Settlement is widely understood as the final stage of the refugee journey: a durable solution to forced displacement and a stable environment in which former refugees can rebuild their lives. ...However, settlement is shaped by rapidly changing socio-political forces producing contingent, unpredictable, and even hostile environments. This article draws upon Vigh’s concept of social navigation to reconceptualize settlement as a continuation of a fraught journey in which refugee settlers must continually seek new strategies to pursue viable futures. We illustrate with an in-depth case study of the settlement journey of one refugee-background young man over his first eight years in Melbourne, Australia.
To investigate whether hospital utilisation and health outcomes in Victoria differ between people born in refugee-source countries and those born in Australia.
Analysis of a statewide hospital ...discharge dataset for the 6 financial years from 1 July 1998 to 30 June 2004. Hospital admissions of people born in eight countries for which the majority of entrants to Australia arrived as refugees were included in the analysis.
Age-standardised rates and rate ratios for: total hospital admissions; emergency admissions; surgical admissions; total days in hospital; discharge at own risk; hospital deaths; admissions due to infectious and parasitic diseases; and admissions due to mental and behavioural disorders.
In 2003-04, compared with the Australia-born Victorian population, people born in refugee-source countries had lower rates of surgical admission (rate ratio RR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.81-0.88), total days in hospital (RR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.73-0.75), and admission due to mental and behavioural disorders (RR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.65-0.76). Over the 6-year period, rates of total days in hospital and rates of admission due to mental and behavioural disorders for people born in refugee-source countries increased towards Australian-born averages, while rates of total admissions, emergency admissions, and admissions due to infectious and parasitic diseases increased above the Australian-born averages.
Use of hospital services among people born in refugee-source countries is not higher than that of the Australian-born population and shows a trend towards Australian-born averages. Our findings indicate that the Refugee and Humanitarian Program does not currently place a burden on the Australian hospital system.
This paper investigates the factors which influence the ability of resettled refugee parents to envisage their adolescents' futures and support them in setting and achieving goals. It is based on the ...findings of a study of 10 refugee families from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, two to three years after they had arrived in Melbourne, Australia. Analysis of the findings draws on Antonovsky's 'sense of coherence' framework to highlight the conditions which assist refugee parents to negotiate their social environment and develop realistic ambitions for their families' futures. This framework is also used to point to ways in which refugee families might best be assisted by host communities to guide and support their children and thus overcome some of the potential intergenerational conflicts which can occur following resettlement. Cet article examine les facteurs qui influencent la façon dont les réfugiés établis en pays hôtes envisagent le futur de leurs enfants adolescents et dont ils soutiennent ces-derniers en ce qui concerne les objectifs à atteindre ainsi que comment atteindre ces objectifs. L'étude présentée dans cet article a été réalisée auprès de 10 familles de réfugiés venues d'Afrique, d'Asie, d'Europe et du Moyen-Orient, 2 ou 3 ans après leur arrivée à Melbourne en Australie. L'analyse se base sur la théorie du « sens de cohérence » d'Antonovsky, ce qui permet de souligner les conditions qui assistent les parents réfugiés dans la négociation de leur environnement social ainsi que dans le développement d'ambitions réalistes pour le futur de leur famille. Cette théorie s'avère aussi utile pour indiquer comment les pays hôtes peuvent aider les familles de réfugiés à guider et à soutenuleurs enfants et, ainsi, à surmonter certains des éventuels conflits intergénérationnels qui peuvent se produire au cours de la réimplantation. Este artículo investiga los factores que influencian la habilidad de los padres refugiados para visualizar el futuro de sus hijos adolescentes, y apoyarlos para que puedan definir y alcanzar sus metas. El artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio llevado a cabo con 10 familias refugiadas procedentes de Africa, Asia, Europa y el Medio Oriente, entre 2 y 3 años después de arribar en Melbourne, Australia. Los resultados son analizados usando como marco de referencia el ‘sentido de coherencia’ desarrollado por Antonovsky para resaltar las condiciones que ayudan a los padres refugiados a negociar su medio ambiente social y desarrollar expectativas realistas para el futuro de sus familias. Este marco también es usado para señalar como las familias refugiadas podrían ser apoyadas de una mejor manera por las comunidades de los países donde residen, para que así puedan guiar y apoyar a sus hijos, y de esta manera superar los conflictos intergeneracionales que potencialmente pueden ocurrir después del reasentamiento.
