Publication Cover
Global Public Health
An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice
Volume 19, 2024 - Issue 1
631
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

‘I am because you are’: Community support as a bridge to mental wellbeing for resettled African refugee women living in Rhode Island

, , , , , & show all
Article: 2314106 | Received 07 Jul 2023, Accepted 29 Jan 2024, Published online: 09 Feb 2024

References

  • Babatunde-Sowole, O., Power, T., Jackson, D., Davidson, P. M., & DiGiacomo, M. (2016). Resilience of African migrants: An integrative review. Health Care for Women International, 37(9), 946–963. https://doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2016.1158263
  • Balaam, M.-C., Kingdon, C., Thomson, G., Finlayson, K., & Downe, S. (2016). ‘We make them feel special’: The experiences of voluntary sector workers supporting asylum seeking and refugee women during pregnancy and early motherhood. Midwifery, 34, 133–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2015.12.003
  • Betancourt, T. S., Frounfelker, R., Mishra, T., Hussein, A., & Falzarano, R. (2015). Addressing health disparities in the mental health of refugee children and adolescents through community-based participatory research: A study in 2 communities. American Journal of Public Health, 105(S3), S475–S482. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302504
  • Birks, M., & Mills, J. (2015). Grounded theory: A practical guide. 2nd ed. London: SAGE.
  • Birman, D., & Tran, N. (2008). Psychological distress and adjustment of Vietnamese refugees in the United States: Association with pre- and postmigration factors. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78(1), 109–120. https://doi.org/10.1037/0002-9432.78.1.109
  • Bogic, M., Njoku, A., & Priebe, S. (2015). Long-term mental health of war-refugees: A systematic literature review. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 15(1), 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-015-0064-9
  • Byfield, J. A., Brown, C. A., Parsons, T., & Sikainga, A. A. (2015). Africa and world. Cambridge University Press.
  • Chen, W., Hall, B. J., Ling, L., & Renzaho, A. M. (2017). Pre-migration and post-migration factors associated with mental health in humanitarian migrants in Australia and the moderation effect of post-migration stressors: Findings from the first wave data of the BNLA cohort study. The Lancet Psychiatry, 4(3), 218–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30032-9
  • Chun Tie, Y., Birks, M., & Francis, K. (2019). Grounded theory research: A design framework for novice researchers. SAGE Open Medicine, 7, 2050312118822927. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050312118822927
  • DiClemente-Bosco, K., Neville, S. E., Berent, J. M., Farrar, J., Mishra, T., Abdi, A., Beardslee, W. R., Creswell, J. W., & Betancourt, T. S. (2023). Understanding mechanisms of change in a family-based preventive mental health intervention for refugees by refugees in New England. Transcultural Psychiatry, 60(1), 142–155. https://doi.org/10.1177/13634615221111627
  • Farhood, L. F., Fares, S., Sabbagh, R., & Hamady, C. (2016). PTSD and depression construct: Prevalence and predictors of co-occurrence in a South Lebanese civilian sample. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 7(1), 31509. https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v7.31509
  • Goessmann, K., Ibrahim, H., & Neuner, F. (2020). Association of war-related and gender-based violence with mental health states of Yazidi women. JAMA Network Open, 3(9), e2013418. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.13418
  • Gottvall, M., Vaez, M., & Saboonchi, F. (2019). Social support attenuates the link between torture exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder among male and female Syrian refugees in Sweden. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 19(1), 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-019-0214-6
  • Greene, M. C., Rees, S., Likindikoki, S., Bonz, A. G., Joscelyne, A., Kaysen, D., & Tiwari, A. (2019). Developing an integrated intervention to address intimate partner violence and psychological distress in Congolese refugee women in Tanzania. Conflict and Health, 13(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-019-0222-0
  • Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1989). Fourth generation evaluation. SAGE.
  • Harrison, A., Short, S. E., & Tuoane-Nkhasi, M. (2014). Re-focusing the gender lens: Caregiving women, family roles and HIV/AIDS vulnerability in Lesotho. AIDS and Behavior, 18(3), 595–604. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0515-z
  • Hawkins, M. M., Schmitt, M. E., Adebayo, C. T., Weitzel, J., Olukotun, O., Christensen, A. M., & Dressel, A. (2021). Promoting the health of refugee women: A scoping literature review incorporating the social ecological model. International Journal for Equity in Health, 20(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-021-01387-5
  • Henkelmann, J.-R., de Best, S., Deckers, C., Jensen, K., Shahab, M., Elzinga, B., & Molendijk, M. (2020). Anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in refugees resettling in high-income countries: Systematic review and meta-analysis. BJPsych Open, 6(4), e68. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2020.54
  • Idemudia, E., & Boehnke, K. (2020). Viewpoints of other scientists on migration, mental health and PTSD: Review of relevant literature. In Psychosocial experiences of African migrants in six European countries (pp. 83–117). Springer International Publishing.
  • Jankovic-Rankovic, J., Oka, R. C., Meyer, J. S., & Gettler, L. T. (2020). Forced migration experiences, mental well-being, and nail cortisol among recently settled refugees in Serbia. Social Science & Medicine, 258, 113070. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113070
  • Jorgenson, K. C., & Nilsson, J. E. (2021). The relationship among trauma, acculturation, and mental health symptoms in Somali refugees. The Counseling Psychologist, 49(2), 196–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000020968548
