Mental health & psychosocial well-being
Prevalences of mental distress and its associated factors in unaccompanied refugee minors in Germany
Prevalences for mental disorders within minor refugees are comparatively high and heterogeneous. To reduce heterogeneity and identify high-risk subgroups, we compared unaccompanied refugee minors (URM) to accompanied refugee minors (ARM) regarding depressive symptoms and mental distress. Furthermore, we examined associative factors of mental distress in URM on a broad scale. We conducted a survey with a cross-sectional design in four…
2023
Integration & assimilation
Adult education & training
Caregivers
Gender
English
Resilience & adaptation
Unaccompanied & separated children
Mental health & psychosocial well-being
Formal education
Tertiary education
Detention & deportation
Language education
Germany
Surveys & questionnaire
Cross-sectional study
Regression analysis
Vocational & technical education
Creative (en)counterspaces: Engineering valuable contact for young refugees via solidarity arts workshops in Thessaloniki, Greece
This article explores the role of non-formal arts education in Thessaloniki, Greece for fostering contact considered valuable by the young refugee community. Drawing on accounts of their daily life, gathered over eight months of ethnographic fieldwork for a project on their post-15 educational participation, the article details how around the city, young refugees (aged 15-25 years) experience conflicted encounters involving…
2023
With a little help from my friends? Acculturation and mental health in Arabic-speaking refugee youth living with their families
Introduction: Refugee youth are often faced with the compounding challenges of heightened exposure to traumatic events and acculturating to a new country during a developmental period when their sense of self is still forming. This study investigated whether refugee youth's acculturation orientation (separation, integration, marginalization, and assimilation) is associated with depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms and aimed to identify additional…
2023
Teaching refugee students: the role of teachers’ attitudes towards cultural diversity
This article focuses on the role of teachers' attitudes towards cultural diversity in teaching refugee students in Germany. We examine which patterns of attitudes towards cultural diversity are common among teachers, how these depend on their professional experience and how they correlate with the perceptions of problems in teaching refugee students. Using data from the project 'Changing schools in a…
2023
Child refugee’s social skills and resilience: Moderating effects of time in refugee camp, parental education, and preschool attendance
In this cross-sectional study, we examine the relationship between social skills and resilience and the moderating effects of time spent in a refugee camp, parental education, and schooling on Syrian children who have been forcibly displaced to Turkey. Five hundred and twenty-six preschool-aged children (56.3% female, M-age = 5.79) were recruited to participate in this research. The Turkish version of…
2023
Models for Organising the Education of Ukrainian Children Who Have Fled the War in Lithuanian Municipalities: Psychological, Material, and Linguistic Support
This article presents the situation of the education of Ukrainian refugee children in Lithuania. It analyses the political and practical actions taken by the Lithuanian state when, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, schools unexpectedly received a large number of children from Ukraine who had not come of their own free will, having fled the war. This article…
2023
Refugee Students’ Psychosocial Well-Being: The Case of a Refugee Hospitality Centre in Greece
Education can be important for assisting the psychosocial well-being of marginalized communities such as refugees and contributes to the effective processing of feelings and isolation prevention by mitigating the long-term effects of trauma and developing strategies to manage life changes. A small-scale study was conducted on 21 students from a Refugee Hospitality Center in Greece to investigate their psychosocial well-being…
2023
Struggles of Refugee-Receiving Schools in Turkey
A total of 82.4 million persons had emigrated from their countries by the end of 2020 because of global conflicts. A total of 3.6 million settled in Turkey, which became the most refugee-receiving country. Among those resettled in Turkey, the majority were school-aged children, and schools became an inseparable instrument in the adaptation process. Thus, schools play a vital role…
2023
School-based mental health screenings with Ukrainian adolescent refugees in Germany: Results from a pilot study
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, high numbers of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have left the country. As of today, Germany has accepted more than one million refugees fleeing from Ukraine including similar to 200,000 children and adolescents registered in German schools. Since refugee minors are typically affected by high rates of mental health issues, the…
2023
The Requirement of a Situated Approach in the Treatment of Preschool Children with a Refugee Background: Discussion of a Case Study [Die Notwendigkeit eines situierten Ansatzes bei der Behandlung von Vorschulkindern mit Fluchthintergrund: Diskussion eines Fallbeispiels]
In recent years, increasingly more German-born preschool children of refugee parents have been referred to the 'specialized consultation service for refugee minors' of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University Hospital Munster. This 'change' in the use of the above-mentioned consultation service could be understood as a 'natural' consequence of the family life cycle of forced migrants…
2023
