Resilience among refugee and asylum-seekers: how do unaccompanied Afghan refugee minors in the UK understand their ways of coping, and how are these perceived to be developed?

Lane, Rebecca (2024) Resilience among refugee and asylum-seekers: how do unaccompanied Afghan refugee minors in the UK understand their ways of coping, and how are these perceived to be developed? Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Background: The numbers of forcibly displaced people have been growing exponentially over the last decade, representing a global refugee crisis. By virtue of their status, many have experienced adversity and stressors during the peri-migration period, and prevalence of mental health difficulties among this group has been shown to be high. Research exploring resilience and coping offers insight into promoters of, and pathways to, positive psychosocial adjustment and posttraumatic growth. However, the research body examining resilience and coping among forcibly displaced groups is limited by varying definitions in the literature and lack of consideration of culturally specific influences. It remains unclear if, and how, resilience may be associated with mental health in this population. In addition, little is known about how and from where coping strategies are adopted, and how culture may influence how coping strategies are employed and effective.

Aims: The current portfolio aims to quantitatively synthesise previous literature examining the association between resilience and mental health among forcibly displaced groups. The research also seeks to better understand the context in which resilience manifests through coping, and the origins of coping, in a culturally specific sample of forced migrants.

Methods: This thesis presents a systematic review with meta-analyses investigating the associations between resilience and mental health categories (PTSD, Depression, Anxiety and Psychological Distress) among forcibly displaced populations. The second paper is a qualitative study exploring barriers to, and sources of, coping among 12 Afghan former Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs) using Reflexive Thematic Analysis.

Results: The findings of the systematic review and meta-analyses point to an association between resilience and mental health difficulties in forcibly displaced groups. They also highlight the challenges associated with examining resilience due to significant heterogeneity and varying conceptualisations of the construct, and identify underrepresented groups in the research area, such as URMs. The qualitative study generated three overarching themes that captured participants’ difficulties, coping mechanisms, and perceptions of how coping developed over time: “Difficulties and coping: a series of cumulative challenges and vicious cycles ”; “Roots to coping”; and “Coping is dynamic: the process of change”. Participant narratives highlight barriers and traps to coping, and suggest a role for experiences of early attachment, culture and identity in influencing the ways coping strategies are appraised and developed.

Conclusions: The portfolio sheds light on the challenges of examining resilience in research, particularly across cultures, and suggests a key role for culture and identity in the expression of resilience, influencing the appraisals and adoption of coping strategies.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Nicola Veasy
Date Deposited:	12 Nov 2024 09:47
Last Modified:	12 Nov 2024 09:47
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/97627
DOI:

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