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Resettlement stressors for women of refugee background resettled in regional Australia
Citation
Hawkes, C and Norris, K and Joyce, J and Paton, D, Resettlement stressors for women of refugee background resettled in regional Australia, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, (8) pp. 1-17. ISSN 1661-7827 (2021) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
DOI: doi:10.3390/ijerph18083942
Abstract
Women of Refugee Background (WoRB) have been repeatedly identified as an extremely
vulnerable population. Within an Australian context, WoRB are increasingly resettled to nonmetropolitan locations, otherwise known as regional locations. Despite this, to date, no research has
focused on the lived experience and challenges associated with the resettlement of WoRB to regional
contexts. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature by investigating the resettlement
experience of WoRB resettled in Tasmania—a state in Australia classified as a rural and regional
location. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a group of 21 individuals (nine WoRB and 12
service providers). Thematic analysis identified four overarching themes—Communication Barriers
and Lack of Fluency in English, Challenges Accessing Everyday Basic Needs, Loss of Connection
to Culture of Origin and Inability to Access Mainstream Mental Health Services for Help. Participants also highlighted a number of unique gender-related vulnerabilities experienced during
resettlement, which were exacerbated in regional locations due to health services being overstretched
and under-resourced. Results of the current study are discussed in regard to policy and practical
implications, taking into consideration the unique vulnerabilities experienced by WoRB, which, to
date, are often overlooked.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | refugee, women, regional resettlement, stressors, mental health |
| Research Division: | Health Sciences |
| Research Group: | Health services and systems |
| Research Field: | Mental health services |
| Objective Division: | Health |
| Objective Group: | Public health (excl. specific population health) |
| Objective Field: | Mental health |
| UTAS Author: | Norris, K (Professor Kimberley Norris) |
| ID Code: | 146700 |
| Year Published: | 2021 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 2 |
| Deposited By: | Psychology |
| Deposited On: | 2021-09-22 |
| Last Modified: | 2021-10-20 |
| Downloads: | 7 View Download Statistics |
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