Asylum seekers’ experiences of participatory barriers in the educative pre-integrational programmes
How a society supports its most vulnerable individuals can serve as a barometer of social inclusion. By engaging in previous debates on how the influx and resettlement of refugees and asylum seekers challenge European educational spaces, this study investigates asylum seekers' non-engagement and non-participation in one engaged learning project in Finland (the KOTO project - Kotoutuminen taidolla ja taiteella [Integration…
2023
Changes in life satisfaction among unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee minors who participated in teaching recovery techniques (TRT)
BackgroundUnaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee minors report low life satisfaction and high levels of mental health problems, nevertheless they often do not seek or receive help for their problems. Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) is a low-threshold, five sessions intervention developed to reduce distressing war- and disaster-related trauma reactions among children and youth. In this study, we investigate if TRT can contribute…
2023
Educational integration of forcibly displaced persons in the EU countries [Integración educativa de personas desplazadas forzadamente en los países de la UE]
The aim of this work was to study the policy of the EU member states on the educational integration of forcibly displaced persons from Ukraine and to identify its consequences. Interviews were conducted with forcibly displaced persons from Ukraine to six EU countries. The School Motivation Questionnaire, by Luskanova, and the Phillips' School Anxiety Scale were used. The hosting countries…
2023
Using composite case material to develop trauma‐informed psychoeducation for social care workers looking after unaccompanied minors in residential care in Ireland
Although the provision of trauma‐informed psychoeducation for carers of adolescents who have experienced traumatic events has been shown to be a fundamental aspect of the recovery process, it is not routinely made available to the social care workers who look after unaccompanied asylum‐seeking adolescents living in residential care. Furthermore, the development of the content of trauma‐informed psychoeducation is rarely informed…
2022
The mediating role of intercultural communication apprehension in the relationship between ethnocentrism and attitude towards asylum-seekers of nursing students
Background: In order to provide culturally appropriate care, nursing students' intercultural communication anxiety, ethnocentrism and attitudes towards refugees should be examined. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the relationship among ethnocentrism and attitudes towards refugees in nursing students and to determine whether intercultural communication apprehension could mediate the relationship between ethnocentrism and attitude towards asylum-seekers. Design: A cross-sectional, descriptive design.…
2022
A Music Therapy Intervention for Refugee Children and Adolescents in Schools: A Process Evaluation Using a Mixed Method Design
Refugee children and adolescents have often experienced negative or traumatic events, which are associated with stress and mental health problems. A specific music therapy intervention is developed for this group in school settings. The aim of the present study was to set the first steps in the implementation of this intervention. A process evaluation was performed using a mixed method…
2022
Thrown in at the deep end? Perceptions of burdens, gains, and contributions to the integration of refugee students among teachers with(out) target group-specific professional knowledge
In Germany, young migrants and refugees whose German language skills are not sufficient for attending regular classes at school are assigned to so-called “preparation classes”. As the name implies, the main objective of these classes is to teach German language skills and thereby prepare students for regular classes or vocational education and training. Teachers in these classes face special challenges:…
2022
Challenges in the Medical and Psychosocial Care of the Paediatric Refugee—A Systematic Review
Background: After the invasion of Ukraine, neighbouring countries were forced to find systemic solutions to provide medical care to those fleeing the war, including children, as soon as possible. In order to do this, it is necessary to know the communication problems with refugee minors and find proposals for their solutions. Methods: A systematic review of the literature from 2016…
2022
Effect of a self-help group intervention using Teaching Recovery Techniques to improve mental health among Syrian refugees in Norway: a randomized controlled trial
Background: Mental health symptoms among refugees are common, often related to chronic pain disorders, and their management is usually challenging. Studies evaluating the effect of group therapies among adult refugees to improve mental health symptoms are scarce. Aims: To assess the effect of Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) on mental health and to reduce pain disorder among adult Syrian refugees. Method:…
2022
Understanding Participation Experiences in Sport Programs for the Acculturation of Refugee Youth: A Comparative Study of Two Different Programs in the US and Sweden
Sports can help refugees mitigate traumas, connect with others, and learn positive values. In this illustrative comparative study, we compare two sport programs for the acculturation of refugees in the US and Sweden. Our aim is to describe both programs, compare them with the literature, and present suggestions for the field. Hence, we placed the program participants at the center…
2022
Social Engagement and Cultural Adaptation of Young Refugees Through Gaming and Playful Design
