1,720,988 research outputs found
The Asylum Seekers Photographic Interview (ASPI): Evaluation of a new method to increase Nigerian asylum seekers’ narrative meaning-making after trauma
No full textDue to severe traumatization, the narrative meaning-making processes of asylum seekers are often disrupted. However, the ability of asylum seekers to integrate trauma into their personal narratives has strong implications on their mental health as well as on their asylum claim. Objective: Starting with the presentation of a new method, the Asylum Seekers Photographic Interview (ASPI), developed through participatory processes and aimed to increase meaning-making processes, the article evaluates the effects of the ASPI on asylum seekers’ narrative organization. Method: A quasi-experimental research design was carried out. The posttraumatic symptomatology of 36 Nigerian asylum seekers hosted in Italy was assessed. Participants were then randomly divided into two groups: an intervention group assessed by the ASPI and a control group assessed by a non-image-mediated narrative interview. Quantitative data were analyzed through a descriptive analysis, and the interviews were analyzed according to various dimensions of narrative meaning-making processes. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was then carried out to evaluate the significance of eventual differences of narrative indexes between the groups. Results: The MANOVA showed statistically significant differences of narrative indexes in the intervention group in the Word Count, Internal States, and Coherence categories, caused by the only effect of “intervention vs. control group,” F(8, 25) = 5.902, p = .000, h2 partial = .65). Conclusion: The results showed the effectiveness of the new methodology in increasing the narrative organization of experiences, contributing to the research on trauma and narratives in the context of forced migration. © 2021 American Psychological Associatio
OFFERING ASYLUM TO TRAUMA. TRAUMA AND RESPONSE TO ADVERSITY IN ASYLUM SEEKERS’ NARRATIVES.
No full textIntroduction: Traumatic experiences are “events” that hit and disorganize the psychic structure, interrupting the identity coherence. Evidence emerging from the field of refugee mental health has revealed that the traumatic events experienced by asylum seekers and refugees, generally interrelated and cumulative, lead to increased risk of psychological distress and psychopathology (Slewa-Younan et al. 2015; Rohlof et al., 2013). Nevertheless, it’s been also highlighted how important is to consider that the response to adversities varies from individual to individual, and includes a lot of factors (Thomas et al., 2011; Papadopoulos, 2007). According to us, to improve our understanding of the deep complexity of asylum seekers’ experience, diagnostic models need to be connected to models that focus on the relationship between individual needs and contextual factors.
Method: The study aims to 1) evaluate traumatic and resilience levels in asylum seekers; 2) explore the meanings of pre and post-migration experiences considering the role of traumatic and resilient levels. We met 20 North-African asylum seekers, hosted in Asylum Seekers’ Shelters. PTSD Checklist, Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Resilience Scale and in-depth interviews were administered. The interviews were analysed by the software T-LAB.
Results: Only 35% of participants presented a Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (M PCL-C: 47; SD: 13,27) but more than 50% reported a traumatic impact regarding the experience in Libya (M IES-R: 37,9; SD: 20). Moderately high resilience levels emerged (M RS: 141,15; SD: 21,24). The analysis of the interviews shows 4 thematic clusters: From death to life across the sea; Land of care; A godforsaken place; Memories from the past.
Discussion: Themes emerged from asylum seekers’ narratives seem to be independent from traumatic and resilient levels suggesting an homogeneous field of experience in which migration trauma is narrated
NO COUNTRY FOR YOUNG AFRICAN WOMEN: GENDER DIMENSIONS IN ASYLUM SEEKERS’ WOMEN NARRATIVES
No full textIntroduction: Among the generable category of asylum seekers and refugees, women and minors have to be considered as vulnerable populations by virtue of their susceptibility to sexual and gender-based violence and of their specific needs (UNHCR, 2017). Studies focused on women as forced migrants have mainly looked at their higher exposure to sexual violence (Bradley & Tawfiq, 2006; Rogstad & Dale, 2004; Boersma, 2003) as well as on their higher risk, compared to men, to develop post-traumatic stress disorders (Breslau & Anthony, 2007; Tolin & Foa, 2006), somatic symptoms or emotional outbursts (Renner & Salem, 2009) as consequence of traumatic events. However, although the displacement phenomenon, in its current serious state, is relatively recent and the international literature on asylum seekers and refugees is wide, research on vulnerable populations, especially on women, is still underdeveloped and need to be increased (Keygnaert et al., 2014; Kalt et al., 2013).
