Social Support Measurement in Research with Refugees in Resettlement: A Scoping Review

Background and Purpose

Refugees suffer dramatic and cumulative losses of social support as a result of forced migration and resettlement, disproportionately impacting the lives of refugee women whose daily activities and household responsibilities depend heavily on support from family and community networks. Yet, research has largely neglected how gender, culture, and context shape needs and functions of social support in resettled refugee populations, failing to account for specificity. To examine how social support is quantitatively measured in research concerned with the health and well-being of refugees in resettlement, this study scoped the existing literature to identify and critically assess social support measures used in research with resettled refugees.

Methods

This analysis followed a systematic approach for conducting scoping reviews (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005) to answer the following questions: 1) What standardized instruments are used to measure social support among resettled refugees? 2) Were the measures developed and/or adapted and validated for this population? 3) To what extent do scales have appropriate content and construct validity? 4) What are the gaps in measurement? A refined search string was used to search for relevant peer-reviewed studies in eight databases through March 2023. The research team assessed articles for inclusion/exclusion based on predetermined criteria. Studies that used a quantitative measure of perceived or received social support with resettled refugees were retained, while studies that measured an adjacent construct (e.g. social networks) or only relied on a single item to measure social support were eliminated.

Results

Following a systematic search and review process, the final analysis retained 96 articles, of which 59 used a standardized measure of social support. From these studies, 18 social support scales were identified. The most commonly used scales were: 1) Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet et al., 1998; n=12); 2) ENRICHED Social Support Instrument (ESSI; Mitchell et al., 2003; n=8); 3) Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOS SSS; Sherbourne & Stewart, 1991; n=7); and, 4) Social Provisions Scale; Cutrona & Russell, 1987; n=6). While the identified scales showed indications of construct and external validity (predictive, convergent, discriminant, and comparisons between known groups), only the MSPSS and ESSI have been specifically validated with resettled refugee populations (e.g. Burmese and Syrians). Importantly, our search uncovered two new measures of social support for resettled refugees: Refugee Social Support Inventory (RSSI; Kahmis, 2022) and Building a New Life in Australia Social Support Scales (BNLA; Doma et al., 2022). The RSSI is the only measure identified by this review process that drew from formative work with resettled Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. None of the identified scales incorporated a gendered perspective.

Conclusions & Implications

While advances in social support measurement are emerging in the literature, this review highlighted that research with resettled refugees has overwhelmingly relied on social support scales that neither account for how forced migration and resettlement, nor gender, shape social support needs. The analysis highlights the need for rigorously-developed social support scales that reflect the lived experiences of resettled refugees.