Ambiguous loss of home: Syrian refugees and the process of losing and remaking home

“Now we start to make it like home”: reunited refugee families negotiating integration and belonging

“…In particular, Baillot discusses the practical and emotional implications of providing care for family members across space and time (in the past, present and future of the pivotal transition point of family reunion) on their opportunities to attach to new people and places. While recognizing the interrelated processes of loss of home and home-making (see for example Bunn et al, 2023), our research questions deliberately focused on participant's experiences of settling in the UK, and not on their experiences of loss and trauma in the process of displacement, unless they indicated a wish to discuss it.…”

A Scoping Review of Instruments Used in Measuring Social Support among Refugees in Resettlement

“…It is thus important to situate people (refugees) undergoing resettlement in relation to their lived experiences before and following resettlement. People with refugee and similar statuses (e.g., humanitarian parolee, asylee) and forced migrants who do not have the relative protection of an official status have, on the whole, experienced horrors associated with war, persecution, violence, forced displacement, and immeasurable losses of and separations from loved ones, resources, ways of life, home, and country [ 26 ]. These traumatic experiences can erode people’s capacities to attach securely, trust others, and share emotional intimacy in relationships, shaping experiences of and expectations surrounding social support [ 27 , 28 ].…”

“…Research with Syrian families identified multi-faceted losses to social connections resulting from displacement. These losses and separation from friends and family members were interrelated with losses of identities and roles that were inherent to socio-centric notions of self and identity—e.g., as a caregiver to aging parents, provider, and protector for the family, neighbor, and engaged member of the community [ 26 ]. While advances in technology in the past decades facilitate retaining transnational connections, the help that people (women in particular) relied on to carry out daily activities and fulfill responsibilities constricts dramatically and suddenly as soon as they board the flight to the country of resettlement.…”

“…While advances in technology in the past decades facilitate retaining transnational connections, the help that people (women in particular) relied on to carry out daily activities and fulfill responsibilities constricts dramatically and suddenly as soon as they board the flight to the country of resettlement. This sudden loss of social support is part of a myriad of complex psychosocial processes at play among refugees in contexts of resettlement [ 26 , 31 ].…”

Rethinking mental healthcare for refugees

“…Growing evidence indicates that post-migration stressors such as English language proficiency, food and housing insecurity, unemployment and social exclusion highly influence mental health outcomes and accumulate with increased time of displacement ( Hou et al, 2020 ). Forced migration also contributes to social losses due to family separation, change in family roles, and disruption in community connections ( Bunn et al, 2023 ; Wachter & Gulbas, 2018 ). These experiences often negatively impact relationships within families and can result in the breakdown of vital social networks ( Sim et al, 2018 ; Weine, 2011 ).…”