Method: The present study aimed to explore the meanings that asylum-seekers women attribute to their migratory experiences. 10 Nigerian asylum seekers women (mean age 25), hosted in an Extraordinary Reception Centre were met. Semi-structured interviews based on the whole migratory experience were administered and analysed according to the principles of the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology (Smith & Osborn, 2003; Smith et al., 2009).
Results: 3 Superordinate themes emerged: No Country for young African women; Face to face with death; Learning to be myself.
Discussion: On the background of the complexity of all migratory phases, the gender dimension assumes a key role in defining and influencing experiences. Being an African woman exposes to a high mandate in the Mother Earth as well as to stigma and preconceptions in the hosting country. The capability to resist and re-invent themselves as women and/or mothers emerged as positive aspect to face with challenges and obstacles
Mental Health Risk and Protective Factors of Nigerian Male Asylum Seekers Hosted in Southern Italy: a Culturally Sensitive Quantitative Investigation
No full textThis study provides a culturally sensitive quantitative investigation aimed at assessing the post-traumatic symptomatology, post-migratory difficulties, and resilience of 36 Nigerian male asylum seekers hosted in the province of Caserta, South Italy. A survey composed by the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire-Revised (HTQ-R), the Post-Migratory Checklist (PLMD), and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) was administered to participants. Descriptive and correlation analyses were made in order to describe the mental health risk and protective factors and understand the relation between these. A linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the influence of post-migratory difficulties and resilience on PTSD. Stratified bivariate analyses were also computed to detect PTSD group and no-PTSD group differences about post-migration difficulties and resilience levels. Regression analysis showed that PMLD numbers significantly increased the risk of having PTSD. No significant effect emerged for the level of resilience. Statistically significant differences between the PTSD group and non-PTSD group in relation to post-migratory difficulties were also found. No differences in the resilience factors emerged. The results offer a glimpse into a specific ethnic group of asylum seekers and its mental health risks and protective factors, taking into consideration the specificities of their past and current life-story experiences. Clinical implications for professionals working in the field of forced migration will be outline
A review of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Italy: Where is the psychological research going?
No full textAccording to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nowadays, 65,3 million individuals have been forcibly displaced worldwide. In Europe, Italy is one of the countries with the highest number of asylum seeker arrivals per year and the emergency nature of the present-day migratory flows are increasingly involving researchers and clinicians to come up with and develop new models of research and interventions. This article aims to conduct a review of the Italian psychological research in the field of forced migration in order to systematise the Italian studies, to compare the Italian situation with the international one and to define limits, resources and future directions of current Italian research. A literature review in the databases Scopus, PubMed and Web of Knowledge for documents published from 2012 to 2017 was conducted. From the analysis, twelve articles emerged principally following two main trajectories of investigation: a clinical and mental health-related trajectory and a psychosocial and community-based one. Compared with the wider international field of research, a general underdevelopment of Italian research emerged. Research into protective factors with regard to the development of psychopathological outcomes and on interventions is highly recommended. Results highlighted support for future research on the theme of asylum seekers and refugees. Some cause for reflection as regards levels of criticality, the direction of future research and specific links between research and Italian social policies were given
Mothers across the borders: A phenomenological approach to the experience of East European women to the transnational motherhood.
No full textIn Italy the increasing phenomenon of feminine migration mainly concerns East Europe (Istat,
2015). East European women, in order to support their families, emigrate searching for works opportunities which principally involve domestic or nursing duties. In a general redefinition of their own psychic and cultural identity (Grinberg & Grinberg, 1990), migrant mothers redefine also their motherhood adopting several strategies to negotiate their absence from home. In a social framework, commodification of love and technological management of family relations appear as dominant characteristics of transnational mothering (Orellana et al., 2011; Parreñas, 2001). Less investigated are emotional dimensions. The migration and transnational motherhood experiences were investigated through a semi-structured interview and analysed by the phenomenologicalinterpretative analysis (IPA) (Smith & Osborn, 2003; Smith et al., 2009). 5 women were selected on the basis of the following criteria: to be an immigrant woman who has lived in Italy at least from 10 years with regular residency permit, to have abandoned their children in their country in a phase between the second childhood and the preadolescence. Met in an Onlus, all women have Ukrainian origins, 50 median age, are divorced and employed as domestic workers. Four superordinate themes emerged: It’s up to woman, it’s up to me; Suspended between two worlds; An empty which we can’t narrate; The good mother must stay with her children. The motherhood experience is felt either as an heroic and feminine gesture which, through sacrifice, guarantees a better future, or a regret for the loss of essential steps of children life. The complex migration experience is represented as a suspension between two worlds, as well as a point of no return, in which the same Mother Earth, is perceived as a treacherous Mother
The generative function of a Healthcare system: linking meanings between chronic illness and motherhood
No full textThis paper explores the meanings that the experience of chronic physical illness assumes in relation to a specific aspect of the generative function, namely the experience of pregnancy and motherhood. Chronic illness and filiation are both seen as natural phenomena, but they are also products that modify our framework of meaning depending on the context; “critical events” that require a restructuring of identity on the part of the individual and of those institutional figures who represent the healthcare and social system.
