IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v62y2016i1p76-83.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘We don’t have to go and see a special person to solve this problem’: Trauma, mental health beliefs and processes for addressing ‘mental health issues’ among Sudanese refugees in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Savic
  • Anna Chur-Hansen
  • Mohammad Afzal Mahmood
  • Vivienne M Moore

Abstract

Background: The impact of trauma on refugee mental health has been a particular focal point for research and treatment in Western contexts, despite uncertainty about the degree to which this corresponds with refugees’ needs, mental health beliefs and healing mechanisms. Aims: This study explored the mental health beliefs of resettling Sudanese refugees in Australia. Methods: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with Sudanese community representatives and with a range of health and social work professionals who were not necessarily Sudanese. Results: The concept of trauma was not universally considered to be salient for Sudanese refugees. Key informants, especially those in refugee-oriented services, emphasised stoicism and a desire to move forward and questioned the appropriateness of Western psychological therapies. Processes that exist within the family and the Sudanese community to deal with stressors like loss, grief and social isolation were explained. Conclusion: Dialogue between services and community members is needed to ensure responses to refugee mental health are sensitive to the diversity of needs and mental health beliefs of refugees. This will enable workers to ascertain how individual refugees understand their experiences of distress or sadness and to determine whether community strategies and/or professional responses are appropriate.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Savic & Anna Chur-Hansen & Mohammad Afzal Mahmood & Vivienne M Moore, 2016. "‘We don’t have to go and see a special person to solve this problem’: Trauma, mental health beliefs and processes for addressing ‘mental health issues’ among Sudanese refugees in Australia," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 62(1), pages 76-83, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:62:y:2016:i:1:p:76-83
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764015595664
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764015595664
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764015595664?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Watters, Charles, 2001. "Emerging paradigms in the mental health care of refugees," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(11), pages 1709-1718, June.
    2. Kirmayer, Laurence J., 2012. "Cultural competence and evidence-based practice in mental health: Epistemic communities and the politics of pluralism," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 249-256.
    3. Summerfield, Derek, 1999. "A critique of seven assumptions behind psychological trauma programmes in war-affected areas," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(10), pages 1449-1462, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Perrotta, Manuela & Geampana, Alina, 2020. "The trouble with IVF and randomised control trials: Professional legitimation narratives on time-lapse imaging and evidence-informed care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    2. Warren Kealy-Bateman & Georgina M. Gorman & Adam P. Carroll, 2021. "Patient/Consumer Codesign and Coproduction of Medical Curricula: A Possible Path Toward Improved Cultural Competence and Reduced Health Disparity," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    3. Tachibana, Towa & Goto, Rie & Sakurai, Takeshi & Rayamajhi, Santosh & Adhikari, Angel & Dow, William H., 2019. "Do remittances alleviate negative impacts of disaster on mental health? A case of the 2015 Nepal earthquake," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Scott, Penelope, 2014. "Black African asylum seekers’ experiences of health care access in an eastern German state," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(3), pages 134-147.
    5. Zenker, Olaf, 2010. "Between the lines: Republicanism, dissenters and the politics of meta-trauma in the Northern Irish conflict," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 236-243, July.
    6. Bjertrup, Pia Juul & Bouhenia, Malika & Mayaud, Philippe & Perrin, Clément & Ben Farhat, Jihane & Blanchet, Karl, 2018. "A life in waiting: Refugees' mental health and narratives of social suffering after European Union border closures in March 2016," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 53-60.
    7. Claudia Milena Adler, 2024. "Re-Imagining Alternative Futures through Empowerment," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, February.
    8. Carl Stempel & Nilofar Sami & Patrick Marius Koga & Qais Alemi & Valerie Smith & Aida Shirazi, 2016. "Gendered Sources of Distress and Resilience among Afghan Refugees in Northern California: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-22, December.
    9. Jordans, M.J.D. & Tol, W.A. & Komproe, I.H., 2011. "Mental health interventions for children in adversity: Pilot-testing a research strategy for treatment selection in low-income settings," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 456-466, August.
    10. O'Donnell, Alexander W. & Stuart, Jaimee & O'Donnell, Karlee J., 2020. "The long-term financial and psychological resettlement outcomes of pre-migration trauma and post-settlement difficulties in resettled refugees," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    11. Leah S. Branam & Ismail Yigit & Sipal Haji & Jennifer Clark & Jessica M. Perkins, 2023. "Kurdish Refugee Beliefs about Mental Health and Help-Seeking: A Community-Engaged Research Study in Tennessee," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-12, January.
    12. Meechan, Hannah & John, Mary & Hanna, Paul, 2021. "Understandings of mental health and support for Black male adolescents living in the UK," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Gelkopf, Marc & Berger, Rony & Bleich, Avraham & Silver, Roxane Cohen, 2012. "Protective factors and predictors of vulnerability to chronic stress: A comparative study of 4 communities after 7 years of continuous rocket fire," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(5), pages 757-766.
    14. Samuel Fosso Wamba, 2022. "Humanitarian supply chain: a bibliometric analysis and future research directions," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 937-963, December.
    15. McMullen, John D. & McMullen, Nadia, 2018. "Evaluation of a teacher-led, life-skills intervention for secondary school students in Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 10-17.
    16. Hadi Farahani & Natalie Joubert & Janet Carter Anand & Timo Toikko & Mohamad Tavakol, 2021. "A Systematic Review of the Protective and Risk Factors Influencing the Mental Health of Forced Migrants: Implications for Sustainable Intercultural Mental Health Practice," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-25, September.
    17. Biju Viswanath & Ami S. Maroky & Suresh B. Math & John P. John & Anish V. Cherian & Satish C. Girimaji & Vivek Benegal & Ameer Hamza & Santosh K. Chaturvedi, 2013. "Gender differences in the psychological impact of tsunami," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(2), pages 130-136, March.
    18. Veronese, Guido & Pepe, Alessandro & Dagdukee, Jamal & Yaghi, Shaher, 2018. "Teaching in conflict settings: Dimensions of subjective wellbeing in Arab teachers living in Israel and Palestine," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 16-26.
    19. Beiser, Morton & Wiwa, Owens & Adebajo, Sylvia, 2010. "Human-initiated disaster, social disorganization and post-traumatic stress disorder above Nigeria's oil basins," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 221-227, July.
    20. Miller, Kenneth E. & Rasmussen, Andrew, 2010. "War exposure, daily stressors, and mental health in conflict and post-conflict settings: Bridging the divide between trauma-focused and psychosocial frameworks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 7-16, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:62:y:2016:i:1:p:76-83. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.