College of Public Health, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.
Department of Family & Community Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), Rootstown, OH, USA.
J Community Health. 2018 Dec;43(6):1028-1036. doi: 10.1007/s10900-018-0518-9.
Women comprise 50% of the refugee population, 25% of whom are of reproductive age. Female refugees are at risk for experiencing significant hardships associated with the refugee experience, including after resettlement. For refugee women, the strength of their personal social networks can play an important role in mitigating the stress of resettlement and can be an influential source of support during specific health events, such as pregnancy. A personal social network analysis was conducted among 45 resettled Bhutanese refugee women who had given birth within the past 2 years in the Akron Metropolitan Area of Northeast Ohio. Data were collected using in-depth interviews conducted in Nepali over a 6-month period in 2016. Size, demographic characteristics of ties, frequency of communication, length of relationship, and strength of connection were the social network measures used to describe the personal networks of participants. A qualitative analysis was also conducted to assess what matters were commonly discussed within networks and how supportive participants perceived their networks to be. Overall, participants reported an average of 3 close personal connections during their pregnancy. The networks were comprised primarily of female family members whom the participant knew prior to resettlement in the U.S. Participants reported their networks as "very close" and perceived their connections to be supportive of them during their pregnancies. These results may be used to guide future research, as well as public health programming, that seeks to improve the pregnancy experiences of resettled refugee women.
女性占难民人口的 50%，其中 25%处于生育年龄。女性难民面临着与难民经历相关的重大困难，包括重新安置后。对于难民妇女来说，其个人社交网络的强大程度可以在减轻重新安置压力方面发挥重要作用，并在特定健康事件（如怀孕）期间成为支持的重要来源。在俄亥俄州东北部阿克伦大都市区的 45 名最近两年内生育的重新安置不丹难民女性中进行了个人社交网络分析。这些数据是在 2016 年的 6 个月期间使用尼泊尔语进行的深入访谈收集的。用于描述参与者个人网络的社交网络措施包括网络规模、关系纽带的人口统计特征、沟通频率、关系持续时间和连接强度。还进行了定性分析，以评估网络中通常讨论哪些事项以及参与者如何感知其网络的支持性。总体而言，参与者在怀孕期间报告了平均 3 个亲密的个人联系。这些网络主要由参与者在美国重新安置之前就认识的女性家庭成员组成。参与者表示他们的网络“非常亲密”，并认为他们在怀孕期间与他们的联系是支持他们的。这些结果可用于指导未来的研究，以及旨在改善重新安置难民妇女怀孕体验的公共卫生计划。
