Judith Nabb. “Pregnant asylum-seekers: perceptions of maternity service provision”
The article “Pregnant asylum-seekers: perceptions of maternity service provision” written by Judith Nabb in 2006 and based on the results of her research on medical care assistance given to pregnant refugees in the UK opens up a huge piece of information on the topic and represents the issue in a highly positive way. The author as an independent researcher shows particular interest in the topic of attitudes and possible complications that emerge in the process of provision of maternity care to refugees.
In the process of the study, Judith Nabb focuses on a set of particular issues representing interest to her personally and being relevant in the course of general medical care studies, such as the level of medical care assistance to refugees available in the UK at the present moment, the needs of refugees that distinguish them from regular pregnant UK citizens and the empirical research on the issues of personal experience and impressions about the asylum-seekers maternity care provision that both the patients and the staff providing the medical care in the UK has.
At the very beginning as well as throughout the whole work the author states that one of the main problems pregnant asylum-seekers face is lack of efficient communication and language barriers they have; together with this comes racial segregation and hostility they have to stand while being in the maternity houses. This is one of the primary assumptions Nabb puts forward in the course of her research, basing her judgment on the preliminary literary review she has conducted.
As a result of the preliminary theoretical research, Judith Nabb stipulates three main objectives for her research: she wants to “determine the expressed needs of pregnant asylum-seekers regarding maternity care”, to provide for the objectivity of the research and assure the multi-faceted results she aims to “ask women for accounts of the quality of care received” and thus to come to a reasonable conclusion and to “clarify the provision of maternity care by health care professionals”.
For these purposes, she chooses the descriptive, exploratory qualitative approach as the primary methodology and wants to achieve sufficient results this way. In the context of established goals and objectives the size of the sample as well as the chosen way to conduct interviews appears rather doubtable. More or less objective results cannot be achieved by non-structured interviews with five medical personnel representatives, especially taking into consideration the fact that these representatives are from different spheres of activity – there are nurses, general practitioners, consultants, etc. in the list of questioned people. Thus, even the author admits that the results cannot be generalized but can only open up some more interesting information that will throw light on the issue of medical care provision for pregnant refugees.
Remarkably, the results shown both from interviews with patients and with doctors proved to be highly positive. Women, in their turn, highly assess the conditions they are provided within the context of medical care examination, no matter whether they give birth to a child in that hospital or not. All patients appreciated highly the midwife care, the GP care, and hospital care they received, thus proving the point that the level of medical care provided to refugees in the UK is rather high and is built efficiently.
Discussing the present article, it is highly relevant to note that the official position on the provision of medical care to pregnant asylum-seekers in the UK appears to be not that optimistic as shown by Nabb’s research findings. It is enough to recollect the findings of Jenny McLeish (2002) who concluded that the needs of pregnant asylum seekers are not met at all; the article of this author written in co-authorship with Sarah Cutler and Cathy Stancer in 2002 eloquently titled “The crying shame” also speaks about the same problem. In connection with the current issue, it is also relevant to remember the articles of the Maternity Alliance (2004) assessing the needs of pregnant asylum seekers and the article of Stephen Stewart (2008) about a 23-year-old girl Ling Lin left in the UK streets penniless and helpless at the final period of her pregnancy.
Leslie Briscoe and Tina Lavender. “Exploring maternity care for asylum seekers and refugees”
The article by the mentioned authors is also focused on the issue of exploring the life of pregnant asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. However, when compared to the article of Judith Nabb, the authors concentrate on the issues of personal experiences of refugees and so do not deal much with the objective side of the issue.
As the problem of maternity care provision is one of the aching issues in the UK so far, the study conducted by the authors was aimed at exploring the real side of this process – they conducted the study in 2002 and 2003 with the application of many innovative methodological elements such as interviews, photographs, field notes, and observational methods. The methodology chosen was a longitudinal exploratory multiple case study which allowed the generalization of facts and generating a certain kind of statistical findings that would allow speaking about certain tendencies and common characteristics as well as summarizing the findings to reproduce a more or less objective image of what the level and peculiarities of maternity care services provided in the UK are.
The sample for the present study also appears to be insufficient as only four refugees who were subject to received maternity care services agreed to provide the researchers with necessary data, thus reducing the level of credibility of results. Besides, it is important to note that the women who agreed to take part in the research and who were free to present any relevant photos that reflected their perception of medical care they got refused from their photos being shown in the course of the study – only photos of surroundings and other meaningful elements were included, without women’s disclosure of identity.
In the process of the research, a set of findings were produced that may appear relevant and important not only for the study in general but for the particular understanding of issues connected with the maternity care providers in the UK. First of all these findings concern such issues as the perception of themselves, understanding in practice, and influence of social policy.
The individual perception of the situation lies within the borders of participants’ mentality – the way these women used to live in their countries, what peculiarities of culture they had and how it could be compared with the current situation they got into in the UK. The majority of women were driven to the UK against their will, because of a threat to their lives, so they generally perceived the care they received in the UK as a better way of life, no matter how efficient it was according to objective European standards.
Understanding in practice involved the issues of cross-cultural communication and the level of finding the common language all these women achieved in their way. The participant who knew English reported a much better attitude and success in the provision of care she received. Other women, even reporting the usage of a translator and being still satisfied with the care they got, also reported the communication problems that emerged from time to time and slowed down the interaction process, reducing its efficiency.
The influence of social policy goes without saying – the refugees are often treated in a hostile or highly careful way, which is the result of long-living stereotypes shaping the way of thinking for the UK citizens. However, the issues did not influence the level of care provision and only affected the mental status of the participants.
The topic may be complemented with other findings on the topic such as the work of the UK police concerning pregnant asylum seekers described in the BBC article of 2002, in which, as well as in the work of Diane Taylor and Hugh Muir (2009) deny the fact of imprisoning the asylum seekers of any category. Other important materials may be found in articles of Lesley Page (2004) titled “Caring for Pregnant Asylum Seekers” and in the information sheet of Maternity Action of 2009 “Maternity rights and benefits: refused (failed) asylum seekers”.
Bibliography
Briscoe, Lesley, and Lavender, Tina. “Exploring maternity care for asylum seekers and refugees”. British Journal of Midwifery, 2009, 17(1), pp. 17-23.
“Maternity rights and benefits: refused (failed) asylum seekers”, 2009. Web.
McLeish, Jenny. “Mothers in exile: Maternity of asylum seekers in England”, 2002. Web.
McLeish, Jenny, Cutler, Sarah, and Stancer, Cathy. “A crying shame: Pregnant asylum seekers and their babies in detention”, 2002. Web.
Nabb, Judith. “Pregnant asylum-seekers: perceptions of maternity service provision”. Royal College of Midwives-Evidence-Based Midwifery, 2006. Web.
