What is a healthy community? Refugee youth’s perspective on freedom, safety, and trust: a photovoice project

ABSTRACT

Immigration and forced migration have been on the rise globally because of a variety of political, social and economic factors. The association between forced migration and poor mental health is well documented, with many families and youth experiencing violence, loss of identity or status, racism, and discrimination. Despite these adversities, families and youth have leveraged individual and collective resources that have assisted in their integration, and overall well-being as they have acculturated to the United States (US). To explore the phenomenon of what refugee youth viewed as a healthy community during their transition to the US, a community based participatory research photovoice study was conducted with youth between 13-18 years of age. Through the photovoice process three main themes were identified by refugee youth that they felt were critical in making a healthy, thriving community, with thematic analysis revealing additional subthemes. Participants described how these themes were not only intertwined, but necessary for their social, emotional, and mental stability and the stability of members of their community. Implications regarding how to apply these results in both the clinical and human service fields are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Community based participatory research
• photovoice
• refugee
• community
• wellness

Acknowledgements

Support for this project was provided by Well Connected Communities Wave 2 grant funds ID#142629. Well Connected Communities is a nationwide effort to cultivate wellness led by America’s Cooperative Extension System (in partnership with National 4-H Council) with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that is working to ensure that life-long health and well-being are within everyone’s reach.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the USDA Hatch Fund Project [27-007]; Well Connected Communities Wave 2 grant funds [ID#142629]; Well Connected Communities Wave 2 grant funds ID#142629 [ID#142629].