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This study sought to gain a better understanding of the general life experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newcomer youth, situated within the broader context of their lives post-migration. The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of various forms of oppression experienced by LGBT newcomers and offers recommendations for transforming services to better serve the complex needs of this marginalized population.

The Teens Resisting Urban Trans/Homophobia (TRUTH) project was comprised of ten focus groups with 70 youth (aged 14-29) living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Another three focus groups were conducted with 13 GTA service providers and teachers working with LGBT youth, in addition to one key informant interview. For this paper, the authors drew from a subset of the data including four newcomer-specific focus groups in which there were 39 youth who identified as refugees or immigrants, as well as key informant interviews with four youth (three of whom also participated in focus groups) and one service provider. Participants were asked about “what homophobia and transphobia meant to them”, “where they experienced it”, “in what forms”, and “how it impacted their daily lives”.

The experiences of LGBT newcomer youth in this study involved a complex negotiation of multiple systems of oppression. Youth described experiences of homophobia and racism within interpersonal relationships, in the LGBT community, in their respective diasporic communities, in social service encounters and during the immigration/refugee process. Barriers for LGBT refugee youth included difficulties finding work and accessing health care, as well as the additional burden of proving their sexual orientation during refugee claimant hearings.

While the combination of focus groups and key informant interviews is a strength in this study, it also presents challenges for analysis. In focus groups, it is not always clear who is speaking; because of this, the authors were sometimes unable to differentiate between refugee and immigrant youth (or those without status) in our focus groups, making it often unclear which perspective or experience youth were speaking to. Another limitation was the dominance of the “cisgender gay male voice” in our conclusions. Lesbian and bisexual women were present in fewer numbers and the sample only included three trans youth.

The findings reveal systemic discrimination on the basis of race and sexual orientation that illuminate injustices within Canadian society and systems that can enhance the efforts of those working in policy and service environments. Focused anti-homophobia and anti-racism training, and the implementation of policies designed to enhance accessibility, could improve service provision for newcomer LGBT youth. Furthermore, in order to facilitate a more just settlement process, a broader understanding of sexual identity, gender identity, and gender expression is required of the refugee claimant system.

This study examines the experiences of youth in a large and complex, multicultural, and gay-friendly urban centre, thus providing timely and current data about the well-being of newcomer LGBT youth. As such, it is one of the first studies to offer some insights into the life issues and challenges post-migration of Canadian LGBT newcomer youth.

The purpose of this paper is to anticipate the potential outcomes of efforts to promote social inclusion of youth from refugee backgrounds by considering diverse research conducted on information and communication technologies (ICTs), social inclusion, and young people of refugee backgrounds. It is argued that, while social inclusion programs might be successful at the local level, it is unclear whether they might actually do more harm than good in other, transnational contexts.

Literature reporting on projects that use ICTs to facilitate social inclusion is critically examined, with specific attention to identifying the foundational assumptions underlying such projects. These foundational assumptions are considered in relation to findings of research that identifies the transnational character of the experiences, expectations and aspirations of young people of refugee backgrounds.

The analysis highlights a conceptual disjuncture between the local aims of social inclusion and the transnational experiences of youth with refugee backgrounds. This conceptual disjuncture raises important questions about the potential effects of any program that aims to use ICTs to support young people from refugee backgrounds. While it is clear that a number of potentially positive outcomes are likely from using ICTs to promote social inclusion for refugee youth, several potentially negative outcomes are also apparent. It is argued that these potential harms tend to be overlooked because the foundational concepts of social inclusion assume a “local” community. One means of avoiding the potential for such harms could be to adequately recognise the extent to which individuals and groups participate in intersecting local and transnational communities, networks and flows of ideas, resources, and people.

This paper uses evidence of the significance of transnational social and cultural fields to propose an important intervention in social inclusion programs, by pointing to the possible harms that might result from the success of programs that facilitate social inclusion at a local level without appropriate awareness of its effects on non‐local contexts in which participants might also be active.

There is substantial research on the experiences, needs and well-being of unaccompanied refugee adolescents, but less is known about existential aspects of their lives. The purpose of the current study is to explore existential meaning-making among unaccompanied refugee children.

The informants in this study are young unaccompanied refugees (n = 30) living in Norway, and young Norwegians (n = 46). The authors undertook a secondary analysis of in-depth qualitative refugee interview data and a quantitative analysis of questionnaire data from Norwegian informants.

Both the refugee youths and the Norwegian youths expressed that social relationships and connections to others were most important for meaning. Moreover, both groups emphasized the importance of relatedness and generativity, i. e. commitment to worldly affairs beyond one’s immediate needs. The main differences between the two groups were related to the significance attached to religion and to loneliness.