  • Kiteki, B. (2016). The case for resilience in African refugees: A literature review and suggestions for future research. VITAS, 66, 1–21.
  • Kraemer Diaz, A. E., Spears Johnson, C. R., & Arcury, T. A. (2015). Perceptions that influence the maintenance of scientific integrity in community-based participatory research. Health Education & Behavior, 42(3), 393–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198114560016
  • Lindlof, T. R., & Taylor, B. C. (2002). Qualitative communication research methods (2nd ed.). SAGE.
  • Lloyd Michener, M., Cook, J., Ahmed, S. M., Yonas, M. A., Coyne-Beasley, T., & Aguilar-Gaxiola, S. (2012). Aligning the goals of community-engaged research: Why and how academic health centers can successfully engage with communities to improve health. Academic Medicine, 87(3), 285–291. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e3182441680
  • Mahajan, S., Meyer, S. B., & Neiterman, E. (2021). Identifying the impact of social networks on mental and emotional health seeking behaviours amongst women who are refugees from Syria living in Canada. Global Public Health, 1–17.
  • Meger, S. (2010). Rape of the Congo: Understanding sexual violence in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 28(2), 119–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001003736728
  • Nest, M. W., Grignon, F., & Kisangani, E. F. (2006). The Democratic Republic of Congo: Economic dimensions of war and peace. Lynne Rienner.
  • Nolen, S. (2005). 'Not women anymore...': The Congo's rape survivors face pain, shame and AIDS.
  • Omaha World-Herald. (2017). Rhode Island refugee resettlement. Omaha World-Herald.
  • Peterman, A., Palermo, T., & Bredenkamp, C. (2011). Estimates and determinants of sexual violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. American Journal of Public Health, 101(6), 1060–1067. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2010.300070
  • Porter, M., & Haslam, N. (2005). Predisplacement and postdisplacement factors associated with mental health of refugees and internally displaced persons: A meta-analysis. JAMA, 294(5), 602–612. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.294.5.602
  • QSR International. (2020). NVivo qualitative data analysis software version 12.
  • Ramzy, L. M., Jackman, D. M., Soberay, A., & Pledger, J. (2017). Refugee resettlement in the U.S.: The impact of contextual factors on psychological distress. Universal Journal of Public Health, 5(7), 354–361. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujph.2017.050703
  • Scoglio, A. A., & Salhi, C. (2021). Violence exposure and mental health among resettled refugees: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 22(5), 1192–1208. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838020915584
  • Siriwardhana, C., Ali, S. S., Roberts, B., & Stewart, R. (2014). A systematic review of resilience and mental health outcomes of conflict-driven adult forced migrants. Conflict and Health, 8(1), 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/1752-1505-8-13
  • Smigelsky, M. A., Gill, A. R., Foshager, D., Aten, J. D., & Im, H. (2017). “My heart is in his hands”: The lived spiritual experiences of Congolese refugee women survivors of sexual violence. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 45(4), 261–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/10852352.2016.1197754
  • Stark, L., Asghar, K., Yu, G., Bora, C., Baysa, A. A., & Falb, K. L. (2017a). Prevalence and associated risk factors of violence against conflict-affected female adolescents: A multi-country, cross-sectional study. Journal of Global Health, 7(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.07.010416
  • Stark, L., Sommer, M., Davis, K., Asghar, K., Baysa, A. A., Abdela, G., & Falb, K. (2017b). Disclosure bias for group versus individual reporting of violence amongst conflict-affected adolescent girls in DRC and Ethiopia. PLoS One, 12(4), e0174741. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174741
  • Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). The basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. SAGE.
  • Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1997). Grounded theory in practice. SAGE.
  • Tlapek, S. M. (2015). Women’s status and intimate partner violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(14), 2526–2540. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514553118
  • Tracy, S. J. (2010). Qualitative quality: Eight “big-tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 837–851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121
  • UNHCR. (2020). DR Congo emergency: The UN refugee agency.
  • UNHCR. (2023). Figure at a glance. Geneva, Switzerland. https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html
  • Vu, A., Adam, A., Wirtz, A., Pham, K., Rubenstein, L., Glass, N., Beyrer, C., & Singh, S. (2014). The prevalence of sexual violence among female refugees in complex humanitarian emergencies: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Currents, 6.
  • Wachter, K., & Gulbas, L. E. (2018). Social support under siege: An analysis of forced migration among women from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Social Science & Medicine, 208, 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.04.056
  • Wachter, K., Heffron, L. C., Snyder, S., Nsonwu, M. B., & Busch-Armendariz, N. B. (2016). Unsettled integration: Pre- and post-migration factors in Congolese refugee women’s resettlement experiences in the United States. International Social Work, 59(6), 875–889. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872815580049
  • Wallerstein, N., & Duran, B. (2006). Using community-based participatory research to address health disparities. Health Promotion Practice, 7(3), 312–323. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839906289376
  • World Health Organization. (2022). Mental health: Concepts in mental health. Retrieved November 7, 2023, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response