The document addresses one of the main themes of the present day, i.e., the problem of forced migration—commonly referred to as seeking refuge. The target user of this study is exiled children who, in most cases, arrive at their destination alone and with few or no primary survival conditions. UNHCR (2015) points out that more than 65 million people worldwide…
2022
Mental health problems in refugee and immigrant primary school children in Flanders, Belgium
Background: European countries face the challenge of promoting refugee and immigrant children’s well-being within their host communities, invoking the necessity of adequate mental health assessment. This study aims to contribute to document the psychosocial well-being of primary school refugee and non-refugee immigrant children in Flanders, Belgium. Method: A total of 120 children (8–12 years old) with migration backgrounds participated in the…
2022
Experiences of forced migration: learning for educators and learners: a report
A combination of structural barriers, inadequate student welfare provision and the absence of psycho-social and academic support make higher education access for forcibly displaced students challenging. Many of these students will have experienced many stressful and potentially traumatic events that may have or may continue to impact their mental health and wellbeing. This article draws on reflections by educators and…
2022
Mental Health of Refugee and Non-refugee Migrant Young People in European Secondary Education: The Role of Family Separation, Daily Material Stress and Perceived Discrimination in Resettlement
While scholarly literature indicates that both refugee and non-refugee migrant young people display increased levels of psychosocial vulnerability, studies comparing the mental health of the two groups remain scarce. This study aims to further the existing evidence by examining refugee and non-refugee migrants’ mental health, in relation to their migration history and resettlement conditions. The mental health of 883 refugee…
2022
German Language Acquisition of Refugee Children—The Role of Preschools and Language Instruction
Mastering the language of the destination country is key to immigrant and refugee children's educational success. Refugee children typically face the challenge of starting or continuing their educational carrier in a completely new context and in a completely new language. In this study, we examine the role of preschool attendance and formal language instruction in supporting young refugee children to…
2022
Feasibility of a randomised trial of Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) with refugee youth: results from a pilot of the Swedish UnaccomPanied yOuth Refugee Trial (SUPpORT)
Background: Although post-traumatic stress is prevalent among unaccompanied refugee minors (URM), there are few evidence-based psychological interventions for this group. Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) is a brief, manualised intervention for trauma-exposed youth, which has shown promising results in exploratory studies. The aim of the present study was to assess the feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial (RCT) evaluating the…
2022
Supporting the inclusion of displaced children from Ukraine in education: considerations, key principles and practices for the school year 2022-2023
Millions of children and young people are fleeing the war in Ukraine and arriving in the European Union. The number of children and adolescents arriving from Ukraine is unprecedented in its scale in such a short time span. Children who have suffered the trauma of war and displacement are in need of support, including quick access to education and training.…
2022
Understanding the experiences of school belonging amongst secondary school students with refugee backgrounds
Research into refugee students’ settlement in host countries highlights school belonging as essential to their wellbeing and academic achievement. This research aimed to understand how secondary school refugee students experience school belonging in the North East of England. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to understand the views of refugee students. Four superordinate themes were developed: agency, participation, safety and separation.…
2022
Parental Posttraumatic Stress and School Performance in Refugee Children
Refugee children in the Nordic countries have been reported to perform poorly in school and carry a high burden of familial posttraumatic stress. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of maternal and paternal posttraumatic stress on the school performance of refugee children. We used national register data on school grades at age 15–16 along with demographic and migration…
2022
Labour market marginalisation in young refugees and their majority peers in Denmark and Sweden: The role of common mental disorders and secondary school completion
Background Due to the circumstances of their early lives, young refugees are at risk of experiencing adverse labour market and health outcomes. The post-settlement environment is thought to play a decisive role in determining how this vulnerability plays out. This study compared trends in labour market marginalisation in young refugees and their majority peers during early adulthood in two national…
2022
Non-verbal cognitive development, learning, and symptoms of PTSD in 3- to 6-year-old refugee children
As IQ tests are commonly used as key assessment method, we address the question whether our commonly used standardized IQ tests are appropriate for children from families of diverse cultures and different educational levels in a refugee population. We examined 109 refugee children aged 3–7 years (M = 5.10 years, SD = 1.25) with the “Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children “ (KABC-II;…
2022
Hahnefeld A.
Sukale T.
Weigand E.
Dudek V.
Münch K.
