S. Childress, Nibedita Shrestha, I. Seff, Aaron Hagedorn, Mary McKay, Lindsay Stark
{"title":"Acculturative Challenges and Opportunities Among Arab-Speaking MENA Refugees in the United States","authors":"S. Childress, Nibedita Shrestha, I. Seff, Aaron Hagedorn, Mary McKay, Lindsay Stark","doi":"10.1177/10443894241236885","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The study identifies acculturative challenges and opportunities experienced by Arab-speaking MENA refugees in the United States. The research team conducted 24 semi-structured interviews with refugee parents (11 fathers and 13 mothers) in Arabic. The findings reveal two main categories: (a) acculturative challenges and (b) opportunities and hopes for a better future in the United States. Refugees described several acculturative challenges, including the language barrier, unrealized mental health issues, intimate partner violence (IPV), and the added struggle of COVID-19. Refugees faced several challenges, but their stressors were mitigated by their hope for a better future for their children. Findings suggest practitioners must introduce early interventions targeted at family conflict resolution in Arabic. Future research should explore culturally acceptable mental health interventions and gender-specific resources for IPV.","PeriodicalId":502665,"journal":{"name":"Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services","volume":"75 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894241236885","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The study identifies acculturative challenges and opportunities experienced by Arab-speaking MENA refugees in the United States. The research team conducted 24 semi-structured interviews with refugee parents (11 fathers and 13 mothers) in Arabic. The findings reveal two main categories: (a) acculturative challenges and (b) opportunities and hopes for a better future in the United States. Refugees described several acculturative challenges, including the language barrier, unrealized mental health issues, intimate partner violence (IPV), and the added struggle of COVID-19. Refugees faced several challenges, but their stressors were mitigated by their hope for a better future for their children. Findings suggest practitioners must introduce early interventions targeted at family conflict resolution in Arabic. Future research should explore culturally acceptable mental health interventions and gender-specific resources for IPV.