ADOLESCENT REFUGEE PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOSOCIAL WELLBEING

1. ADOLESCENT REFUGEE PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOSOCIAL WELLBEING Dr. Jaya Earnest & Ms. Sue Gillieatt Centre for International health, Curtin University of Technology

2. PHASES OF CONFLICT AND DISPLACEMENT

3. PEOPLE’S REACTION TO CONFLICT • Within a conflict situation, there are individuals, families and groups who: • remain in their home areas ("stayees"); • are displaced from their homes but remain within the boundaries of their country of origin (internally displaced persons); • cross an international border to escape the conflict (refugees).

4. UNHCR STATISTICS 2004 UNHCR's founding mandate defines refugees as persons who are outside their country and cannot return owing to a well-founded fear of persecution. At the start of 2004, the number of people 'of concern' to UNHCR stood at just over 17 million, down from more than 20 million the year before – the lowest total in at least a decade.

5. IMPACT OF ARMED CONFLICT ON CHILDREN DEATH: 2 MILLION SERIOUS INJURY: 6 MILLION ORPHANED OR UNACCOMPANIED: 1 MILLION HOMELESS: 12 MILLION EMOTIONALLY TRAUMATISED: UNKNOWN

6. THE IMPACT OF CONFLICT AND DISPLACEMENT ON ADOLESCENTS • Adolescent girls (both married and unmarried) who become pregnant may find themselves without support • Unaccompanied minors, whether boys or girls, are especially vulnerable to violence and forms of sexual exploitation. • They are also far more vulnerable to other forms of high-risk behaviour, including substance abuse. • The ideas of aggressive masculinity inculcated in adolescent soldiers and boys can have a profound and long-term negative impact on their health.

7. REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT The transition from one country to another for refugees often encompasses changes in every aspect of daily life from the language one speaks to the ways in which groups and individuals interact.

8. ACCULTURATION AND ACCULTURATIVE STRESS Once refugees resettle in a host country, new belief systems, values and mores challenge their adjustment. During acculturation four broad phases take place: contact, conflict, crisis and eventual adaptation (Papadopoulos 2001, Williams and Berry 1991).

9. REFUGEE CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE • Many refugee children have encountered: (Burnett & Peel, 2001; Davies & Webb, 2000). • violent death of a parent, • torture towards a family member(s), • child-soldier activity, • bombardments and shelling, • detention and beatings, • sexual assault, • disappearance of family members/friends, • witness to parental fear and panic, • separation

10. PSYCHOSOCIAL WELL-BEING OF ADOLESCENT REFUGEE CHILDREN Sourander (1998) found that in addition to PTSD, depression and anxiety were most common among their participants. Factors to have a negative influence on the mental health in refugee children and adolescents include low socio-economic status, long-term unemployment of particularly fathers, school problems, language problems and discrimination (Hyman et al, 2000; Rousseau, 1995).

11. AUSTRALIA AND PSYCHOSOCIAL HEALTH There is now clearer recognition that, specific attention must be paid to the cultural dimensions of mental health service design and the specific needs of indigenous people, immigrants and refugees (Minas et al, 1996). In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the mental health of children and adolescents in Australia (Minas & Sawyer, 2002). Today’s migration patterns have shifted in ways that bring new challenges to the field of refugee mental health (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003).

12. SCHOOL PSYCHOSOCIAL HEALTH PROMOTION This process aims at giving power, knowledge, skills and necessary resources to individuals, families and the communities (European Commission, 1999). Layne et al in 2001 used focus group discussions, stress management, relaxation skills and practical problem solving skills with Bosnian school students and had significant reduction in PTSDs. Atkins et al (2003) used a similar School Psychosocial Health promotion and intervention approach in Chicago with low-income African-American populations.

13. SCHOOL PSYCHOSOCIAL HEALTH PROMOTION School Psychosocial Health Promotion takes place outside of clinical settings and thus reduces power disparities. Schools also provide a potential avenue to engage parents and create a bridge between the worlds of family and school (Delgado-Galtan, 1991).