Page, Lesley. “Caring for pregnant asylum seekers”. British Journal of Midwifery, 2004, Vol.12, Iss. 11, pp. 686.
This article focuses on exploring the occurrence of unintentional injuries in immigrant and refugee children in Ontario, Canada. The authors clearly identify their purpose, claiming that they aim to compare the rates of unintentional injuries among the mentioned population based on their region of origin and visa class. This problem is considered important since 20% of people currently living in Canada are immigrants (Saunders et al., 2018). The research question is not formulated evidently, but the readers can understand that the authors pose the question about the differences in injury rates as related to the country and status of immigrants and refugee children.
The authors chose a cross-sectional and population-based study design to explore their topic of interest. The data was requested from Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). The total number of immigrants involved in the study was 999,951 persons, while the study period was between 2011 and 2012. The statistical analysis allowed the authors to properly analyze data, paying attention to the age, sex, neighborhood income, and source region variables. The use of descriptive statistics and regression helped in linking health information and administrative data regarding patient hospitalizations. In addition, the authors explain the differences between the immigrant groups by their internal approaches to environments.
The results of the article show that the rate of unintentional injuries among children was 20% higher among refugees. Namely, 8122.3 emergency and 6596.0 non-emergency visits were found in terms of the 100,000 population analyzed (Saunders et al., 2018). East and South Asians had the lowest trauma-related hospitalization rates compared to those from Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, as well as South and Central America. Among the factors that were associated with higher risks, there were male sex, young age, and high income. Another significant finding refers to the leading causes of traumas received by the target population, such as suffocation (39%), vehicle injuries (51%), and poisoning (40%) (Saunders et al., 2018). The key strength of the study is that it synthesized data from administrative and health databases, making the results comprehensive and generalizable to other countries, such as the US or Australia. Nevertheless, the limitations of this article include the fact that only documented immigrants were examined, while those without health insurance were not considered.
The first concept provided by this article is the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) that is offered as an alternative to the immigrants, who are admitted as permanent residents after three months in Canada. For the period of three months, they are eligible for the Interim Federal Health Program. Due to the existence of these programs, immigrants and refugees can timely receive health services. Since the cost of health care services remains one of the main obstacles to disease prevention and treatment, the plans are critical for the target population. The second concept is unintentional trauma that occurs as a result of accidental actions and inattentiveness. Considering that immigrants have their unique cultures and perceptions, the organization of safety cannot be disregarded. Therefore, this study contributes to both research and practice of safe living environments.
Questions
How can the findings of this article be used in practice to make the lives of refugee and immigrant children safer?
How can social workers contribute to safety through the work with these children and their families?
Reference
Saunders, N. R., Macpherson, A., Guan, J., & Guttmann, A. (2018). Unintentional injuries among refugee and immigrant children and youth in Ontario, Canada: A population-based cross-sectional study. Injury Prevention, 24(5), 337-343.
The mission of the organization concerns ensuring that every refugee child is given the much-needed care and support. The organization promotes the vision of a world where no child is left without vital resources. The organization’s current values include empathy, integrity, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and prioritizing human life. The organization is structured functionally, with a shift toward a decentralized and team-based approach. Currently, the organization positions itself in the target community as a charity, also providing education on the issues at hand.
It is believed that internal factors such as the lack of cooperation among the staff members and mismanagement of information, and external ones such as legal changes and economic constraints, may affect the organization. To assess the impact of the organization, the iCAT tool will be used (Lewin et al., 2017).
Implementation Plan: Area, Goals, Timeline
The goals of the organization include providing refugee children with vital resources, ensuring that the rights of the target demographic are met, and advocating for these rights. Specifically, psychiatric treatment for refugee children as patients who have experienced severe trauma and are suffering from PTSD is seen as the main area of concern for the organization. A timeline of one year will be applied, with the milestones of setting the project, raising $200,00 for the necessary resources, and assisting at least 60% of affected children introduced.
Financial Impact & Resources
The organization seeks to raise $200,000 to reach out to and provide essential support to refugee children by using common digital platforms such as JustGiving and CharityNavigator (“Leadership & adaptability,” 2021).
Federal and State Regulations
Notably, ensuring that the plan in question complies with the current federal laws will be necessary. Specifically, the legal standards for refugee admission and resettlement will have to be taken into account since they will define the vulnerable population’s accessibility to the services provided by the organization, as well as the organization’s opportunity to reach out to them.
Ethical Challenges and Plans for Monitoring
Since the target population is represented by highly vulnerable children, it will be vital to ensure that their rights are properly protected and that they are completely safeguarded. Namely, potential ethical issues may involve exposure of refugee children to mistreatment as a result of a poor assessment of the organization’s employees. The described ethical concern can be avoided by enhancing the criteria for participation in the organization’s project.
Communication Plan: Communicating Change
The proposed change will be communicated to five key stakeholders, namely, the organization’s staff, the state authorities, the general audiences, the potential investors, and, most importantly, the vulnerable groups in question. For instance, the essential changes will be introduced to the target audience by charting a path toward the new goal, with the key milestones marked and explained extensively. Moreover, crucial values will be promoted to the staff members with the help of personal storytelling.
Keeping People Informed
Keeping people informed must be one of the key priorities for the organization to meet. The described goal will be achieved by introducing digital tools for maintaining connection, as well as using social networks as a powerful communication channel. While the latter will be used to address community members, the former will be utilized for staff members to communicate and transfer information within the organization. Most importantly, hotlines for notifying the organization about refugee children in need will be created.
Evaluation Strategy
Several milestones need to be established. Specifically, it will be vital for the organization to reach the goal of raising $200,000 to obtain vital resources and hire experts. In addition, the vulnerable population will need to be located and assessed. Afterward, strategies for helping children to cope with trauma will be developed. Finally, the assessment of the results will represent the fourth millstone.
To evaluate the progress to be made, an analysis of data on refugee children prior to the implementation of the project and after its completion will be conducted. Additionally, the children that will have been provided with the necessary services will be assessed, with their levels of PTSD compared (Rizzo & Shilling, 2017).
Stakeholder Satisfaction: Data Collection and Analysis
In turn, the levels of stakeholder satisfaction will have to be assessed with the help of a Likert-type scale in order to gauge the extent of perceived change. Namely, refugee children as the main stakeholders will be provided with Likert-type tests designed according to their age so that their answers can be as accurate as possible (Cornelius et al., 2018). For younger children, the rates of satisfaction (1-5) can be represented as images corresponding to each level of satisfaction, such as a discontent face of a character.