The comparison between the two groups is only possible to some degree. Secondary analyses have some limitations, as well as strengths.

The findings may be useful for supporting young refugees, as they provide insights into less-studied aspects of their lives.

The originality of this study lies in the focus on and broad interpretation of meaning, of secondary data analyses, and of comparisons between youths that are refugees versus non-refugees.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the diversity of trauma Latin American (LA) refugee children in the USA experience across migration. It proposes ways that practitioners and policymakers can use knowledge from existing research to improve services and respect the rights of LA children.

The paper used a systematic review approach supplemented by additional sources to capture current representative knowledge. The paper uses staged migration and social ecological approaches for organization and discussion.

LA children have historically and contemporarily been exposed to more instances and types of trauma than their non-immigrant US counterparts. LA refugee children have a high need for international protection that is not reflected in the US policy.

Knowledge of possible trauma types among LA children can inform practitioner expectations and prepare them for care management. Officers must be well-trained in both potential trauma-related content and geographic context and have excellent interviewing skills. Lawyers, advocates and judges – the latter who create precedent – play a critical role in children’s cases and should have access to high-quality, geographically and historically relevant and contemporary information.

The levels of violence in Latin America; the rate of child trauma; and the spike in unaccompanied children at the border compels the USA to reassess their positions on (a) refugee caps, (b) asylum screenings and (c) interception-related policies, protocol and practice.

This the first review to specifically focus on empirical trauma research specific to the LA child’s migration experience.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and compare the health behaviors of Karen youth with that of the other subpopulation seen at a Minnesota clinic.

Demographic information and data on health status, recommended health behaviors and goal-setting patterns were collected via a review of the medical records of patients seen at a family medicine residency clinic in St Paul, Minnesota during a one-year period (July 2015–June 2016). Data were summarized using descriptive statistics. Data on Karen patients were compared with data on other populations.

The study included 765 youths aged 3–17 years. The Karen youth in the study engaged in recommended health behaviors more frequently than their peers on almost every measure. There were statistically significant differences in the amount of sleep, intake of fruits and vegetables, screen time, number of active days per week and consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks between the Karen and their peers overall. Karen youth also reported consuming fewer sweets and fried or processed food than their peers, and they had lower BMI percentiles than other youth.

The study relied on participant self-report, which is subject to potential inaccuracies in recall and reporting.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study detailing health behaviors of Karen youth in the USA. The findings suggest a window of opportunity to support and empower Karen families to maintain healthy habits in order to prevent the development of chronic disease in this community.

Poor mental health is common amongst unaccompanied refugee adolescents and may have serious negative consequences for their successful settlement. This study aims to elucidate unaccompanied adolescents’ experiences of psychosocial challenges and what they need to cope with this during their course of settlement in Denmark, particularly focussing on social support.

The study sample included six male unaccompanied refugee adolescents aged 17–18, living in two residential care facilities. Based on a triangulation of methods (i.e. participant observation, individual interviews and a focus group interview using photo-elicitation), a thematic analysis was conducted within the conceptual framework of stigma and a need for relatedness.

Several interwoven and on-going psychosocial challenges, including perceived stigma and loneliness combined with past traumatic experiences and uncertainties about the future, were experienced by the adolescents in this study. As opposed to experiencing emotional distress, stigma and loneliness, various activities of “forgetting”, which involved a sense of momentary relief or bliss, a sense of “normalcy” and acceptance and/or a sense of relatedness, helped them to cope.

For psychosocial care services to respond to adolescents’ mental health needs in an optimal way, the results suggest that activities and social support that are sufficiently adapted to individual needs should be the focal point in their daily lives.

The study offers insights into the needs of unaccompanied refugee adolescents in coping with the psychosocial challenges experienced in their daily lives.

The purpose of the scoping study was to understand the experiences of refugees with disabilities and their families in the US from expert service-provider perspectives, including gaps in resources and services. The authors also investigated challenges and opportunities for technology intervention in this space.

The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with six experts who serve refugees in the United States. The authors asked them about the experiences of refugees with disabilities and their families and inquired into challenges and opportunities for technology access for this population.

The authors found that refugees and their families are significantly impacted by disabilities and mental health challenges. Additionally, while refugees have access to resources and services, they face a number of structural barriers, including the need to navigate a complex healthcare system, geographic placements that sometimes make it difficult to access employment or healthcare services, and issues with accessing public transit.