14. THE MAIN AIM OF THE STUDY This research study interweaves migration, resettlement and identity formation into an understanding of psychosocial wellbeing of adolescent refugee children in 3 government schools in Western Australia.

15. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH ARE TO • Examine how adolescent refugee children perceive the process of migration, resettlement and consequent acculturation; • Discuss refugee adolescent views of their social environment, the nature of everyday experiences at school, struggles over language and skill acquisition and formation of emerging identities; • Identify the multiple stressors that refugee adolescents and youth have to cope with during the process of acculturation and adaptation; • Develop new strategies for school based psychosocial well-being promotion.

16. GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS WITH INTENSIVE ENGLISH CENTRES (IECs) IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA Primary Schools: Beaconsfield (96 students), Highgate (90 students), Koondola (160 students). Nollamara (60 students), Mandurah (20 students), Mirrabooka (45 students). Secondary Schools: Balga (94 students), Perth Modern (86 students). Post Compulsory: Cyril Jackson (124 students). Nationalities Represented Afghanistan, Bosnia, China, Congo, Croatia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Sierra Leona, Somalia, Sudan

17. THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK(Psychosocial Working Group, 2003). The conceptual framework used for this study rests on the assumption that psychosocial well-being of an individual is defined with respect to three core domains: human capacity, social ecology and culture and values. These domains map in turn the human social and cultural capital available to people responding to the challenges of prevailing events and conditions

18. THE INTERLOCKING CIRCLES OF HUMAN CAPACITY, SOCIAL ECOLOGY AND VALUES(PSYCHOSOCIAL WORKING GROUP, 2003) Economic Resources Social Ecology Human Capacity Culture & Values Physical Resources Environmental Resources

19. THE RESEARCH DESIGN This study is qualitative using a within method triangulation approach (Meijer, P.; et al, 2002). The research used the case study approach and made use of the constructive and critical theory perspective (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). The critical theory perspective implies that reality is shaped over time by social, political, cultural, ethnic and gender factors (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). This study draws on a constructive perspective, in which the researchers and subjects create their own understanding (von Glasersfeld, 1987; 1993).

20. METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION • The qualitative approach includes • in-depth interviews, • focus group discussions, • school visits • key informant interviews and • reflective narratives • (Punch, 1998, Erickson, 1998).

21. THE RESEARCH SETTING AND SAMPLE The data for this research is being obtained from 45 secondary school students from 3 government secondary schools in Perth. The schools are Perth Modern School, Balga High and Cyril Jackson Senior High School. The adolescent and young refugees are in the age group of 13 to 19 years. The researcher is working closely with the Department of Community Development, Department of Education, Office of Children and Youth and the Office of Multicultural Interests.

22. KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS In-depth interviews are being held with a small number of key informants such as parents, teachers and school psychologists, departmental officers, local staff from: Case for Refugees and AsETTS Community leaders exploring the issues of community support, Services provided to refugee children.

23. ANALYSIS OF THE INTERVIEW THEMES • Analysis will grapple with two notable characteristics. • The first has to do with the role, flight, displacement and resettlement plays in students’ construction and understanding of being a refugee and their current sense of belonging in their new nation state. • The second characteristic is connected with the influence that changing realities exert on learning processes. The need by the resettled refugee adolescents to acquire new skills and cope with procedures in the resettled country will also be explored.

24. PHOTOS FROM KOSOVO

25. MEMORIES FROM EAST TIMOR

26. CHILDREN IN RWANDA

27. This study is ongoing and is supported by a Healthway Starter Grant • Preliminary interviews analysis indicates that: • Refugee adolescent females cope better and have more success at school; • Schools need more support to help adolescent refugee children; • Alternative frameworks may be needed for adolescents who have never been to school or who have had disrupted school years; • Government departments need to work together to develop strategies and interventions.