Department of Geography & Sustainable Development, College of Arts & Sciences, University of Miami, 1300 Campo Sano Avenue, Coral Gables, FL, 33124, USA.
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Miami, 1251 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Apr 22;22(1):535. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-07909-3.
Key to the US refugee resettlement effort is the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who receive, place, and provide transitional programs and referrals to new and recently resettled refugees. Yet only one rapid assessment study thus far examined the impact of COVID-19 on service delivery systems of US refugee resettlement agencies. This exploratory study describes the capability and preparedness of US refugee resettlement agencies to provide services and care to clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using both telephone interviews and an internet survey, we assessed the impact of COVID-19 on service delivery, agency capacity, and preparedness of 101 US refugee resettlement agencies. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the dataset, while chi-square (χ) tests were used to examine relationships by resettlement agency size (number of employees in each agency).
Despite a temporary pause on refugee admissions, restrictive stay-at-home orders, and refugee travel restrictions, the majority of responding US refugee resettlement agencies continued to provide specialized services and care to resettled refugees and other immigrants. Among the more important findings was that agencies that continued to provide refugee services and care onsite in their existing facilities or office rather than moving such services offsite differed by agency size [χ (9.494, n = 101), p < 0.05]. Almost all agencies (93.1%) strongly agreed or agreed that staff have timely access to COVID-19 information. Most of the refugee services were provided offsite (n = 72 agencies, some with multiple offices across the US).
US refugee resettlement agencies continued to perform admirably despite a lack of funding. Future research is underway to obtain a more balanced understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on practice or operations.
美国难民重新安置工作的关键是 非政府组织（NGO）的作用，它们接收、安置和提供过渡性方案，并向新难民和最近重新安置的难民提供转介服务。然而，迄今为止，只有一项快速评估研究考察了 COVID-19 对美国难民重新安置机构服务提供系统的影响。这项探索性研究描述了美国难民重新安置机构在 COVID-19 大流行期间为客户提供服务和照顾的能力和准备情况。
我们使用电话访谈和互联网调查，评估了 COVID-19 对 101 家美国难民重新安置机构的服务提供、机构能力和准备情况的影响。使用描述性统计数据来描述数据集，同时使用卡方（χ）检验来检查按重新安置机构规模（每家机构的员工人数）的关系。
尽管难民入境暂时暂停、居家令限制严格以及难民旅行限制，但大多数接受调查的美国难民重新安置机构继续为重新安置的难民和其他移民提供专门的服务和照顾。其中一个更重要的发现是，那些继续在现有设施或办公室提供难民服务和照顾而不是将这些服务转移到其他地方的机构，其规模不同[χ（9.494，n=101），p<0.05]。几乎所有机构（93.1%）强烈同意或同意工作人员能够及时获得 COVID-19 信息。大多数难民服务是在现场提供的（n=72 家机构，其中一些机构在美国各地设有多个办事处）。
尽管缺乏资金，美国难民重新安置机构仍表现出色。正在进行未来的研究，以更全面地了解 COVID-19 对实践或运营的影响。
