‘Now I Have Dreams in Place of the Nightmares’: An Updated Systematic Review of Post-Traumatic Growth Among Refugee Populations

Sultani, Grace; Heinsch, Milena; Wilson, John; Pallas, Phillip; Tickner, Campbell; Kay‐Lambkin, Frances

doi:10.1177/15248380231163641

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…The importance of seeking refugee's lived experiences and storytelling is seen as healing for both the refugees themselves and the host communities in which they settle. The value of the refugee voice has been found in other studies, linking storytelling with personal growth out of adversity (McCormack & Strezov, 2021;Sultani et al, 2024). Participants mused on the benefits of integration rather than assimilation, wanting people to maintain their rich culture while weaving them into society's fabric through inclusion and participation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Refugee oppression in media and politics: Vicarious trauma, burnout, and opportunities to thrive in refugee advocates.

Harding,

Fitzpatrick,

McCormack

2024

Traumatology

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Objective: Within Australia, there is incongruence between individual microlevel attitudes toward forcibly displaced people, and macrolevel attitudes within the media and politics. Seeking the lived experience of refugee advocates, the current study explores the perceived impact of macrolevel attitudes on the wellbeing of advocates and the wider community. Method: A purposive sample of 10 refugee advocates participated in semistructured interviews which were then transcribed verbatim. Scripts were analyzed individually and jointly as per the protocols of interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: One superordinate group experiential theme emerged from the analysis, kyriarchal system of oppression, acknowledging the intersections of oppression within macro societal power structures. The theme conveys paternal, patriarchal, racial, and imperialistic oppression and overarches six subordinate themes: political and systemic cruelty, dominant group thinking, media as mediator, advocacy overwhelm and burnout, shattered schemas, and opportunity to thrive. Discussion/Conclusion: The findings of this study prompt debate regarding the critical issue of migration and refugees and how discord between personal views, media, and political commentary have the potential to influence mental distress at many levels of society. For these participants, vicarious exposure to trauma and discord between their own and macroattitudes toward the extreme distress of refugee and asylum seeker populations for whom they cared, precipitated susceptibility to burnout and secondary traumatic stress. The findings provide pathways for future research including psychological risks to volunteers and advocates, and inform future policy and practice for successful refugee integration.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Refugee oppression in media and politics: Vicarious trauma, burnout, and opportunities to thrive in refugee advocates.

Harding,

Fitzpatrick,

McCormack

2024

Traumatology

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“…This review builds upon and supplements earlier reviews by Chan et al (2016) and Sims and Pooley (2017) and the recent replication of the Sims and Pooley review to include relevant publications from 2016 to 2023 by Sultani et al (2024). Additionally, it compares with Şimşir Gökalp and Haktanir's (2022) meta-synthesis of qualitative studies only on the post-traumatic growth (PTG) experiences of refugees, the review by Von Arcosy et al (2023) where the relationship between PTG and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was investigated, and the most recent review by Sultani et al (2024) including research on the use of therapy in promoting PTG. The present review finds its place in this pool of past and recent reviews by incorporating post-migration factors, more qualitative studies, and an expanded search strategy.…”

Section: Introduction 1who and What Is A Refugee?mentioning

confidence: 78%

Adversarial Growth among Refugees: A Scoping Review

Holthe,

Söderström

2024

Social Sciences

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Background: The main aims of this scoping review are to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing knowledge about adversarial growth among refugees, and to gain insight into the complexity of post-trauma development. Methods: We applied a systematic search strategy resulting in the inclusion of 43 quantitative and qualitative empirical studies. Our findings underscore the prevalence of growth as a common phenomenon among refugees, emphasizing the positive associations with problem-focused coping, optimism, positive reappraisal, religiosity, and social support. Additionally, this review sheds light on the qualitative experiences and outcomes of growth, particularly pro-social outcomes, and the cultural and religious aspects of growth processes. Findings concerning the role of time and post-migration factors on growth processes highlight the need for more studies among established refugees. In sum, the findings supplement and lend nuance to pathology-oriented research, while acknowledging the severity of suffering and trauma and their consequences for individuals. We suggest that further research should focus on existential aspects and theories of growth: compassion, altruism, and pro-sociality following trauma, and the importance of religious and cultural elements in growth processes.

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“…Another mechanism could be seen in accounts of post-traumatic growth (PTG) after traumatic events, where individuals were able to maintain or even exceed their functioning facing adversity ( Tedeschi and Calhoun, 2004 ). For refugees, evidence of PTG was reported in several studies ( Sultani et al, 2024 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Impairments in psychological functioning in refugees and asylum seekers

Baumgartner,

Renner,

Wochele-Thoma

et al. 2024

Front. Psychol.

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Refugees are at increased risk for developing psychological impairments due to stressors in the pre-, peri- and post-migration periods. There is limited knowledge on how everyday functioning is affected by migration experience. In a secondary analysis of a study in a sample of refugees and asylum seekers, it was examined how aspects of psychological functioning were differentially affected. 1,101 eligible refugees and asylum seekers in Europe and Türkiye were included in a cross-sectional analysis. Gender, age, education, number of relatives and children living nearby, as well as indicators for depressive and posttraumatic symptoms, quality of life, psychological well-being and functioning, and lifetime potentially traumatic events were assessed. Correlations and multiple regression models with World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) 12-item version’s total and six subdomains’ scores (‘mobility’, ‘life activities’, ‘cognition’, ‘participation’, ‘self-care’, ‘getting along’) as dependent variables were calculated. Tests for multicollinearity and Bonferroni correction were applied. Participants reported highest levels of impairment in ‘mobility’ and ‘participation’, followed by ‘life activities’ and ‘cognition’. Depression and posttraumatic symptoms were independently associated with overall psychological functioning and all subdomains. History of violence and abuse seemed to predict higher impairment in ‘participation’, while past events of being close to death were associated with fewer issues with ‘self-care’. Impairment in psychological functioning in asylum seekers and refugees was related to current psychological symptoms. Mobility and participation issues may explain difficulties arising after resettlement in integration and exchange with host communities in new contexts.

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‘Now I Have Dreams in Place of the Nightmares’: An Updated Systematic Review of Post-Traumatic Growth Among Refugee Populations

Cited by 8 publications

References 72 publications

Refugee oppression in media and politics: Vicarious trauma, burnout, and opportunities to thrive in refugee advocates.

Refugee oppression in media and politics: Vicarious trauma, burnout, and opportunities to thrive in refugee advocates.

Adversarial Growth among Refugees: A Scoping Review

Impairments in psychological functioning in refugees and asylum seekers

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