The main limitation of the current study is that the authors did not collect data directly from refugees with disabilities.

The authors offer several directions for practical improvements based on the findings, including improving structural support for refugees with disabilities and incentivizing health care providers utilizing more culturally aware language services.

While the number of refugees worldwide has doubled in the past decade and there is consensus that a significant number of refugees experience disabilities and mental health challenges, few projects have looked into the technology needs of refugees with disabilities. The exploratory study provides population-level insights on the experiences and accessibility barriers of refugees with disabilities in the United States.

Resilience is an increasingly important concept that contributes to sustainability and wellbeing of a community. Asset-based community development (ABCD) may offer promising approaches to boosting community resilience in Australia, especially within marginalised groups.

A scoping review was conducted to conceptualise existing literature on ABCD approaches to building resilience. Research databases were searched with relevant details.

Thirty-three sources were identified as meeting the inclusion criteria and were reviewed in terms of six themes: integration and identity, health, mental health, education, employment and community planning. Issues identified by the literature within these themes can be alleviated through asset-based approaches. Implications for planning of asset-based programs and policy change are discussed in light of the findings.

The results of this study provide several implications for practise, policy recommendations and future research into this area. Results suggest that increasing capacity around asset-based coping mechanisms, such as support networks through religious and cultural groups, would promote community development and foster resilience. Furthermore, policy on refugees in multiple areas, such as psychological service provision and employment, should be redesigned in a way that acknowledges their complex and diverse needs and facilitates their integration into the community. Though multiple ways to achieve this goal have been explored in literature, a sustained and broader approach is necessary to see widespread change. Further research and funding are required to explore and implement appropriate responses. Based on the findings and discussion above, the authors make the following policy recommendations. Service providers need to be aware of and incorporate culturally appropriate programs in the areas of mental health assessment and intervention, education and employment. The trauma-informed approach should be used when dealing with refugee groups and other groups who have faced hardships. Government policy should focus on improving community engagement to create and strengthen social networks, which are vital in boosting integration into the community and increasing health education and access to services. Government should focus on asset-based approaches in designing education and employment integration programs to promote social belonging and community engagement, and thus, community resilience, which will consequently have beneficial individual and group outcomes. The current governmental policy surrounding refugees should be overhauled with the goal of successful refugee integration in mind, such as incorporating the ability for refugees to access vital services such as employment and skills transferability programs. Due to current policy, these services are inaccessible to a large portion of refugees, hindering their integration. Government needs to create specific guidelines for the provision of psychological services to refugees to improve the quality of mental health services available to this group.

This paper comprises an original data analysis of the relevant existing literature by the project team. The process was rigorous, and no content of the analysis has been published previously except the material published by other authors. All previously published materials were duly acknowledged.

This review aims to examine the literature on refugees’ and asylum seekers’ resilience, its historical evolution, key principles, assumptions and recommendations, while focusing on the Canadian context.

A narrative literature review has been applied to this manuscript. This approach allows the integration of a wide scope of literature and perspectives, from academic literature to grey literature (e.g. governmental reports and dissertations). Nevertheless, the limitations of this type of review were also discussed.

In spite of the gaining popularity of the resilience lens, which emphasizes an individual’s ability to overcome adversities and stressful events, more work is required for its effective integration into health practice, programs and policies, particularly as it relates to refugees’ and asylum seekers’ mental health care.

Careful consideration of refugees’ and asylum seekers’ mental health needs and Canadian mental health service delivery and policies is a critical first step in reaching such a goal.

This study aims to systematically review and conceptualise service-related research on refugees to identify gaps in the literature, derive future research avenues and stimulate interdisciplinary research and practice to improve well-being of refugees.

This study uses a systematic literature review (SLR) of 102 journal articles published or available online from 2010 to 2020.

Ten themes are identified across the three phases of the refugees’ service journey (entry, transition and exit). Most of the articles focus on the exit phase. One-third of the literature analyses refugees’ access and adaptation to health-care services. The dearth of research on other refugee services reflects the failure to attend to all aspects of service provision across all phases of the refugee service journey.

While the ten themes across the three phases require scholars’ and practitioners’ attention, different aspects of the SLR’s findings necessitate further investigation. To reinvigorate research and practice, and stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration, a novel Communities of Practice approach is suggested.

Practitioners and policymakers should place more focus on the entry and transition phases of the refugee service journey.

Lack of research and engagement with the first two phases of the refugee journey might come at the expense of refugees. More service support is needed to buffer the journey from homeland to host country.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this SLR on refugee-related services is the first of its kind from a service research perspective.