Conclusion
Addressing the needs of refugee children with severe PTSD requires proper care and support, which is why it is vital to provide them with the needed resources, particularly with the help of professional psychologists and counselors, as well as emotional support. The project developed by this organization is believed to assist refugee children in their need to overcome PTSD and live fulfilling life.
A review of a peer-reviewed article will be performed. This paper concerns a literature review of a therapeutic journal’s work, one that was published in the recent future. The research (Bemak, 2017) was mainly focused on tackling trauma, as well as finding proper ways of assessing it. In particular, the trauma of migrant people and refugees is brought into consideration, with multiple problems arising from their experience being noted. Authors suppose that the utilization of their multi-stage model can be effective in better handling migrant trauma, an assertion made based on previous research and new approaches. The current paper will seek to analyze this study in further detail, as well as to personally call into question the effectiveness of its methodology in addressing the problem of migrant trauma.
The authors of the article are interested in discussing and formulating a proper model for addressing refugee trauma. By overlooking the existing articles on the struggles of migrants, they formulate some of the main points of concern for this vulnerable population, their effect on migrant mental health, and possible way of intervention. Healthcare professionals and counselors are advised to utilize the Multiphase Model (MPM) of Psychotherapy as a good solution to the emerging problem of refugee trauma.
The main hypothesis of the work could be assumed to be in two things: first, the fact refugees experience trauma that needs specific and specialized approaches to be properly addressed, and second that the Multiphase Model of Psychotherapy is most effective at meeting the needs of refugees. Both hypotheses are not stated outright but implied through the narrative of the article and the main points it is attempting to make.
Part of the literature discussed concerned the different varieties of trauma and difficulty refugees experience, both connected with their previous living conditions and the process of starting a new life. It also discusses such considerations as racism, education, and learning issues, as points of concern that uniquely impact foreign refugees and migrants. The other types of literature authors of the article have reviewed concern the creation and implementation of their therapeutic system for helping refugees. The effectiveness of the program is attributed to its basis on previous trauma-related models, as well as the incorporation of newer research into the process.
Since the research article presents a new theoretical framework for treating people with trauma, it has not utilized other people as participants, nor does it have a sample size. No variables, dependent or otherwise, were utilized in the process.
The main methodology of this article was, much like its goals, to review available literature in an effort to support its claims with solid evidence. The various types of trauma are noted to exist and present a big problem for the migrant people. The effectiveness and viability of the proposed model are similarly supported by previous studies on refugee therapy. The effectiveness of the new model is also supported by a continued discourse on the topic.
The main conclusion and findings of this paper reiterate the fact that refugee therapy requires an ability to consider and engage with a variety of socio-political factors concerning a particular individual and that special approaches need to be developed in order to ensure the quality of therapeutic work. The study argues for the effectiveness and benefits of its five-stage model but also notes that more research into the field of refugee assistance needs to be made.
No major problems of the study were discussed, save for the need to conduct attritional research in the field before making definitive conclusions. The study encourages more information to be developed in the field of migrant trauma, which is extremely important when discussing a niche topic in much detail. While the researchers have managed to offer a convincing and nuanced perspective of offering assistance to migrant people, the research lacks any real-life evidence on the effectiveness of the particular method chosen, meaning that its application can only be reserved for the theoretical realm. If during more practice-oriented tests, it is understood that the five-stage framework is either inadequate or too time-consuming to implement, it will be a tremendous waste of both time and resources. I would argue that more research needs to be done on the effectiveness and implementation of the framework in real people. Furthermore, research failed to justify and mention why the particular kinds of trauma discussed were chosen, as opposed to other struggles that a migrant might suffer from. The information provided on the types of trauma, while comprehensive, does not fully justify its choices in focus.
The authors strongly imply throughout the paper that their research will be useful in the application by therapists and healthcare professionals, who, with enough preparation, will be able to utilize it to better tackle the various problems of the migrant population. The model proposed uses various types of data and previous research to create a more nuanced and multi-factored approach to understanding trauma.
Trauma often occurs in different people’s lives, yet its consequences are not the same for everyone. Some might face more difficulties after the physical and emotional violence and assaults, developing what is known as a posttraumatic stress disorder. More precisely, PTSD is “a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, or rape” (The American Psychiatric Association, n.d., para. 1). According to the data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (n.d.), “about 6 out of every 100 people (or 6% of the population) will have PTSD at some point in their lives” (n.d., para. 5). More than a half of the registered cases of PTSD are testified in women (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, n.d.). The life of people with PTSD is full of mental struggling and problems with integration into society. In the following paragraphs, the background of the disease is explored in greater detail and PTSD following refugee trauma is given special attention.
The History of PTSD
The history of PTSD can be viewed from different perspectives. First of all, the condition that is now known as PTSD was present in ancient times and described in several historical sources. As such, Mesopotamian warriors had issues mentally recovering after battles; yet, they were considered to be obtained by evil spirits (Blakemore, 2021). Furthermore, the traces of PTSD are present in the literature: both in Herodotus and Shakespeare’s works, individual soldiers struggle because of their traumatic experiences (Blakemore, 2021). People observed the symptoms of PTSD after railway stations’ catastrophes, female rape, and combats (Stein & Rothbaum, 2018). Thus, the illness was known in civil life and war conditions.
However, the symptoms became significant only with the emergence of psychiatry. From this point, a second perspective for viewing the PTSD history can be discussed, namely, the history of the medical diagnoses. At different points, experts named it “traumatic hysteria from railroad injury,”… rape trauma syndrome,… “shell shock,” “soldier’s heart,” and “effort syndrome” (Stein & Rothbaum, 2018, p. 509). The attitudes towards the yet not fully recognized disorder were also different due to “factors such as socio-cultural and political changes, as well as developments in evidence-based understanding of trauma and its sequalae” (Finch, 2021, para. 1). The psychiatrists finally recognized PTSD in the first version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders after the mass occurrence of similar symptoms in Vietnam veterans (Finch, 2021). The definition gradually expanded from military trauma to the stress disorder caused by disastrous situations involving life-threatening conditions. Hence, the syndrome became widely known and treated by pharmaceutical and psychological practices.
The Diagnosis and Psychobiological mechanism of PTSD
So far, the diagnosis of PTSD has not been discussed in the paper yet, as well as its psychological mechanisms. The multiple symptoms of PTSD are usually categorized into “intrusion, active avoidance, negative alterations in cognitions and mood as well as marked alterations in arousal and reactivity” (Miao et al., 2018, p. 1). Moreover, professionals consider that a traumatic episode is crucial for the diagnosis. Although some people can recover from PTSD in a short period, other persons struggle with it persistently in the long term (Kessler et al., 2017). If the traumas have occurred often in a patient’s life, the symptoms are more severe (Brewin et al., 2017). The biological mechanism behind PTSD has not been comprehensively described yet. Yet, some researchers point to the neuroendocrine’s role in the further development of the disease and immune system issues. The most common reaction to stress in people who experienced trauma is related to glucocorticoids and catecholamines exchange (Miao et al., 2018). Finally, previously existing mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, increase acquiring PTSD (Miao et al., 2018). Thus, the experts have different views on the mechanisms and symptoms related to PTSD.
