Exploring Refugee Children's Psychological Needs Through Storytelling: A Case Study of Two Latino American Children

Abstract

Research on mental health of refugee children frequently highlights the limitations of Western approaches to understand the reality of this population. The aim of this study was to explore the psychological needs of 2 refugee children, using a storytelling approach centered on needs. It combined the use of 2 projective tools, a “flower of needs” and a story, to explore the psychological needs of children in a safe and culturally sensitive way. This research sought to (a) identify the needs that children consider to be the most important through the construction of a flower of needs and (b) identify the needs that children address more frequently through the work with the story. For this purpose, a multiple case study design was conducted with 2 Latino/a children recruited from refugee families who had recently arrived in Canada. The children participated in 4 storytelling sessions. Data on the case presentation were collected from a semistructured interview with the parents. Data on the psychological needs exploration were collected from the children’s work with the flower of needs and the story across sessions. The results showed that both children identified physical comfort, connection, and peace as the most important psychological needs using the flower of needs. Connection, peace, and familiarity were the needs more frequently addressed working with the story. The results illustrate the potential of the flower of needs to assess needs and confirm the utility of storytelling to encourage a deep exploration of psychological needs with refugee children.