Aberl S.
Eckler L.V.
Nehring I.
Friedmann A.
Plener P.L.
Fegert J.M.
Mall V.
Caregivers
Gender
English
Mental health & psychosocial well-being
Assessment
Camp setting
Formal education
Language education
Germany
Primary education
Experimental & quasi-experimental study
Early childhood education
Special education
Cognitive learning & development
Randomised control trial
Correlational analysis
Effectiveness of Promotive and Preventive Psychosocial Interventions on Improving the Mental Health of Finnish-Born and Immigrant Adolescents
Background: Schools are considered natural environments in which to enhance students’ social–emotional skills and mental health in general, but they can be especially important for students with refugee and immigrant backgrounds. The current study tested the effectiveness of two school-based interventions in enhancing the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents of native, refugee, and immigrant backgrounds. It further analyzed the…
2022
Working With the Encounter: A Descriptive Account and Case Analysis of School-Based Collaborative Mental Health Care for Refugee Children in Leuven, Belgium
Scholars increasingly point toward schools as meaningful contexts in which to provide psychosocial care for refugee children. Collaborative mental health care in school forms a particular practice of school-based mental health care provision. Developed in Canada and inspired by systemic intervention approaches, collaborative mental health care in schools involves the formation of an interdisciplinary care network, in which mental health…
2022
Practitioners’ perspectives and needs: Developing skills to support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASCs) in experiencing ‘belonging’ in English educational spaces
This article builds on Yuval-Davis’s (2006, 2007, 2011) theories of belonging, in order to relay how practitioners can support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASCs) in developing a positive sense of belonging in educational spaces in England. To do so, the article synthesises literature surrounding theories of belonging, UASCs’ educational access in England and practices supporting UASCs’ educational attainment and sense of…
2022
Effectiveness of psychosocial school interventions in Finnish schools for refugee and immigrant children, “Refugees Well School” in Finland (RWS-FI): a protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial
Background: Schools are natural environments in which to enhance young people’s social and emotional skills, mental health, and contact between diverse groups, including students from refugee and immigrant backgrounds. A layered or tiered provision of services is recommended as it can be effective to meet the needs of war-affected adolescents who variably show mental health problems (such as posttraumatic stress…
2022
Punamäki R.-L.
Kankaanpää R.
Andersen A.
Hilden P.K.
Verelst A.
Derluyn I.
Aalto S.
Vänskä M.
Lepistö R.
Soye E.
Watters C.
Peltonen K.
Integration & assimilation
Caregivers
Teachers & educational staff
English
Access & participation
Resilience & adaptation
Mental health & psychosocial well-being
Intervention
Experimental & quasi-experimental study
Cognitive learning & development
Finland
Randomised control trial
Socio-emotional learning & development
Supporting young Afghans’ education and wellbeing: urgent policy priorities
REUK has 12 years’ experience working with Afghan refugee children and young people in the UK, as well as in Afghanistan, and has published leading research for the United Nations on education for young Afghan refugees in the UK. Drawing on this expertise, this document sets out key urgent policy priorities for supporting the education and psychosocial wellbeing of young…
2021
The educational outcomes of refugee and asylum-seeking children in England
New research from the Education Policy Institute, supported by Unbound Philanthropy, finds that asylum-seeking children who enter the UK separated from their parents are on average over three years behind non-migrant children at school by the time they take their GCSEs. The new EPI working paper, which is the first study to examine the educational outcomes of the majority of…
2021
School-based support for Syrian refugee pupils in Northern Ireland
Over the past 5 years Northern Ireland has welcomed approximately 1,900 Syrian refugees, including almost 700 school-aged children and young people, through the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme (VPRS). Many of these have experienced war and persecution, and a range of additional adversities during and post-migration. Alongside language proficiency, ‘trauma’ has been the most common challenge reported by school staff to…
2021
Promoting the mental health and well-being of first-generation immigrants, asylum seekers and refugee young people in schools: A participatory action research study
Background: There is a dearth of literature that reports on what first-generation immigrants, asylum seekers and refugee young people see as effective self-help tools in matters relating to mental health. Some 50 million first-generation migrant children and young people may have experienced violence, loss and displacement. This can lead to young migrants suffering with negative psychological and social impacts, and…
2021
Ensuring Quality Early Childhood Education for Refugee Children: A New Approach to Teacher Professional Development
The provision of early childhood education (ECE) for refugees is extremely limited in many settings. Where it does exist, programmes are often poorly resourced. While all refugee education is underfunded, ECE is particularly underfunded and under-supported. High-quality ECE can be a powerful avenue for helping young refugee children manage their trauma and for supporting their well-being in the short and…
