the police, the wider Australian community and the media and exposure to and impact of the floods. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between flood exposure and social trust adjusting for pre-disaster levels of trust and other potentially confounding variables.
Findings
Participants with higher levels of flood exposure were significantly more likely to report greater levels of trust both toward and from their neighbors, the wider Australian community and the media, and they were also more likely to believe that most people can be trusted.
Research limitations/implications
Although the study reports on data collected two years after the floods, the analysis has adjusted for pre-disaster measures of social trust and other socio-demographic variables.
Originality/value
This paper has highlighted the important place of social trust and social capital for refugee communities in a post-disaster setting. Disaster responses that support social capital among marginalized populations are critical to increasing community resilience and supporting recovery.
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Nellie Van den Bos, Galia Sabar and Shiri Tenenboim
In 2017, the WHO presented a framework of priorities and guiding principles to promote the health of refugees and migrants (WHO, 2017). The purpose of this paper is to analyze a…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2017, the WHO presented a framework of priorities and guiding principles to promote the health of refugees and migrants (WHO, 2017). The purpose of this paper is to analyze a crucial but understudied aspect for the implementation of this framework, namely, healthcare providers’ images of refugees and their use of health services.
Design/methodology/approach
A preliminary study first addresses images of refugees and their use of health services derived from the literature. This is followed by an empirical case study of antenatal and delivery service to Eritrean refugee women in Israel. The case study explores providers’ (n=8) images of Eritrean women and their use of services as well as Eritrean women’s (n=10) reflections on their own use of these services, examining the degree to which providers’ images correspond with Eritrean women’s realities.
Findings
The preliminary study shows how the literature largely tends to picture refugees as medicalized and disempowered. The case study illustrates that providers of Israeli antenatal and delivery services embrace similar images, although they are more nuanced. The reflections of Eritrean women show that providers’ images partially reflect their realities. However, Eritrean women attribute these images to external constraints, whereas providers attribute these images to innate characteristics of Eritrean women. Together, these findings suggest that implementation of the recently introduced WHO framework is at stake.
Originality/value
This study raises awareness of a crucial but understudied aspect regarding implementation of a recently introduced universal framework for promoting the health of refugees and migrants.
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Lysann Seifert, Nathan Kunz and Stefan Gold
The purpose of this paper is to map and analyse the literature from 1989 to 2016 on humanitarian supply chain management (SCM) responding to refugees. This literature review…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to map and analyse the literature from 1989 to 2016 on humanitarian supply chain management (SCM) responding to refugees. This literature review systematically assesses existing literature, thereby highlighting gaps, challenges and directions for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors apply a structured content analysis method which has been recognised as a traceable, systematic and reproducible research tool to analyse qualitative and quantitative aspects of existing literature.
Findings
The relative scarcity of literature implies that the interface of the fields of Humanitarian SCM and refugees has been rarely addressed. More specifically, the quantitative content analysis highlights a dearth of research that focusses on both fields in a well-balanced manner. In particular, empirical, practice-led studies, as well as research on development aid operations are under-represented. The qualitative analysis finds that further research on logistics models as well as technological innovations is necessary to increase data availability, forecast accuracy and the efficiency of (local) supply network operations during disasters.
Research limitations/implications
The review suggests a number of areas in need of future research, proposes possibilities of collaborations between different actors and provides a research agenda for Humanitarian SCM in the context of refugees.
Originality/value
This review is the first to analyse the literature on Humanitarian SCM related to refugees.
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N. Ela Gokalp Aras, Sertan Kabadayi, Emir Ozeren and Erhan Aydin
This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of factors that contribute to refugees’ exclusion from health-care services. More specifically, using institutional…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of factors that contribute to refugees’ exclusion from health-care services. More specifically, using institutional theory, this paper identifies regulative pillar-, normative pillar- and cultural/cognitive pillar-related challenges that result in refugees having limited or no access to health-care services.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on both secondary research and empirical insights from two qualitative fieldwork studies totaling 37 semi-structured meso-level interviews, observations and focus groups in three Turkish cities (Izmir, Ankara and Edirne), as well as a total of 42 micro-level, semi-structured interviews with refugees and migrants in one large city (Izmir) in Turkey.
Findings
This study reveals that systematically stratified legal statuses result in different levels of access to public health-care services for migrants, asylum seekers or refugees based on their fragmented protection statuses. The findings suggest access to health-care is differentiated not only between local citizens and refugees but also among the refugees and migrants based on their legal status as shaped by their country of origin.
