Understanding the Coping Strategies of Refugee Adolescents and the Role of Social Workers

Background and Purpose:

Unaccompanied refugee adolescents are generally seen as a vulnerable group, having potentially experienced multiple adversities in their lives. Despite this, many studies suggest that they are resourceful and have various strengths to cope with their challenges. The goal of the study is to explore the coping strategies of refugee adolescents who are in the American child welfare system and to help social work practitioners understand the unique life experience and coping strategies of them.

Methods:

To gain a deeper understanding of unaccompanied refugee adolescents, an exploratory qualitative study was conducted. The participants of this study were 15 refugee adolescents in the U.S. child welfare system. They were recruited through a community-based organization in New York.

Data were collected from in-depth, face-to-face interviews with the adolescents based on semi-structured questionnaires. The interviews lasted for about 1.5 hours and took place at the community-based organization where the participants felt most comfortable. The interviews were audio-taped with the consent of the participants and later transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were thematically analyzed to identify the common themes across the data.

Results:

The analysis of the participants’ responses highlighted three coping strategies: (1) silence and suppression regarding their past experience and feeling; (2) religious values in providing meaning and hope for the future; and (3) an intense sense of responsibility toward families. In particular, they were driven by a strong sense of obligation to the families. Education is seen as a primary tool to help their families and achieve their successful resettlement and independence.

The participants responded that social workers are one of the most significant adults in their lives. Although the participants relied heavily on social workers for instrumental support (i.e., basic needs), they also received quality social or emotional support from social workers.

Conclusions and Implications:

This study will help social workers better understand the experience and the coping strategies of refugee adolescents and provide more effective services. This study provides the implication of social workers’ roles when working with refugee adolescents. This study will also help social workers guide relevant service planning and intervention for this population.