2021
Academic self-efficacy and future work skills in unaccompanied foreign minors: structural equation analysis according to residence time [Autoeficacia académica y habilidades para el futuro laboral en menores extranjeros no acompañados: Análisis mediante ecuaciones estructurales según tiempo de residencia]
The present study seeks to develop an explanatory model of existing relationships between future work skills and academic self-efficacy of a sample of Unaccompanied foreign minors (UFM) (n = 340) in Spain. The structural model demonstrated that management of cognitive load represents the main future work skill amongst UFM. Nonetheless, adaptive thinking acquires more relevance amongst those who have spent…
2021
Language, Culture, and Instruction in the Classroom: An Exploratory Study of Educators of Refugee Students
As people flee their native countries and migrate to European and other nations in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster, these conflicts not only contribute to the refugee crisis but to the loss of refugee children’s education. Children and youth are placed into classrooms for which they or their teachers may not be suitably prepared. Educators may face…
2021
Refugee education in Turkey: barriers and suggested solutions
Education is among the areas most affected by immigration. Addressing refugee children’s schooling is an important contribution to the refugee crises, which span the world with far-reaching socio-economic effect. This study unpacks the challenges that refugee children, mainly from Syria, face in integrating into primary and secondary public schools in Turkey. It also proposes some tentative resolutions, drawing from the experiences…
2023
Hope Springs Eternal: Exploring the Early Settlement Experiences of Highly Educated Eritrean Refugees in the UK
Millions of people around the world have been forced to flee their homes for socio-economic and political reasons. This paper explores the early settlement experiences of highly educated Eritrean refugees in the UK. It is a phenomenological study informed by narrative interviews with 24 Eritrean refugees who gained a university degree in Eritrea, before migrating to the UK. The participants…
2021
Schools’ and teachers’ roles and challenges in supporting the mental wellbeing of refugee youths: a qualitative study with Swedish teachers
Purpose: Resettled refugee youths are increasingly entering host-country school systems and are at risk of poor mental wellbeing. Schools and teachers are often expected to provide psychosocial support to youths with refugee backgrounds, but the teachers’ views on this expectation are poorly understood. We investigated the question: What do Swedish teachers believe is the role of (1) schools and (2)…
2021
“If only they forgot that I was Syrian and an Arab, I am a human beings too.” Syrian university students’ experiences of being a foreigner: A phenomenological study
Migration is voluntary or forced relocation of individuals from a familiar physical, social, and cultural environment to an unfamiliar one. While migration is a challenging experience, traumatic experiences that happened before and after migrating may have numerous adverse effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate Syrian nursing students’ experiences of being a foreigner before and after migration and…
2021
The psycho-social needs of displaced Syrian youth in Turkish schools: A qualitative study
This study investigates major challenges encountered by Syrian refugee youth in public high schools in Turkey, focusing on three sources of assessment: the refugee students themselves and their parents and educators. Based on qualitative interpretive research methodology, twenty-three individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. The study simultaneously hears the voices of the Syrian refugee students as well as those of their…
2021
School performance of children whose parents suffered torture and war-a register-based study in Denmark
Background: Young refugees and descendants of refugees have different preconditions for learning than their peers without refugee background. Children growing up in families where parents have suffered torture and war trauma may represent a particularly vulnerable group. This study investigates whether children of torture survivors living in Denmark achieved different test scores throughout primary and secondary school compared to children…
2021
Does Studying with the Local Students Effect Psycological Symptoms in Refugee Adolescents? A Controlled Study
Integration of refugees into the education system at the resettlement country is a significant issue. In this study, we investigated how refugee students are affected in terms of psychological symptoms by studying in the same classroom with their local peers. This cross-sectional study was conducted during the school year in Mardin, Turkey. Participants consisted of 105 Syrian refugee adolescents and…
2021
Evaluation of a school-based intervention to promote mental health of refugee youth in Sweden (The RefugeesWellSchool Trial): study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial
Background: Sweden is home to a large and growing population of refugee youths who may be at risk of mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Thus, there is a need for interventions that address mental health problems in these populations. Schools have been identified as an ideal setting for delivering such interventions as they offer a non-stigmatizing…
2021