Promoting Well-Being of Refugee Youth During Resettlement: A Formative Evaluation of the Young Women's Leadership Program Öffentlichkeit
Rao, Maya (2014)
Published
Abstract
Introduction: Refugees face challenges in social, emotional and psychological well-being during the resettlement process. Factors, such as self-sufficiency, educational attainment and social support can impact these dimensions of well-being by affecting a refugee's ability to access health services and manage stressors during resettlement. This special studies project evaluated Refugee Family Services' Young Women's Leadership Program to determine whether or not its efforts addressed similar factors affecting the well-being of female, adolescent refugees resettled in the Atlanta area.
Methods: I conducted a formative evaluation of the program's first year of implementation, using primary and secondary data sources. I collected primary data from observations of workshops and key informant interviews with organizational staff. Secondary data included organizational documents, pre/post workshop assessments, pre/post internship assessments, a focus group transcript and written mentor feedback. I used the paired t-test in SAS software package version 9.3 to analyze significant changes in pre/post assessment scores and conducted qualitative, thematic analysis of the focus group transcript and mentor reports.
Results: Workshop and internship assessments demonstrated a significant increase in scores measuring the following factors related to self-sufficiency and healthy behavior: job performance, financial literacy, self-defense and nutrition. Mentor feedback and focus group responses demonstrated perceived improvements in participants' self-esteem, self-confidence, social skills, and academic performance. Responses also highlighted unmet needs related to effective communication, community engagement and management of social and economic stressors. A review of organizational documents identified that 8 of 14 program outcomes were not assigned specific, measurable indicators to facilitate collection of evaluation data.
Discussion and Public Health Significance: Participants experienced improvements within the program's objectives of social and emotional development, academic engagement and self-sufficiency. However, language proficiency and socioeconomic stressors presented challenges in fully achieving program objectives. If unaddressed, these challenges can pose barriers to accessing health services and can increase mental health risks among refugee youth. It is recommended that the program address these challenges through additional trainings and resources that promote stress management and access to health services. The addition of clearly defined indicators would also benefit the program by allowing for a more accurate determination of program impacts.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................... 1
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................ 7
Approaches to Monitoring and Evaluation...................................... 7
Adjustment and Well-being in Resettlement................................... 9
Youth Development Through Training, Application and Community Engagement.... 13
Mentoring................................................................................. 16
CHAPTER 3: METHODS AND RESULTS........................................... 19
Methods.................................................................................... 19
Program Site............................................................................. 19
Program Population.................................................................... 20
Observations............................................................................. 21
Key Informant Interviews and Correspondence............................... 21
Secondary Data.......................................................................... 21
Data Analysis............................................................................. 23
Ethical Considerations................................................................. 24
Limitations................................................................................ 24
Findings.................................................................................... 26
Emotional and Behavioral Development......................................... 28
Social and Cultural Development................................................... 31
Commitment to Learning............................................................. 34
Ability to Achieve Self-sufficiency.................................................. 35
Summary................................................................................... 37
CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION, PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....... 39
Discussion and Public Health Implications....................................... 39
Recommendations....................................................................... 44
REFERENCES.............................................................................. 48
About this Master's Thesis
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