Study design: Pathways to Independence – A study of unaccompanied minor refugees settled in a Norwegian city municipality

Abstract

Aims: The aim of the ‘Pathways to Independence’ study was to gain knowledge of how to facilitate a healthy development for unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) after settling in Norwegian municipalities. Methods: The project is located in the URM child welfare services (URM CWS) of the Bergen municipality. We invited 101 URMs older than 15 years connected to the URM CWS to participate in a comprehensive survey. Of the invited, 81 consented to participate. The survey included questions on the user’s experiences and satisfaction with the URM CWS, and questions related to schooling, social support and activities after settlement. We also included standardized and validated questionnaires on potential traumatic events, mental and somatic health, protective factors and quality of life. These questionnaires have previously been used in two Norwegian epidemiological studies, the ‘Youth@Hordaland’ and ‘Young in Foster care’, facilitating comparison of the results with other youth populations in Norway. Conclusion: Results from the project will be valuable in the process of reaching knowledge-based recommendations for successful settlement of URMs.

Mental health among unaccompanied refugee minors after settling in Norway: A matched cross-sectional study

“…The data for the URMs were from the Pathways to Independence study [22] conducted among URMs granted a residence permit and under the care of the CWS for unaccompanied refugee minors (URM CWS) in the Bergen municipality, Norway. The URM CWS coordinated the data collection, which lasted from December 2018 to January 2019 [22]. All the URMs in contact with the CWS in Bergen and aged 15 years or older were invited to participate.…”

“…Hence the number of invited URMs was 101 and 81 consented and were included, yielding a participation rate of 80%. The URMs were provided with written and oral information about the study in advance and consented to participate by filling out a consent form on the first page of the online questionnaire after going through the information thoroughly with the case workers [22].…”

“…The online survey was in Norwegian because most of the questionnaires used in the study did not have official translated and validated versions for all the languages spoken by the URMs. A pilot study testing the questionnaire in older URMs previously under the care of the URM CWS suggested that the survey was feasible for most URMs when used in the Norwegian language [22]. The URMs completed the online survey at the case worker's office.…”

Potential traumatic events and symptoms of post-traumatic stress in unaccompanied refugee minors—a comparison with youth in foster care

“…Data for the current study were collected in the Pathways to Independence study, a comprehensive survey conducted among URMs settled in Bergen Municipality, Norway [ 27 ]. All participants were granted residence permit in Norway and were cared for by the CWS for URMs in the municipality (URMs CWS).…”

“…The case workers at the URMs CWS were responsible for inviting the URMs to participate in the study, and to schedule a time to complete the survey. The comprehensive survey was developed particularly for this study and included questions on background information and satisfaction with the URMs CWS in addition to a range of standardized and validated questionnaires measuring exposure to potential traumatic events, symptoms of mental health problems and somatic complaints, sleep patterns and problems, protective factors, and quality of life [ 27 ]. The URMs completed the online survey at the case worker`s office.…”