Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 5/2018

01-10-2018 | Original Paper

Tho’ Much is Taken, Much Abides: Asylum Seekers’ Subjective Wellbeing

Author: Debbie C. Hocking

Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health | Issue 5/2018

Login to get access

Abstract

The influence of psychosocial factors on the subjective wellbeing of asylum-seekers residing in host Western countries has scarcely been explored qualitatively. Qualitative data derived from a mixed methods prospective study investigated the subjective wellbeing of 56 community-dwelling asylum-seekers and refugees at baseline and an average of 15.7 months later. Positive and negative experiences over time were explored in relation to self-perceived emotional health. Nineteen positive and 15 negative categories of experience emerged. Distinct psychosocial and protective factors were salient regarding the valence of experiences over time, with positive experiences comprising employment, improved financial circumstances, and social support or connectivity. Negative experiences included news of adversity from one’s homeland, un(der)employment, poor health, and factors relating to the refugee determination process. Positive and negative experiences were contemporaneous, indicating that employment and social support may ameliorate the detrimental impact of traversing the protracted process of refugee status determination for asylum-seekers in particular.
Literature
1.
Miller KE, Worthington GJ, Muzurovic J, Tipping S, Goldman A. Bosnian refugees and the stressors of exile: a narrative study. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2002;72(3):341.CrossRefPubMed
2.
Ryan DA, Dooley B, Benson C. Theoretical perspectives on post-migration adaptation and psychological well-being among refugees: towards a resource-based model. J Refugee Stud. 2008;21(1):1–18.CrossRef
3.
Strijk PJM, van Meijel B, Gamel CJ. Health and social needs of traumatized refugees and asylum seekers: an exploratory study. Perspect Psychiatr Care. 2011;47(1):48–55.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Ryan DA. Toxic asylum. Studies. 2007;96(381):27–36.
5.
Lamb J, Bower P, Rogers A, Dowrick C, Gask L. Access to mental health in primary care: a qualitative meta-synthesis of evidence from the experience of people from ‘hard to reach’ groups. Health. 2012;16(1):76–104.CrossRefPubMed
6.
Ingvarsson L, Egilson ST, Skaptadottir UD. “I want a normal life like everyone else”: daily life of asylum seekers in Iceland. Scand J Occup Ther. 2016:1–9.
7.
Bernardes D, Wright J, Edwards C, Tomkins H, Dlfoz D, Livingstone A. Asylum seekers’ perspectives on their mental health and views on health and social services: contributions for service provision using a mixed-methods approach. Int J Migr Health Soc Care. 2011;6(4):3–19.CrossRef
8.
Smit R, Rugunanan P. From precarious lives to precarious work: the dilemma facing refugees in Gauteng, South Africa. S Afr Rev Soc. 2014;45(2):4–26.
9.
Phillimore J, Goodson L. Problem or opportunity? Asylum seekers, refugees, employment and social exclusion in deprived urban areas. Urban Stud. 2006;43(10):1715–36.CrossRef
10.
11.
Quinn N. Participatory action research with asylum seekers and refugees experiencing stigma and discrimination: the experience from Scotland. Disabil Soc. 2014;29(1):58–70.CrossRef
12.
Werkuyten M, Nekuee S. Subjective well-being, discrimination and cultural conflict: Iranians living in The Netherlands. Soc Indic Res. 1999;47(3):281–306.CrossRef
13.
Papadopoulos I, Lees S, Lay M, Gebrehiwot A. Ethiopian Refugees in the UK: migration, adaptation and settlement experiences and their relevance to health. Ethn Health. 2004;9(1):55–73.CrossRefPubMed
14.
Dupont HJ, Kaplan CD, Verbraeck HT, Braam RV, van de Wijngaart GF. Killing time: drug and alcohol problems among asylum seekers in the Netherlands. Int J Drug Policy. 2005;16(1):27–36.CrossRef
15.
Silove D, Coello M, Tang K, Aroche JR, Soares M, Lingam R, et al. Towards a researcher-advocacy model for asylum seekers: a pilot study amongst East Timorese living in Australia. Transcult Psychiatry. 2002;39(4):452–68.CrossRef
16.
Lusk M, McCallister J, Villalobos G. Mental health among Mexican refugees fleeing violence and trauma. Soc Dev Issues. 2013;35(3):1–17.
17.
18.
Djuretic T, Crawford MJ, Weaver TD. Role of qualitative research to inform design of epidemiological studies: a cohort study of mental health of migrants from the former Yugoslavia. J Ment Health. 2007;16(6):743–55.CrossRef
19.
20.
Keller A, Ford D, Sachs E, Rosenfeld B, Meserve C. From persecution to prison: the health consequences of detention for asylum seekers. New York: Physicians for Human Rights and the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture; 2003.
21.
Mansouri F, Cauchi S. A psychological perspective on Australia’s asylum policies. Int Migr. 2007;45(1):123–48.CrossRef
22.
Hines AM. Linking qualitative and quantitative methods in cross-cultural survey research: techniques from cognitive science. Am J Community Psychol. 1993;21(6):729–46.CrossRef
23.
