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Mental Wellbeing and Social Resilience of Eritrean Refugees Living in Germany

Mental health and social resilience play a significant role in refugees’ adaptation during the resettlement process in the host country. Maintaining good mental wellbeing helps the refugees to respond to stressful experiences with healthy life choices. This study aimed to explore the mental wellbein...

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Autores principales: Gebresilassie, Temesghen, Beiersmann, Claudia, Ziegler, Sandra, Keck, Verena, Kidane, Yonas Semere, Jahn, Albrecht, Benson-Martin, Janine
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9518393/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36078814
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191711099
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author Gebresilassie, Temesghen
Beiersmann, Claudia
Ziegler, Sandra
Keck, Verena
Kidane, Yonas Semere
Jahn, Albrecht
Benson-Martin, Janine
author_facet Gebresilassie, Temesghen
Beiersmann, Claudia
Ziegler, Sandra
Keck, Verena
Kidane, Yonas Semere
Jahn, Albrecht
Benson-Martin, Janine
author_sort Gebresilassie, Temesghen
collection PubMed
description Mental health and social resilience play a significant role in refugees’ adaptation during the resettlement process in the host country. Maintaining good mental wellbeing helps the refugees to respond to stressful experiences with healthy life choices. This study aimed to explore the mental wellbeing and social resilience of Eritrean refugees living in Germany and to identify social conditions and enablers to foster adaptation. This study employs a qualitative approach with a semi-structured, in-depth interview data collection method. Informants were identified among mostly young adult refugees living in Heidelberg, Germany, with a migration history of 3–6 years. In total, 15 informants were recruited through snowball sampling. Data were sorted and analyzed using the five pillars of the Adaptation and Development after Persecution and Trauma (ADAPT) model. The findings suggest that Eritrean refugees experienced psychological distress after resettlement in Germany; however, with time, their mental health improved. The study revealed conditions that were experienced as hindrances, as well as ones that were considered to be resources of positive mental wellbeing and social resilience for resettled refugees. Resettlement challenges described by the participants were the language barrier, discrimination, unemployment, insecure residence status, loss of family and friends, conflict within the diaspora community, and isolation. The main sources of mental wellbeing and social resilience include the feeling of being welcomed by local communities, access to social services, adopting new relationships, and educational opportunities. These experiences encouraged refugees to have a favorable view of their lives and futures and were also found to facilitate better integration and adaptation. Understanding refugee mental wellbeing and social resilience requires a multidimensional perspective. Eritrean refugees living in Germany have experienced and are still experiencing resettlement challenges, such as, for example, loss of family and friends, negative perception of the German system, loss of past achievements, or unemployment. However, they have developed adaptive and resilience mechanisms, as well, such as seeing an opportunity for a better life, adopting new roles, and accepting Germany as a “second home”. In addressing those issues reported by the refugees as hindrances, these could be turned into sources of mental wellbeing and resilience.
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spelling pubmed-95183932022-09-29 Mental Wellbeing and Social Resilience of Eritrean Refugees Living in Germany Gebresilassie, Temesghen Beiersmann, Claudia Ziegler, Sandra Keck, Verena Kidane, Yonas Semere Jahn, Albrecht Benson-Martin, Janine Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Mental health and social resilience play a significant role in refugees’ adaptation during the resettlement process in the host country. Maintaining good mental wellbeing helps the refugees to respond to stressful experiences with healthy life choices. This study aimed to explore the mental wellbeing and social resilience of Eritrean refugees living in Germany and to identify social conditions and enablers to foster adaptation. This study employs a qualitative approach with a semi-structured, in-depth interview data collection method. Informants were identified among mostly young adult refugees living in Heidelberg, Germany, with a migration history of 3–6 years. In total, 15 informants were recruited through snowball sampling. Data were sorted and analyzed using the five pillars of the Adaptation and Development after Persecution and Trauma (ADAPT) model. The findings suggest that Eritrean refugees experienced psychological distress after resettlement in Germany; however, with time, their mental health improved. The study revealed conditions that were experienced as hindrances, as well as ones that were considered to be resources of positive mental wellbeing and social resilience for resettled refugees. Resettlement challenges described by the participants were the language barrier, discrimination, unemployment, insecure residence status, loss of family and friends, conflict within the diaspora community, and isolation. The main sources of mental wellbeing and social resilience include the feeling of being welcomed by local communities, access to social services, adopting new relationships, and educational opportunities. These experiences encouraged refugees to have a favorable view of their lives and futures and were also found to facilitate better integration and adaptation. Understanding refugee mental wellbeing and social resilience requires a multidimensional perspective. Eritrean refugees living in Germany have experienced and are still experiencing resettlement challenges, such as, for example, loss of family and friends, negative perception of the German system, loss of past achievements, or unemployment. However, they have developed adaptive and resilience mechanisms, as well, such as seeing an opportunity for a better life, adopting new roles, and accepting Germany as a “second home”. In addressing those issues reported by the refugees as hindrances, these could be turned into sources of mental wellbeing and resilience. MDPI 2022-09-05 /pmc/articles/PMC9518393/ /pubmed/36078814 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191711099 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gebresilassie, Temesghen
Beiersmann, Claudia
Ziegler, Sandra
Keck, Verena
Kidane, Yonas Semere
Jahn, Albrecht
Benson-Martin, Janine
Mental Wellbeing and Social Resilience of Eritrean Refugees Living in Germany
title Mental Wellbeing and Social Resilience of Eritrean Refugees Living in Germany
title_full Mental Wellbeing and Social Resilience of Eritrean Refugees Living in Germany
title_fullStr Mental Wellbeing and Social Resilience of Eritrean Refugees Living in Germany
title_full_unstemmed Mental Wellbeing and Social Resilience of Eritrean Refugees Living in Germany
title_short Mental Wellbeing and Social Resilience of Eritrean Refugees Living in Germany
title_sort mental wellbeing and social resilience of eritrean refugees living in germany
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9518393/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36078814
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191711099
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