The Consequences of PTSD
Obviously, PTSD consequences are harmful to mental and physical health and problems in social life. As such, continuous psychological arousal leads to heightened stress; thus, the individuals use strategies for coping with the stress. The defensive reactions of people who are likely to develop PTSD are different from usual. Expressing and determining the emotional state becomes a challenge for these individuals, and they undergo even greater stress as a result (Fang et al., 2020). Next, the consequences for the social lives of people with PTSD are more unsatisfactory performance in work (which might lead to lesser pay), family problems, and lack of social well-being. Moreover, relationships with close people suffer the most in these conditions (Vogt et al., 2017). Finally, the patients tend to have insomnia and excessive stress reactions resulting in “oxidative stress and inflammation in chronic PTSD and the neurobiological consequences of these processes including accelerated cellular aging and neuroprogression” (Miller et al., 2018, p. 57). Therefore, the trauma causes irreversible harm to the lives of people who fail to manage them due to external factors.
PTSD Related to Refugees’ Trauma
One of the most lingering problems in society’s mental health is the frequency of PTSD in refugees. According to Suhaiban et al. (2019) review of multiple data, “between 30% and 80% of refugees screen positive for posttraumatic stress disorder” (p. 2). Even the minimal estimate exceeds the usual PTSD occurrence among civilians and veterans mentioned earlier. The syndrome might develop in these people because of various causes; these can be divided into pre-migration and post-migration. As such, before a forced migration, the individuals are reported to experience trauma due to physical and mental torture. Such torture includes sexual assault and rape, which worst affects the mental health of the refugees (especially females) (Suhaiban et al., 2019). Moreover, discrimination, persecution and violence towards people of a specific religion, ethnicity, or race also cause severe trauma. In this way, the refugees might acquire PTSD before entering new conditions or gain a high stress level.
Next, the situation worsens for the forced migrants when they try to adapt to a new environment. Apart from the existing haunting traumas, refugees begin to suffer from unemployment, oppression from foreigners, acculturation problems (Tuomisto & Roche, 2018). Some migrants are separated from their families or observe the torture of their close ones, which might lead to depression and anxiety in addition to PTSD (Rathke et al., 2020). Even in the next generation, the children of the migrants suffer from PTSD-related issues. As such, the mother can affect their children’s mental health and general well-being because of the traumas (East et al., 2017). The symptoms and consequences of PTSD in these cases are researched thoroughly. Namely, “human-instigated trauma potentially alters the survivor’s long-term social behavior and fundamental thoughts about the world and oneself” (Tuomisto & Roche, 2018, p. 2). One of the most common issues resulting from this condition is anger outbursts and separation from society. In turn, aggressive behaviour often leads to self-injury or cardiovascular diseases. Hence, it is crucial to deliver proper treatment or attempt to prevent the development of PTSD in refugees.
Solutions for the Refugees’ PTSD Issue
The treatment of PTSD among refugees requires specific cautions and includes several fundamental approaches. The traditional treatment involves Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is help from a psychiatrist, and pharmacotherapy. However, one must consider the patients’ culture since some might be reluctant towards the therapy or specific practices (Suhaiban et al., 2019). Next, the comorbidity of PTSD with depression often causes the ineffectiveness of the treatment; for this reason, it is better to deal with the depression first (Haagen et al., 2017). Furthermore, the core approach to the treatment is within the ADAPT model. Namely, the treatment requires the guarantee of “safety and security; the integrity of interpersonal bonds and networks; access to justice; ability to pursue roles and maintain identities; and freedom to pursue activities that confer meaning” (Tay & Silove, 2017, p. 1). Finally, the most recent solution for the PTSD problem can be neurofeedback therapy, which activates the function of mental self-regulation; yet, the method is not fully recognized and described (Askovic et al., 2017). In this way, the treatment for the refugees is accessible but requires special attention from the professionals.
Conclusion
To conclude, PTSD is a complex and highly harmful disorder that affects multiple aspects of human lives. Its main characteristic is the inability to cope with stress in someone who has experienced an event involving threat or violence. As such, forced immigrants often became the disease victims due to the tragic circumstances that accompany their lives before and after fleeing their homeland. These people deserve adequate treatment, guided by their cultural values and guaranteed safe conditions.
East, P. L., Gahagan, S., & Al-Delaimy, W. K. (2017). The impact of refugee mothers’ trauma, posttraumatic stress, and depression on their children’s adjustment. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 20(2), 271–282. Web.
Haagen, J. F. G., ter Heide, F. J. J., Mooren, T. M., Knipscheer, J. W., & Kleber, R. J. (2017). Predicting post-traumatic stress disorder treatment response in refugees: Multilevel analysis. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56(1), 69–83. Web.
Kessler, R. C., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Alonso, J., Benjet, C., Bromet, E. J., Cardoso, G., Degenhardt, L., de Girolamo, G., Dinolova, R. V., Ferry, F., Florescu, S., Gureje, O., Haro, J. M., Huang, Y., Karam, E. G., Kawakami, N., Lee, S., Lepine, J. P., Levinson, D.,… Koenen, K. C. (2017). Trauma and PTSD in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 8(sup5), 1353383. Web.
Rathke, H., Poulsen, S., Carlsson, J., & Palic, S. (2020). PTSD with secondary psychotic features among trauma-affected refugees: The role of torture and depression. Psychiatry Research, 287. Web.
Stein, M. B., & Rothbaum, B. O. (2018). 175 years of progress in PTSD therapeutics: Learning from the past. American Journal of Psychiatry, 175(6), 508–516. Web.
The American Psychiatric Association. (n.d.). What is PTSD? Web.
Tuomisto, M. T., & Roche, J. E. (2018). Beyond PTSD and Fear-Based conditioning: Anger-related responses following experiences of forced Migration—A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. Web.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (n.d.). How common is PTSD in adults? Web.
Vogt, D., Smith, B. N., Fox, A. B., Amoroso, T., Taverna, E., & Schnurr, P. P. (2017). Consequences of PTSD for the work and family quality of life of female and male U.S. Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 52(3), 341–352. Web.
