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Poor mental health is common amongst unaccompanied refugee adolescents and may have serious negative consequences for their successful settlement. This study aims to elucidate unaccompanied adolescents’ experiences of psychosocial challenges and what they need to cope with this during their course of settlement in Denmark, particularly focussing on social support.

The study sample included six male unaccompanied refugee adolescents aged 17–18, living in two residential care facilities. Based on a triangulation of methods (i.e. participant observation, individual interviews and a focus group interview using photo-elicitation), a thematic analysis was conducted within the conceptual framework of stigma and a need for relatedness.

Several interwoven and on-going psychosocial challenges, including perceived stigma and loneliness combined with past traumatic experiences and uncertainties about the future, were experienced by the adolescents in this study. As opposed to experiencing emotional distress, stigma and loneliness, various activities of “forgetting”, which involved a sense of momentary relief or bliss, a sense of “normalcy” and acceptance and/or a sense of relatedness, helped them to cope.

For psychosocial care services to respond to adolescents’ mental health needs in an optimal way, the results suggest that activities and social support that are sufficiently adapted to individual needs should be the focal point in their daily lives.

The study offers insights into the needs of unaccompanied refugee adolescents in coping with the psychosocial challenges experienced in their daily lives.

The purpose of this paper is to examine any unanticipated effects of an educational intervention among newly arrived adult immigrants attending a language school in Denmark.

A qualitative case study was conducted including interviews with nine informants, observations of two complete intervention courses and an analysis of the official intervention documents.

This case study exemplifies how the basic normative assumptions behind an immigrant-oriented intervention and the intrinsic power relations therein may be challenged and negotiated by the participants. In particular, the assumed (power) relations inherent in immigrant-oriented educational health interventions, in which immigrants are in a novice position, are challenged, as the immigrants are experienced adults (and parents) in regard to healthcare. The paper proposes that such unexpected conditions for the implementation – different from the assumed conditions – not only challenge the implementation of the intervention but also potentially produce unanticipated yet valuable effects.

Newly arrived immigrants represent a hugely diverse and heterogeneous group of people with differing values and belief systems regarding health and healthcare. A more detailed study is necessary to fully understand their health seeking behaviours in the Danish context.

Offering newly arrived immigrants a course on health and the healthcare system as part of the mandatory language courses is a new and underexplored means of providing and improving newly arrived immigrants knowledge and use of the Danish healthcare system.