Hocking DC, Kennedy GA, Sundram S. Social factors ameliorate psychiatric disorders in community-based asylum seekers independent of visa status. Psychiatry Res. 2015;230(2):628–36.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Hocking DC, Kennedy GA, Sundram S. Mental disorders in asylum seekers: the role of the refugee determination process and employment. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2015;203(1):28–32.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Hocking D, Sundram S. Demoralisation syndrome does not explain the psychological profile of community based asylum-seekers. Compr Psychiatry. 2015;63:55–64.CrossRefPubMed
26.
Mollica RF, McDonald LS, Massagli MP, Silove D. Measuring trauma, measuring torture: instructions and guidance on the utilization of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma’s versions of the Hopkins. Cambridge: Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma (HTQ); 2004.
27.
Dohrenwend BP, Shrout PE, Egri G, Mendelsohn FS. Nonspecific psychological distress and other dimensions of psychopathology: measures for use in the general population. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1980;37(11):1229–36.CrossRefPubMed
28.
Silove D, Sinnerbrink I, Field A, Manicavasagar VL, Steel Z. Anxiety, depression and PTSD in asylum-seekers: associations with pre-migration trauma and post-migration stressors. Br J Psychiatry. 1997;170:351–7.CrossRefPubMed
29.
Hocking DC. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield: narratives on the road to asylum. Manuscript submitted for publication 2017.
30.
31.
Glaser BG, Strauss AL. The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers; 2009.
32.
33.
34.
35.
Griffiths MBE. Out of time: the temporal uncertainties of refused asylum seekers and immigration detainees. J Ethn Migr Stud. 2014;40(12):1991–2009.CrossRef
36.
Renner W, Salem I, Ottomeyer K. Posttraumatic stress in asylum seekers from Chechnya, Afghanistan, and West Africa: differential findings obtained by quantitative and qualitative methods in three Austrian samples. In: Wilson JP, Tang CC, editors. Cross-cultural assessment of psychological trauma and PTSD. International and cultural psychology. New York: Springer; 2007. pp. 239–75.CrossRef
37.
Silove D, Steel Z, Susljik I, Frommer N, Loneragan C, Chey T, et al. The impact of the refugee decision on the trajectory of PTSD, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among asylum seekers: a longitudinal study. Am J Disaster Med. 2007;2(6):321–9.PubMed
38.
Gerritsen AA, Bramsen I, Devillé W, van Willigen LH, Hovens JE, van der Ploeg HM. Physical and mental health of Afghan, Iranian and Somali asylum seekers and refugees living in the Netherlands. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2006;41(1):18–26.CrossRefPubMed
39.
Schweitzer RD, Melville F, Steel Z, Lacherez P. Trauma, post-migration living difficulties, and social support as predictors of psychological adjustment in resettled Sudanese refugees. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2006;40(2):179–88.CrossRefPubMed
40.
41.
Bhui K, Craig T, Mohamud S, Warfa N, Stansfeld SA, Thornicroft G, et al. Mental disorders among Somali refugees. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2006;41(5):400–8.CrossRefPubMed
42.
Lie B. A 3-year follow-up study of psychosocial functioning and general symptoms in settled refugees. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2002;106(6):415–25.CrossRefPubMed
43.
Hobfoll SE. The influence of culture, community, and the nested-self in the stress process: advancing conservation of resources theory. Appl Psychol. 2001;50(3):337–421.CrossRef
44.
Renner W, Salem I. Post-traumatic stress in asylum seekers and refugees from Chechnya, Afghanistan, and West Africa: gender differences in symptomatology and coping. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2009;55(2):99–108.CrossRefPubMed
45.
Correa-Velez I, Gifford SM, McMichael C. The persistence of predictors of wellbeing among refugee youth eight years after resettlement in Melbourne, Australia. Soc Sci Med. 2015;142:163–8.CrossRefPubMed
46.
Castaneda AE, Rask S, Koponen P, Suvisaari J, Koskinen S, Härkänen T, et al. The association between discrimination and psychological and social well-being. Psychol Dev Soc J. 2015;27(2):270–92.
47.
48.
Metadata
Title
Tho’ Much is Taken, Much Abides: Asylum Seekers’ Subjective Wellbeing
Author
Debbie C. Hocking
Publication date
01-10-2018
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health / Issue 5/2018
Print ISSN: 1557-1912
Electronic ISSN: 1557-1920
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0664-7

Other articles of this Issue 5/2018

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 5/2018 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Barriers to Physical and Mental Health: Understanding the Intersecting Needs of Cambodian and Latino Residents in Urban Communities

Original Paper

Comparison of Health and Risk Factors of Older, Working-age Australians, Italians and Italian-born Migrants to Australia, with Data from an Italian (PASSI), and an Australian (SAMSS) Risk Factor Surveillance System

Original Paper

An Innovative Mobile Health System to Improve and Standardize Antenatal Care Among Underserved Communities: A Feasibility Study in an Italian Hosting Center for Asylum Seekers

Original Paper

Facilitators and Barriers for Advance Care Planning Among Ethnic and Racial Minorities in the U.S.: A Systematic Review of the Current Literature

Brief Communication

Obesity and Regional Immigrant Density

Original Paper

Sociodemographic and Lifestyle Factors, and Health Conditions of Dominican Adults Living in Puerto Rico