Even though the number of migrants and refugees has increased dramatically in recent years, addressing their healthcare needs has received scant attention. Syrian refugees in Ottawa are among those who require health promotion services. This report gives an overview of the current understanding regarding migrant and refugee health issues and the scope to which different studies have addressed these issues. The information is directed to the Faith-Based organizations as they can take a significant role in helping the refugees meet these needs. Through peer-reviewed studies, it highlights the various tactics, strategies, rights, and services offered in multiple dominions. As a result, it will provide proof of achievements and trials and highlight areas that require additional effort, such as caring for the healthcare needs of youth and children who are new to Canada. This report will highlight the difficulties of neglected facets such as mental health and the crucial role of implementing global proficiency in health professionals and organizations that work with refugees.
The Current State of Primary Health of Refugees in Canada
It is vital to remember that Canada has a significant record of relocating escapees to comprehend Canada’s approach to Syrian refugees. Across the country, the federal government has continually financed relocation initiatives for shelter, orientation, linguistic, and occupation training (Lara 2021). Advocacy has become a particular power in Canada. CDRC (Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care) was established in 2012 as a nationwide support group to fight past government restrictions on genuine refugees’ and migrants’ healthcare. This support assembly staged ‘white coat’ complaints to persuade the authority to alter its unjust practice that was not supported by facts and excluded wellbeing and clearance organizations.
Collaboration between public and private health systems was another important aspect of the healthcare system. Collaboration with family doctors is now well established, based on previous refugee immunization, tuberculosis surveillance, and psychological services. Furthermore, public health promotes health equity in programs and policies, which helps to build a proactive health system. A universal health system, notwithstanding well-intentioned government legislation, does not constantly certify contact and worth for all. Treatment and prevention of diseases are hampered by a Medicare program that needs a complete pharmaceutical benefits program. Access to care for refugees is further hindered by additional hurdles, such as service charge payment plans for physicians. There are hurdles to exceptional care at the rank of healthcare practitioners, as many doctors are unprepared to handle the frequently specific issues that immigrants bring.
The administration’s appeals are not each time met with dogmatic drive and practical measures. In 2016, the newly elected administration delivered an electoral pledge to welcome 25 000 Syrian refugees (Gamalerio, 2018). However, several applicants are still waiting for Interim Federal Health (IFH) assistance for weeks or months. This waiting time is frequently a critical period in which they require the most effective chronic ailment administration. Without IFH, many immigrants delay seeking medical help until late in their illness, worsening their state and necessitating costly treatment afterwards. This condition is severe when children are affected, violating the United Nations Convention on the Child’s Rights. The reaction of the Canadian healthcare scheme to immigrants highlights the significance of collaborating with resettlement programs and maintaining an open line of communication between policymakers, physicians, and academics. The practical wellbeing settlement of migrants, which lingers currently, requires surroundings exposed to superlative practices, evidence-based initiatives, and teachings learned.
Mental Health of Refugees
Mental illness is a set of behaviors or thoughts that is diagnosable and treated. Only a tiny percentage of refugees might have mental health issues. However, a comprehensive analysis by Bazaid found that refugees to Canada have a higher incidence of post-traumatic anxiety disorder and depression (Bazaid, 2017). Refugee children have higher mental illnesses while being a migrant contributes to psychosis. Although just a small percentage of migrants will experience difficulties, they are a particularly vulnerable group to psychiatric problems or disorders, which can be complicated. Promoting mental health, building resilience, and preventing mental illness via good resettlement planning, education, and intervention on the socioeconomic health determinants are essential parts of a strong strategy. Assessments of mental disorders in refugee populations vary greatly, from 10 per cent to 40 per cent (Bazaid, 2017). This difference is partly due to changing social responses to different refugee groups; for example, in nations where migrants are not permitted to work, the risk of psychiatric illness is substantially higher.
However, this should not obscure that many refugees will require assistance due to mental health issues or illnesses. Access to proper mental health interventions as soon as possible saves money by reducing the need for more expensive measures later on, such as inpatient. It is important to remember that over-treating and stigmatizing refugee populations are detrimental to their mental health needs. The emphasis should always be on building resilience and strengthening the ability of individuals, families, and communities to self-manage. One can derive refugee services from studies that have proven successful for other Canadian communities. Those in need of mental health services frequently suffer from common mental illnesses like depression that their primary care doctor can address if they have the necessary expertise and resources. Early intervention is critical, as is non-clinical staff training in understanding refugees’ potential mental health concerns and how to assist them in receiving care. Those with more severe or sophisticated mental health issues may require specialist mental health interventions.
The mental health approach to incoming immigrants in Canada should encourage people’s wellness and recognize refugee populations’ incredible resilience. The individual needs of refugees require special attention for the future to accomplish their wellness. Conrad contends in his study that pursuing well-being is essentially a moral goal, achieving a sense of goodness (Conrad, 1994). Canada can promote good health while reducing the effects of possible mental health problems by using a recovery strategy, working across sectors to establish comprehensive, coordinated, and affordable services and programs, and looking at the socioeconomic determinants of health. The Mental Health Commission of Canada is privileged to provide evidence-based information and best practices for an integrated mental health response to groups working toward a coordinated response for incoming refugees. MHCC has led research and supported mental health fairness for immigrant, refugee, ethno cultural, and racialized (IRER) populations since 2008 through its Diversity Task Group.
Canada seems to have the right individuals and a collection of healthcare guidelines founded on scientific data. What is needed is a political and institutional framework for connecting and supporting doctors, nurses, social workers who give treatment, settlement staff and communities who provide social support and a sense of belonging to new refugees. In Canada, mental health services are underfunded and can be a huge problem. Increased patient volume, service alignment to build new treatment plans, and the education and specialty of some physicians will all necessitate additional resources. Developing an equitable and acceptable response is conceivable and inexpensive, but it will take some investment. According to Unruh’s post on health in Canada, engaging in health sector infrastructural facilities, training, and keeping appropriate domestic health personnel would be critical in the end to building a robust health system (Unruh et al., 2021). MHCC is well-positioned to assist in resolving some of these difficulties, and we look forward to collaborating with relevant stakeholders and essential organizations to increase capacity and promote coordination.
Chronic Illnesses
Chronic health illnesses are common among Syrian refugees in Ottawa. Gruner discovered many discrepancies between the genders in his cross-sectional research of chronic diseases in government-assisted Syrian refugees, which had clinical and public health consequences (Pottie, Gruner & Magwood, 2018). Tobacco usage was incredibly high among male participants; culturally relevant and gender-specific initiatives may be necessary. Anemia was prevalent among female participants, most likely due to nutritional insufficiency, and has implications for primary care. In this investigation, the incidence of G6PD deficiency appeared low. The proportion of HBV and HCV contamination was modest, comparable to Canada’s. Iron-deficiency anemia is a common dietary condition globally, mainly affecting women and children of reproductive age. Other types of anemia can cohabit, depending on the patients’ diets, living environments, and genetic predispositions.
