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. 2022 May;27(3):200-214.
doi: 10.1177/17449871211018736. Epub 2021 Nov 15.

Empowering refugee families in transit: the development of a culturally competent and compassionate training and support package

Irena Papadopoulos  1 , Runa Lazzarino  2 , Ourania Sakellaraki  3 , Victor Dadãu  4 , Paraskevi Apostolara  5 , Andrea Kuckert-Wöstheinrich  6 , Manuela Mauceri  7 , Christiana Kouta  8
Affiliations

Empowering refugee families in transit: the development of a culturally competent and compassionate training and support package

Irena Papadopoulos et al. J Res Nurs. 2022 May.

Abstract

Background: Refugee parents who fled conflicts suffered violence and traumas and face huge challenges in supporting the health and welfare of their children while in transit.

Aims: To describe the development of a culturally competent and compassionate training and support package (TSP) for nurses, social and health care workers and volunteers, with a focus on parenting needs among unsettled refugees fleeing conflict.

Methods: The multi-method approach included: a scoping review covering parenting needs of refugees fleeing conflict zones; collection of stories from refugee parents, healthcare workers and volunteers via a mobile application; discussions between team members; a piloted and evaluated curriculum.

Results: High levels of family distress and deterioration of parental identity were identified. Informed by these results, the curriculum is articulated along 20 bite-sized learning units, covering four age stages of childhood as well as targeting adults' well-being. Pilot training was evaluated positively, confirming feasibility and usefulness of the TSP.

Conclusions: Unsettled refugee parents fleeing conflicts face psycho-social and practical difficulties negatively affecting their parenting skills. The care workforce should be trained in order to provide culturally competent and compassionate support to help these families. Open access digital platforms are promising as autodidactic and self-help tools among hard-to-reach populations.

Keywords: compassionate care; culture; mental health; mobility; multi-methods; parenting/families; practice development; public and patient involvement; violence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
European training model for the caregivers of migrant and refugee families in transit. The development of the curriculum occurred between January and May 2019 and entailed, as a first step, the development of the IENE8 European model for the caregivers of migrant and refugee families in transit.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Challenges for refugee families in transit. The second step for the development of the curriculum consisted of the visual systematisation of results of thematic analysis into a diagram offering a meaningful and practical synopsis of the main challenges of unsettled refugee families.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Curriculum content map. The second step for the development of the curriculum consisted of the creation of a detailed curriculum content map condensed in an infographic.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Challenges during the journey. From the analysis of the parenting stories collected, it has emerged that parents can feel helpless and unable to protect their children during the journey, when they faced risk of harm or violence at some point. PSS: Psycho-Social Support.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Coping strategies. From the analysis of the parenting stories collected, similarities in coping strategies could be identified: mostly seeking services to share concerns and support their children, trying to be positive, and connecting with the community.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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