Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to provide insights into asylum refugees and the challenges they face. The interventions used with asylum refugees who experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are explained. This chapter uses theory-based evaluation (TBE) to explore the efficacy of refugee resettlement used by clergy, staff, and volunteers. Additionally, this chapter highlighted Catholic charities, acculturation, acculturation stress with refugees, and explained the Burundi refugee population in Cincinnati, United States. Refugees have been displaced and experience stress in society. Therefore, having a clear understanding of who refugees are is important, especially when assisting them with the resettlement process.
TopBackground
Thompson et al. (2018) defined refugee as:
Someone who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country. (p.66)
Refugees experience acculturation as they transition to their new country of residence. So, what is acculturation? It can be defined “as a unidimensional process, that is, a change from the country of origin’s heritage culture towards the mainstream culture in the country of residence” (Phalet & Baysu, 2020, p. 4). Several researchers have documented the acculturation stress that immigrants experience (Berry 2006; Dillon et al., 2013; Kamimura et al., 2020). Dillon et al. (2013) noted that immigrants’ acculturative stress could be viewed as the psychological strain that is based on challenges they face as they adapt to the new country’s cultural differences. Acculturative stress is connected to several factors, such as anxiety, suicide, alcohol abuse, negative health outcomes, depression, and others (Dillon et al., 2013). Kamimura et al. (2020) mentioned that refugees experience stress, and worldwide there are 70.8 million refugees displayed, while in the United States, there are 22,500 resettled refugees. Kamimura et al. (2020) used a Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Scale to measure stress. The scale consists of 5 subscales, 24 items, and used a Likert-type 4-point scale. Kamimura et al. (2020) study showed that resettlement could be stressful, and the stressor for refugees can involve unemployment, discrimination, and language barriers. In another study, Sangalng et al. (2018) examined acculturative stress with refugees and used a 10-item scale. Sangalng et al. (2018) found that more psychological distress, evaluated depressive disorder, and lower odds of anxiety experienced by refugees are connected to acculturative stress.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Acculturative Stress: Is psychosocial strain that immigrants face while adjusting in a new or different country.
Immigrant: Individuals who live in other counties that is not their country of origin.
Interventions: Support strategies to help a situation improve.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Traumatic events.
Challenges: Barriers that people can face in everyday life.
Volunteers: Individual who give up their time without being paid.
Refugees: Individual who may not be able to go back to their country of birth because they fear persecution.