Since 1947, Australia has formally resettled more than 750,000 refugees. During that time, researchers have successfully completed more than 150 Masters and doctoral theses and published more than ...900 articles, books and reports about issues of refugee settlement in Australia, with about half of them being published in the past 10 years. In this paper, we discuss the development of the production of knowledge about refugee resettlement. We identify trends in the literature, such as the emergence of an ethno-specific focus, and the concern with settlement's psychological and emotional impact, and relate them to policy changes. We suggest that scholars need critically to take stock of the knowledge produced so far and be more cognisant of the international scholarly debate.
What are the most appropriate methodological approaches for researching the psychosocial determinants of health and wellbeing among young people from refugee backgrounds over the resettlement period? ...What kinds of research models can involve young people in meaningful reflections on their lives and futures while simultaneously yielding valid data to inform services and policy? This paper reports on the methods developed for a longitudinal study of health and wellbeing among young people from refugee backgrounds in Melbourne, Australia. The study involves 100 newly-arrived young people 12 to 18 years of age, and employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods implemented as a series of activities carried out by participants in personalized settlement journals. This paper highlights the need to think outside the box of traditional qualitative and/or quantitative approaches for social research into refugee youth health and illustrates how integrated approaches can produce information that is meaningful to policy makers, service providers and to the young people themselves.
Challenges facing regional refugee resettlement programs in Australia – benefits for both refugees and communities of well managed and well planned resettlement programs - recommendations for an ...effective and integrated approach to policy and practice.
Young people with refugee backgrounds face many challenges when making their lives in a resettlement country and their sexual and reproductive health needs are often overlooked. This paper reports on ...sexual health literacy amongst recently arrived young refugees settling in Melbourne, Australia. Qualitative methods were used to explore how resettled youth access, interpret and implement sexual health information, with a particular focus on how social contexts shape attitudes and understandings. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted with 142 participants aged between 16 and 25 years. Findings reveal that while young people had some knowledge of HIV and AIDS, knowledge of other STIs was limited. Importantly, narratives about risk and protection were informed by concerns for maintenance of social wellbeing. Sexual health promotion should be an explicit component of early resettlement services for youth with refugee backgrounds and strategies need to take account of the pre-migration and resettlement contexts.
Goods and resources are finite, and social forces heavily pattern their distribution. One of the principal mechanisms for shaping the distribution of resources is by regulating entitlement to ...community membership itself. By restricting groups’ membership of community, so access to social goods and resources diminishes, which in turn has a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of the excluded groups. It is argued here that community membership is determined on the basis of the perceived social value of groups and individuals and stigmatisation is the marking of individuals and groups who are ‘unworthy’ of social investment. Using the notion of reciprocity we show how groups may be stigmatised and socially excluded as a mechanism for protecting limited social resources from exploitation. This perspective provides an empirically testable framework for the understanding of stigma and social exclusion that goes beyond the largely descriptive work that currently populates the field. We illustrate the process of stigmatisation and social exclusion and discuss how this suggests new styles of intervention, as well as new directions for research.
Previous studies looking at the sources of stress in sport have generally overlooked the unique experiences of professional athletes participating in team sports. This paper describes the results of ...a qualitative study aimed at identifying the sources of stress experienced by a cross-section of professional Australian footballers. Players from two Australian Football League clubs took part in the study involving in-depth, one-to-one interviews and focus group discussions. The results revealed that players identified sources of stress that went beyond those associated with the competitive event (such as poor performances) and included a lack of feedback, difficulty balancing football and study commitments, and job insecurity. The influence of both competition and non-competition sources of stress parallels previous research involving non-professional athletes and indicates that the entire sporting experience needs to be taken into account when developing stress management strategies.
Approximately one-third of refugee and humanitarian entrants to Australia are adult men. Many of these men and their families settle in regional areas. Little is known about the health status of ...refugee men and the use of health services, and whether or not there are differences between those living in urban and regional areas. This paper reports on the cross-sectional differences in health status and use of health services among a group of 233 recently arrived refugee men living in urban and regional areas of South-east Queensland. Overall, participants reported good levels of subjective health status, moderate to good levels of well-being, and low prevalence of mental illness. Men living in urban areas were more likely to have a long standing illness and report poorer health status than those settled in regional areas. In contrast, men living in regional areas reported poorer levels of well-being in the environment domain and were more likely to visit hospital emergency departments. Targeted health promotion programs will ensure that refugee men remain healthy and develop their full potential as members of the Australian community. Programs that facilitate refugees' access to primary health care in regional areas may promote more appropriate use of hospital emergency departments by these communities.
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