Tobacco use, which induces chronic illnesses, has established a societal norm in postwar Syria, where those who remain in Syria and refugees fleeing the conflict confront war-related pressures. Refugees are particularly vulnerable, although cigarette use and refugee status are poorly understood. However, cigarette use is typically higher among male participants in prevalence studies than in female ones. In Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, women’s prevalence of cigarette and water-pipe use in social places was high. Primary care doctors and other healthcare providers helped newly arrived refugees to embrace or sustain healthy behaviors and preventive care measures. Understanding and adhering to chronic illness treatment requires a combination of cultural values, language, socioeconomic level, and health literacy. However, this help seems insufficient in helping these escapees stop those habits, and therefore, collaborating with a stakeholder will be of great importance.
Caring For Children and Youths New in Canada
In various respects, the experiences of refugees may vary from those of other immigrants. In contrast to economic and family-class immigrants, refugees escaped their home countries due to afflictions, wars, or persecution. As a result, intense stress and trauma mark several refugee children and youth’s pre-migration experiences. Furthermore, even after fleeing conflict in their home country, individuals confront additional stress and suffering while in transit, particularly in refugee camps. For example, 79 per cent of Syrian refugee youngsters polled in a Turkish migrant camp had lost at least one close relative; 30% were harmed and 60% had watched someone else being physically abused (Langford, Powell & Bezanson, 2020). Mental health matters, mainly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and despair, are widespread among refugee children and teens.
Refugee youths are distinguished from other migrants by their forced migration encounter and higher risk of victimization, loss, and trauma. In a poll of Syrian refugee youngsters in a Turkish migrant camp, 45 per cent reported symptoms of PTSD, which is ten times greater than the global average (Pelek, 2018). According to Canadian research, traumas encountered before, between, and after migration result in more emotional disorders and difficulties with dynamic control and violent behavior (Maich, Somma & Hill, 2018). Other components of the settlement process for refugees and some other immigrants can be similar. All immigrant children and teens, for example, may face difficulty transitioning to a foreign culture, lifestyle, and educational system after landing in the relocation nation, and many may need to learn a new language. Even so, refugee adolescents often differ significantly from other immigrant youth. Resettled refugee youth, for example, are more likely to have had school disruptions and have low skills in the resettlement country’s language.
Traumatic pre-migration experiences, inadequate language competence, and other acculturative pressures can make it difficult for refugee adolescents to integrate socially. Bullying, hatred, and discrimination are common in the resettlement country’s educational system. Children and teenagers who have recently immigrated to Canada are diverse groups with health requirements comparable to and different from Canadian-born youngsters. It can be challenging, if not impossible, for newcomers to obtain culturally and linguistically appropriate health care. Clinicians frequently find themselves serving as patient advocates due to this service vacuum. Research on broad groups such as immigrant adolescents or even Syrian immigrants should be perceived with caution because it may overlook significant differences within communities, particularly between small and disadvantaged segments (Merritt & Pottie, 2020). In medical care, health practitioners should examine an adolescent’s period of stay in Canada and her immigration status or refugee status. Both indicators affect acculturation, migration, and resettlement experiences and highlight a family’s motives for moving.
Canada has launched the Caring for Children New to Canada site, a new, accessible, free, bilingual internet site open to everybody but geared toward health care workers who work with newcomer kids and teens. This website is the first in Canada to concentrate on the health issues of children and teens who are immigrants or refugees. It is accessible, easy to navigate, and content-rich, with links to the most relevant resources for multidisciplinary healthcare professionals dealing with this at-risk group of children and teens daily. The website’s primary purpose is to offer essential guidance, practice guidelines, clinical tools, exams, checklists, and access to social and government services. Equally important, the Canadian government hopes that this website will promote awareness of the distinctions and challenges of delivering treatment to this group, thereby optimizing care and eliminating health inequities. Because of the web-based nature, information may be examined, supplemented, and updated iteratively. End-users such as pediatricians, family physicians, and nurses have already begun to provide input, integrated into future website components.
The website’s creation has been a perfect representation of a transdisciplinary, cross-specialty information interpretation and transfer project that will potentially serve as a model for prospective information translation and sharing projects through the CPS or other networks. According to Durie’s research, most indigenous peoples in developed countries reside at the interface, meaning that they get informed by science and indigenous knowledge (Durie, 2004). The problem is to maintain the integrity of each belief system while inventing techniques that can include features of each and promote creativity, increased relevance, and new chances for knowledge generation. As a result, not everyone will be able to access the website developed to assist children and youth who are new to Canada.
Despite all the Canadian government’s efforts to take care of the kids and youths, more needs to be done by society. The community should provide for the specific needs of refugee families and children to improve their well-being while coping with life in the relocation society. These requirements may be distinct from those of other refugees seeking economic opportunity or family reunification. Psychological counselling, language instruction, and enhanced understanding of refugees’ issues in their resettlement towns and with the community organizations with whom they engage are examples of such demands. Welcoming, well-resourced communities aided the achievement of Polish migrants in Canada. More financing for amenities, training, and community development will guarantee that all refugees, irrespective of where they came from, are embraced into regions that can fulfil their requirements.
For such long-term economic health of immigrant and migrant children, some regulations to overcome systemic hurdles are required and additional refugee-specific assistance efforts. Given the plethora of elements that impact migrants’ actual experiences, including factors relating to their encounters in their original place and their acceptance in the resettlement nation, authorities must look beyond refugee status when assessing arrivals’ needs. Kids who arrive as refugees may spend several years in the relocation nation, and their experiences would be affected by various structural factors, including their socioeconomic status and ethnicity. As a result, because refugees come from all over the world, their practical implementation will be contingent on policies that address their specific problems and requirements as refugees and policies that support inclusive practice for the economic gain of all immigrants, particularly racialized immigrants.
Furthermore, more sophisticated knowledge of how more significant societal circumstances influence refugees’ integration patterns contributes to the idea of refugees as a temporary rather than permanent category throughout time. It is critical for a nation such as Canada, whereby refugees acquire permanent residency, to recognize that their lives develop not simply as “refugees” but as persons who eventually contribute to society. Preventive measures are sensitive to the environment of the participants, according to Broholm’s research, since socially rooted conceptions of risk and health determine the view and implementation of preventive initiatives (Broholm-Jørgensen et al., 2019). Preventive measures should get tailored to each individual’s context-dependent needs rather than being administered systematically.
Implementing Global Proficiency in Health Professionals and Organizations
When people have different perspectives on health, illness, and healthcare, it can be challenging to provide care. Health literacy might be limited, and people may use several terminologies for the same ailment. Secondary prevention, mental health care, and self-management are all terms that are new to many people. Service users may lack knowledge of the healthcare systems of their host countries, making them more likely to miss appointments and attempt to receive treatments unlawfully. Disparities in health culture make it harder for health professionals to comprehend a patient’s symptoms, necessitating more time and effort to explain health issues, healthcare concepts, and health systems (Sá & Baeza, 2021). Some immigrants and asylum seekers had unrealistic expectations of health care and health professionals, which practitioners needed to address.