Originality/value
While the role of macro challenges such as laws and government regulations in shaping policies about refugees have been examined in other fields, the impact of such factors on refugee services and well-being has been largely ignored in service literature in general, as well as transformative service research literature in particular. This study is one of the first attempts by explicitly including macro-level factors to contribute to the discussion on the refugees’ access to public health-care services in a host country by relying on the institutional theory by providing a holistic understanding of cognitive, normative and regulative factors in understanding service exclusion problem.
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Sayedhabibollah Ahmadi Forooshani, Kate Murray, Nigar Khawaja and Zahra Izadikhah
The purpose of this study was to propose a benchmark model for the process of post-migration social adjustment based on the points of view and experiences of young individuals…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to propose a benchmark model for the process of post-migration social adjustment based on the points of view and experiences of young individuals from forced-migration backgrounds.
Design/methodology/approach
Twelve young adults (18–24 years) living in Australia with an experience of forced migration and from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds were recruited. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed through thematic analysis.
Findings
The results showed that post-migration social adjustment requires effective interactions within individual, family and community domains. The participants proposed specific characteristics, enablers and barriers for each domain that can affect the process of social adjustment after the experience of forced migration.
Originality/value
Based on the reported points of view and experiences of participants in this study, the authors proposed an ecological model that can be considered as a preliminary benchmark to inform policymaking, research and services focusing on the social adjustment of young refugees. The practical implications for resettlement programs are discussed.
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The current study examined employment rates and predictors of employment among Syrian refugees currently living in Lebanon and Jordan. This paper argues that men and women…
Abstract
Purpose
The current study examined employment rates and predictors of employment among Syrian refugees currently living in Lebanon and Jordan. This paper argues that men and women refugees have different experiences seeking out employment after resettlement due to patriarchal structures and attitudes toward women that are present in the Arab Middle East. The goals of this paper were a) to examine employment rates among Syrian refugees, b) to examine predictors of employment among male and female refugees, and c) to examine refugee status as a moderator of the relationship between attitudes toward women and employment status.
Design/methodology/approach
Nationally representative data from the Arab Barometer on 600 refugees and 1400 native-born individuals living in Lebanon and Jordan from 2016–2017 were used.
Findings
Native-born individuals living in Lebanon and Jordan were 2.16 times more likely to be employed than refugees. Men living in Lebanon and Jordan were 7.83 times more likely to be employed than women. Finally, refugee status moderated the relationship between attitudes toward women's rights and roles and employment. Among native-born women, a positive attitude toward women's rights and roles predicted employment status, whereas this positive relationship was not found for women refugees. Among refugee men, a positive attitude toward women's rights and roles was linked to a lower likelihood of holding a job.
Practical implications
These findings suggest that agencies supporting refugees should communicate realistic expectations about employment during resettlement and should address the challenges that women refugees face when seeking employment.
Originality/value
This study is the first study to identify attitudes toward women's rights and roles as a predictor of employment among refugee populations and highlights the unique struggles that refugee women face.
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Ernesto Castañeda, Daniel Jenks and Cynthia Cristobal
Purpose: To describe some of the tensions that both unaccompanied and accompanied immigrant children and youth face when reuniting with family members living abroad after years of…
Abstract
Purpose: To describe some of the tensions that both unaccompanied and accompanied immigrant children and youth face when reuniting with family members living abroad after years of living apart, separated by borders and anti-immigrant policies are described.
Methods: Fifty-eight interviews with immigrant minors from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala and the tensions they reported having after moving in with their biological parents or legal sponsors in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area are drawn upon.
Findings: Youth reported that getting used to cohabitation and in-person relationships with their parents or other sponsor was difficult at first, though it improved over time. Despite the biological, emotional, and financial bonds, minors had to learn how to relate to new authority figures and follow their rules. Many reported feeling lonely and missing grandmothers and other family members and friends left behind in the country of birth.
Research implications: Interviews with counselors and local authorities that interface with these families show that parenting and youth programs in the places of settlement can become effective interventions to improve relations between children and parents recently reunited, which can indeed help with scholastic achievement and socio-economic advancement.
Value: The interview extracts bring a window into intrafamily dynamics, often overlooked in discussions of the integration of immigrant children and youth into their new homes and communities.