Dataset Information

Optimising refugee children's health/wellbeing in preparation for primary and secondary school: a qualitative inquiry.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Children from refugee backgrounds are less likely to access appropriate health and social care than non-refugee children. Our aim was to identify refugee children's health/wellbeing strengths and needs, and the barriers and enablers to accessing services while preparing for primary and secondary school, in a low socio-economic multicultural community in Australia.

Method

Ten focus groups were facilitated with Arabic-speaking refugee parents of children aged 2-5?years (n?=?11) or in first year secondary school (n?=?22); refugee adolescents starting high school (n?=?16); and key service providers to refugee families (n?=?27). Vignettes about a healthy child and a child with difficulties guided the discussions. Data was thematically analysed and feedback sought from the community via the World Café method.

Results

Personal resilience and strong family systems were identified as strengths. Mental health was identified as a complex primary need; and whilst refugees were aware of available services, there were issues in knowing how to access them. Opportunities for play/socialisation were recognised as unmet adolescent needs. Adults spoke of a need to support integration of "old" and "new" cultural values. Parents identified community as facilitating health knowledge transfer for new arrivals; whilst stakeholders saw this as a barrier when systems change. Most parents had not heard of early childhood services, and reported difficulty accessing child healthcare. Preschooler parents identified the family "GP" as the main source of health support; whilst parents of adolescents valued their child's school. Health communication in written (not spoken) English was a significant roadblock. Differences in refugee family and service provider perceptions were also evident.

Conclusions

Refugee families face challenges to accessing services, but also have strengths that enable them to optimise their children's wellbeing. Culturally-tailored models of care embedded within GP services and school systems may assist improved healthcare for refugee families.

SUBMITTER: Baker JR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6595577 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Optimising refugee children's health/wellbeing in preparation for primary and secondary school: a qualitative inquiry.

Baker Jess R JR Raman Shanti S Kohlhoff Jane J George Ajesh A Kaplun Catherine C Dadich Ann A Best Catherine T CT Arora Amit A Zwi Karen K Schmied Virginia V Eapen Valsamma V

BMC public health 20190627 1

<h4>Background</h4>Children from refugee backgrounds are less likely to access appropriate health and social care than non-refugee children. Our aim was to identify refugee children's health/wellbeing strengths and needs, and the barriers and enablers to accessing services while preparing for primary and secondary school, in a low socio-economic multicultural community in Australia.<h4>Method</h4>Ten focus groups were facilitated with Arabic-speaking refugee parents of children aged 2-5 years (n ...[more]

PMID: 31242897

Similar Datasets

Project description:This article investigates the educational participation of refugee adolescents in Germany as a main European destination country of refugee migration. Opportunities and restrictions for school participation vary not only across countries-, but in the case of the Federal Republic of Germany, also within countries. The influence of different regional educational policies on refugees' educational participation and the extent to which they limit or enable individual agency, are however, widely understudied. We thus aim to analyze how different regional educational policies within Germany influence refugee students' educational participation regarding four central indicators: the duration until school enrollment, the type of class attended (newcomer vs. regular class), the type of school attended, and whether they are enrolled in settings appropriate for their age. We rely on a theoretical model which sees educational decisions as the result of rational cost-benefit calculations. The individual educational investments depend on individual motivations and resources within a given opportunity structure. We integrate the legal regulations via the opportunity structures into the theoretical model. Our analyses are based on data from 2,415 adolescents who were interviewed in the "ReGES-Refugees in the German Educational System" study. Our results show significant correlations between different regional educational policies and the four domains of educational participation. These effects remain stable when considering family and individual resources, as well as further control variables that previous research on social and ethnic educational inequality has shown to be relevant. Family and individual resources only partially influence educational participation. This indicates that refugee students and their parents have only limited options for action concerning their educational participation. Thus, our study shows that educational policies in fact matter: the assignment to a federal state plays a significant role in determining the duration until school enrollment, whether one is placed to a grade level age-appropriately, and whether one attends a newcomer class. Most significantly, legal regulations strongly influence refugees' chances of attending a higher school track (Gymnasium). Due to the low permeability of the German education system, this creates path dependencies for the further education and career paths of new immigrant students.

Dataset Information

Optimising refugee children's health/wellbeing in preparation for primary and secondary school: a qualitative inquiry.

Background

Method

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Optimising refugee children's health/wellbeing in preparation for primary and secondary school: a qualitative inquiry.

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