Cultural differences in gender roles, decision-making, societal taboos, and time orientation are all obstacles, with some healthcare providers expressing apprehension about doing particular clinical activities like physical examinations. Gaining a better understanding of the civilizations of escapees and asylum seekers is a critical component of cross-cultural care. Understanding disparities in principles, body language, health practices, and health presentations are part of this. Cultural awareness allows health providers to tailor their care to the needs of their patients. Some personal attributes in health workers, such as sensitivity, empathy, and cultural humility, have improved cross-cultural interactions.
Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Promoting Health Needs
Individuals assume that faith-based groups have more moral authority than non-faith-based organizations, allowing them to reframe humanitarian concerns and arguments concerning relief and support. They may have a wider reach because they can establish relationships with community religious groups “on the ground” before other international agencies arrive. FBOs’ capacity to anchor their activities in religion can help them gain clout in communities by allowing them to appeal to people’s moral responsibilities.
Faith-based groups are frequently respected and valued by government agencies and refugees. Because of this reliance and respect, they have contact with susceptible communities that other groups do not have, comprising uneven migrants and refugee children. Religious organizations can be proactive in resolving sensitive public health issues as well. In Iran, Muslim religious front-runners collaborated with the UNHCR to promote and distribute sex-based violence materials to Afghan refugees. Islamic leaders lent authenticity to exertions to assist females in overcoming societal humiliation and seeking assistance.
Next, religion-based organizations frequently have significant exposure to charitable linkages that may help provide health maintenance to underprivileged refugee societies. Most of these systems have doctors and nurses who have received training. These platforms enable religious organizations to perform time-consuming or resource-intensive treatments that would otherwise be out of reach for most health care providers. Volunteers, for example, take patients to medical centers and provide home health care services. These programs offer medical resources nearer to patients, which is especially important in rural areas where there are few doctors or clinics. Volunteers can help migrants who work long shifts by providing medical care during non-working hours. Some even provide childcare, providing migrants with greater alternatives when it comes to getting medical help. Faith-based groups are regularly used to disseminate health-related information and provide charity assistance. They provide basic health tests as well as health workshops and discussions.
Religion-based organizations usually have considerable knowledge of and link with immigrant communities, enabling culturally and linguistically relevant treatment easier to give. They frequently serve as “cultural brokers” among immigrant communities and healthcare providers. Migrants’ views toward health diagnosis and counseling are frequently shaped by cultural and religious norms. When medical advice is given from the viewpoint of the host nation, it may be insensitive to migrants’ cultural and religious origins. Some advice may even be in direct opposition to cultural or religious teachings and practices. Faith-based organizations are crucial in boosting community consciousness of migrant health concerns. They frequently lobby government officials in support of migrant groups. Nearly 250 church leaders, for example, signed a statement to ICE in April 2018 criticizing the imprisonment of pregnant immigrant mothers (Rayes, Karnouk, Churbaji, Walther & Bajbouj, 2021). Faith-based organizations can raise awareness of the needs and problems of migrant communities by taking such steps.
Conclusion
Migration has evolved into an organizational occurrence of the 21st century, imposing that policymakers break free from the immobility model, acknowledge the full range of motives for relocation, and inspect the results for various parts, with repercussions for scheduling, accounting, and enactment. Within the health field, the necessities of refugees must be met in the area of global settlements that nations have signed, acknowledging the fundamental human rights of all people and the importance of this theory in the formulation and construction of guidelines and programs at the international, nationwide, and local regions. Collaboration between community, governmental groups, and faith-based organizations is crucial to the growth and monitoring of outreach programs to enhance refugee health in Canada.
References
Bazaid, K. (2017). Syrian Refugees in Canada: Clinical experience in mental health care. European Psychiatry, 41(S1), S620-S620.
Broholm-Jørgensen, M., Kamstrup-Larsen, N., Guassora, A., Reventlow, S., Dalton, S., & Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, T. (2019). ‘It can’t do any harm’: A qualitative exploration of accounts of participation in preventive health checks. Health, Risk &Amp; Society, 21(1-2), 57-73.
Conrad, P. (1994). Wellness as a virtue: Morality and the pursuit of health. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 18(3), 385-401.
Durie, M. (2004). Understanding health and illness: Research at the interface between science and indigenous knowledge. International Journal of Epidemiology, 33(5), 1138-1143.
Gamalerio, M. (2018). Not Welcome Anymore: The Effect of Electoral Incentives on the Reception of Refugees. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Langford, R., Powell, A., & Bezanson, K. (2020). Imagining a caring early childhood education and care system in Canada: A thought experiment. International Journal of Care and Caring, 4(1), 109-115.
Lara, A. (2021). Advocacy for asylum seekers at U.S. border: Psychiatrists’ role in promoting justice. Psychiatric News, 56(5).
Maich, K., Somma, M., & Hill, R. (2018). Canadian school programs for students with emotional/behavioral disorders: A Decade of programs, policies, and practice. Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties, 23(4), 441-456.
Merritt, K., & Pottie, K. (2020). Caring for refugees and asylum seekers in Canada: Early experiences and comprehensive global health training for medical students. Canadian Medical Education Journal.
Pelek, D. (2018). Syrian Refugees as Seasonal Migrant Workers: Re-Construction of Unequal Power Relations in Turkish Agriculture. Journal of Refugee Studies, 32(4), 605-629.
Pottie, K., Gruner, D., & Magwood, O. (2018). Canada’s response to refugees at the primary health care level. Public Health Research &Amp; Practice, 28(1).
Rayes, D., Karnouk, C., Churbaji, D., Walther, L., & Bajbouj, M. (2021). Faith-Based Coping among Arabic-Speaking Refugees Seeking Mental Health Services in Berlin, Germany: An Exploratory Qualitative Study. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12.
Sá, F., & Baeza, F. (2021). Mental health care for refugees and the need for cultural competence training in mental health professionals. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, 43(2), 223-224.
Unruh, L., Allin, S., Marchildon, G., Burke, S., Barry, S., & Siersbaek, R. et al. (2021). A comparison of 2020 health policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Health Policy.
This essay aims at exploring the many facets of art and its ability to change how the society thinks of refugees in their search for asylum in foreign states. The study will identify whether it is possible for art to have the power of dissenting against the society’s perception of refugees.
The study expects to crown the findings of the research with a summary that is expected to discern whether it is true or false that art can change how the society thinks of refugees.
