Arizona State University, School of Social Work, 411 N. Central Avenue, Suite 800, Phoenix, AZ 85006, United States; The University of Texas at Austin, School of Social Work, 1925 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX 78712, United States.
The University of Texas at Austin, School of Social Work, 1925 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX 78712, United States.
Soc Sci Med. 2018 Jul;208:107-116. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.04.056. Epub 2018 May 3.
In 2016, researchers conducted a qualitative study in a mid-sized town in the United States to address gaps in research and practice related to psychosocial consequences of forced migration among women. The loss of social support and its impacts on the well-being of women are rarely addressed in refugee resettlement policy or practice overwhelmingly concerned with economic self-sufficiency. The study sought to develop theory to explain how women (n = 27) who migrated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo recreate social support post-resettlement in the United States. An interpretive approach informed by postcolonial feminist perspectives guided the grounded theory methodology. A theoretical model emerged explaining pivots in the internal and relational lives of women as social support systematically constricted over time as a result of war, displacement, and resettlement. Upon arrival to the United States, women experienced partitioned lives through changing relationships to space and time, which contributed to women being alone and impacted well-being. Converging processes propelled women towards learning to stand alone, through which women could develop a sense self-reliance, but not without internal and relational consequences. The analysis contributes to the empirical literature knowledge of how resettlement is a life altering event that sets into motion psychosocial processes with implications for well-being and health. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
2016 年，研究人员在美国一个中等规模的城镇进行了一项定性研究，旨在解决与女性被迫移民的心理社会后果相关的研究和实践中的差距。社会支持的丧失及其对女性福祉的影响在难民重新安置政策或实践中很少得到解决，这些政策或实践主要关注经济自给自足。该研究旨在发展理论，解释来自刚果民主共和国的女性（n=27）如何在美国重新建立社会支持。后殖民女性主义观点指导的解释性方法为扎根理论方法提供了信息。一个理论模型解释了女性内部和关系生活的支点，随着时间的推移，由于战争、流离失所和重新安置，社会支持系统地受到限制。抵达美国后，女性通过改变与空间和时间的关系经历了分裂的生活，这导致了女性的孤独感，并影响了她们的幸福感。趋同过程促使女性学会独立，通过这种方式，女性可以培养一种自力更生的感觉，但这并非没有内部和关系方面的后果。该分析有助于丰富关于重新安置是如何改变生活的实证文献知识，重新安置引发了对幸福感和健康有影响的心理社会过程。讨论了对实践和未来研究的影响。