It describes a research project, in a hospital environment, involving psychological support for women diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis who were preparing for motherhood. What emerges is that the psychological function can aid integration of seemingly incompatible meanings, namely those of chronic illness and the looking ahead and planning that are characteristic of motherhood. Thus the idea of health is synonymous with the kind of decision-making power that psychological support can give to people in a hospital setting
THE PROMINENCE OF MIND-BODY CONNECTIONS IN CLINICAL INTERVENTIONS: THE BRAIN WAVE MODULATION TECNIQUE EFFECTS
No full textIntroduction. Mind–body interventions are based on several practices designed to facilitate the mind's positive impact on the body. This definition includes new practices developed over the past few decades such as eye movement desensitization reprocessing, mind–body transformation therapy, and brain wave modulation. This presentation aims to introduce and describe a specific intervention focused on mind-body connections and defined Brain Wave Modulation Tecnique (BWM-T) with a broad description of the clinical intervention and preliminary data on its effects.
Methods and results. The technique involves an easy-to-implement 4-step finger movement procedure, and spontaneously helps our brain to release slower alpha waves. The BWM presents certain advantages over traditional mind–body interventions. First, it is very easy to learn and can be performed in minutes. It is a sustainable and reproducible intervention that patients might prefer over other methods that are more time-consuming and difficult to learn. Second, neither special premises nor specific equipment is required, so the BWM can be performed virtually everywhere. Third, the intervention can be administered individually as well as to a large number of subjects at the same time in a single session, and it takes just one psychologist, which simplifies scheduling. Fourth, the BWM-T might be particularly suited for administration in digital environment because, since it replicates these natural mind-body automatic processes, face-to-face human interaction is not so important and key as it is in traditional interventions. Moreover, once the subjects have learned the technique, they can perform it autonomously.
A growing number of studies showed the positive effects that both face-to-face and online BWM-T application can have in reducing the perceived level of stress: as compared to other kind of session on stress management, as well as in promoting general wellbeing, by reducing the levels of perceived stress, anxiety, global distress, and negative affect, and by improving positive affect.
Discussion. Authors discuss studies and procedures on BWM-T technique stressing its effects as well as the clinical implications, with a specific focus on the importance to empower clinical practice with a mind-body connection approach
La co-costruzione della relazione di cura nelle malattie croniche: analisi di consultazioni per cardiomiopatie genetiche
No full textDream and dream work in psychotherapic groups for patients with severe psychopathology
No full textIn the field of empirical research on psychodynamic groups psychotherapies, nowadays important results have been made on outcomes and processes. Studies focus on dream functions in group process are still slight. The study explores expressions and functions of dream in the psychotherapeutic process of different typologies of institutional groups. Six psychotherapeutic groups of patients with severe psychopathologies were monitored for six months through protocols of the observers. The groups with some homogeneous criteria in the setting, differ in the diagnosis (personality disorders and psychotic disorders/only psychotic disorders). The observation protocols were categorized through a content analysis according to some thematic categories (interpersonal relationship; mechanism of defense; maintenance of setting; presence of dreams). From the protocols 20 dreams narration emerged which were analyzed u s i n g H a l l & Va n d e C a s t l e C o d i n g s y s t e m . The monosymptomatic groups of psychotic patients do not produce dreams narrations. The chance to dream the psychotherapeutic group and to invest itin terms of representation and affects appears where the group process haselaborative capability.The results seem to confirm in the context of group Bion’s hypothesis ondifficulty in the psychotic condition to approach to the dream as product ofmental function. Some theoretical implications on the potential of dreamwork, as indicator of group process, will be discussed
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