Measuring Family Separation; A Scoping Review

Objective-Over 70 million cases of forced displacement due to armed conflict, natural disaster, and war occurred in 2018 alone. This is a number that has not ceased since this time. Due to these forced displacements, family separation has become a global crisis. The difficulties that family separation causes for children are compounded by the context of the separation itself and carries a multitude of psychological consequences. Presently, there is a dearth of literature representing the ways in which family separation is presently measured. The current scoping review identifies how family separation is being measured in the scholarly literature from 2012 to 2022.

Method-The present study implores the Arksey and O’Malley (2005) framework laying out five stages: identifying the research question, relevant studies, study selection, charting the data, collating, and summarizing, and reporting the results. Articles were identified using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Protocols (PRIMSA) template and underwent inter-rater reliability testing to ensure all articles used in the study were agreed upon. The initial number or articles selected was 230, following the PRISMA method, only 15 articles remained for full-text examination and inclusion in the study.

Results – Using the remaining article’s themes regarding dimensions of how family separation is being measured in the literature stood out, such as duration of separation, family members being separated, and way separation occurred. In addition, there were gaps found. Initially, family separation is primarily child focused and minimally evaluates family outcomes as a whole. Themes of specific family separations were also found such as foster care, parental incarceration, parents moving to large cities to work, children being "left behind" by transient parents, and children moving to other countries to attend school.

Conclusion – While the measurement of family separation is limited in the literature, measurements found in addition to gaps identified in the literature may be used to further develop a more representative understanding of how family separation may be measured in the future. Ultimately, learning how family separation is measured can be used to build interventions that keep families together, better connected even when apart physically, and how to assist with reunification.