Introduction
This essay is built-up based on work that had been previously done by other writers in identifying whether it is possible for art to change how the society thinks about refugees.
The essay will identify some of the motivating factors that have made artists create some of the unique artistic creations with regard to the experiences of the refugees in their hazardous journeys in pursuit of safety and stability from their mother countries.
The essay will review some of the experiences that the refugees have encountered and the treatment they have received from their hosting communities. The information obtained will act as a buffer for the summary that will be drawn from the essay.
Literature review
The ways through which refugees are treated is objectionable given the predicaments they go through every day in the countries that they seek asylum. It is evident that they are treated in an inhumane, absolutely hypocritical and xenophobic ways that are meant to serve the self-interest of a few minorities in the country.
This sends a horrible message to the rest of the world about the bad treatment of the refugees more so in Australia. It has been noted that the treatment of immigrants in Australia is not only isolated to the incoming refugees, but also to the multicultural Australians.
They have been treated the same by the natives in which it negates their well-being as Australians and it erases their contribution towards nation-building over the years.
These plights necessitated the Australian immigrants to come up with a way of expressing themselves in Australia and this was witnessed in the field of contemporary Australian visual art which boasts of hosting some of the most celebrated practitioners of this form of art.
It should be noted that artists trooped from the migrancy, that is, intercultural Australians whose history depicts that they had visited Australia with the primary objective of refuge from their motherland (Carruthers, Oakley and Thi 150).
Isle of refuge is a group that is composed of prominent Australian visual artists who in their linage have close ties with refugees who were held in detention in Australian camps located in the south pacific borders of Australia. The close ties arise from personal histories, their ethnicity or political realignments from which these arts have come from.
The group is composed of artists who were refugees in Australia due to political or racial unrest in their countries and they represent regions and countries such as Europe, Indonesia, the Middle East, Tibet and East Timor (Carruthers, Oakley and Thi 150).
This group of artists had fruitful collaborations with some professional and non-professional artists who were in detention in Villawood detention camp.
It is through this artistic work that this group sort not to define the experiences of the refugees universally, but they had set out to explore multifarious ways and means that the refugees and the immigrants had attempted to make themselves feel at home in their new home, Australia (Carruthers, Oakley and Thi 152).
The group had identified that the refugees used art to negotiate their way of becoming part and parcel of the indigenous people of the new home, despite the varying degrees of prejudice and exclusion that they were experiencing as the newly arrived members of the community.
It is evident that in their attempt to achieve this objective, the artists had planted deep their roots in Australia in which every contemporary artist had intensively and pervasively explored the experiences that they had encountered in the process of transnationalizing and settling absolutely in their new home.
It is in this process that the artists discovered a renewed sense of claim to being an Australian citizen. At the same time, it inferred a transgression and transformative process etched and imprinted in the values of multiculturalism in Australia (Carruthers, Oakley, and Thi 153).
In their artwork, the artists in this group of The Isle of Refuge in Australia have been able to identify Australia as the isle of refuge. However, it had not acted as one by passively providing the refugees with the shelter that they were seeking, but rather it depicted a site that actively asked questions on the official constructions that sort to identify the nationality, culture and history of the refugees both in the homeland and the host land.
This had led to Australia erecting national boundaries against the refugees in which they felt that the presence of the refugees was a threat to the tranquility of the country’s community. The artists have recognized that this practice led to the loss of recognition, the status and safety of the Australian immigrants and refugees.
This realization by the artists consolidated them to a common ground of understanding. It was evident from the artist’s exhibition in which they had displayed their collective outrage on the dehumanization of the refugees in pursuit to finding happiness and peace in Australia. The artists had exhibited their adamancy in refusal to rewind the time on multiculturalism and its values in Australia.
They had resistively insisted on recognizing the history and the belongingness of refugee and immigrant communities that already existed in Australia. The artist’s central theme in this exhibition aimed at defining Australia as once been an isle of refuge for all those who came to Australia in search of safety, compassion and stability that they were lacking.
Therefore, it would not be prudent if the Australian authorities continued to deny these refugees those virtues that they were searching for since their forefathers of Australia had not rejected them (Carruthers, Oakley and Thi 156).
Some of the artwork that was in display illustrated the experiences of the refugees in the dangerous seas or oceans in such of safety vividly. For instance, one of the exhibitions contained all the horrors of the refugees as they drown in the sea by showing the leaps by small boats overloaded with refugees in monstrous waves and the presence of gigantic crocodiles which posed the danger that lurked.
There were other works that depicted even more brutal experiences by the refugees in which naked bodies of human being literally humping the earth with flesh rising in the mud depicting the killing field of innocent humans. The artwork has gone further to bring out ethnic caging literally as it happened. It is crystal clear that when refugees were captured by the Australian state, they were mistreated and dehumanized.
The cage practices were intimating in which people where put behind fences. It is also evident that the images of the ethnic fencing were horrendous and they would shock even a tolerant society like the Australian society in light of atrocities that took place. The images that it fostered neared ethic cleansing in which the perpetrators had no respect for humanity (Carruthers, Oakley, and Thi 157).
It is evident that humans are given the conscience of being empathetic and therefore, a dominant culture does not attempt to subjugate humans, but it should tolerate them. This is what the artists advocated for; they had sort of bringing out that the Australian spirit is embedded on multiculturalism whose values of mateship, egalitarianism and liberty of all Australians prevail, despite one’s ethnicity.
O’Neill (1) attempts to identify the transformative role that is played by art and how artists have employed their artistic methodology in conducting ethnographic research on refugees and asylum seekers. The writer has identified that art has some transformative possibilities in this field of refugees and asylum seekers.
The writer used research methodologies that uncovered the role and the capacities of art and life stories that were used to change how the world looked at refugees. It is evident that over the years, the United Kingdom had meshing legislatures that were meant to control the flow of refugees and asylum seekers in the country.
For instance, when the Asylum and the Immigration Act of 2004 were enacted, it sort to remove all the refugees and asylum seekers from the United Kingdom if they had exhausted all the appeal rights they possessed to be allowed to stay in the United Kingdom. The government justified the new law by stating that it aimed at encouraging the refugees to voluntarily decide to go back to their homes (O’Neill 2).
The writer explored the use of bibliographical approach to conduct the research on the experiences of the refugees in order that the lived experiences of exile and the sense of belonging that the refugees had in the foreign country can be expressed.
This gives the refugees the right to be heard and represented in which they have someone who can advocate for their equivalent treatment as the natives of the country they are seeking asylum. The life stories that are explained by the refugees bring out the hidden aspect of the lived cultures by refugees in pursuit of safety. These stories negate the doctored reports made to the public by the media about refugees.
Therefore, these life stories aim at attaining social justice with regard to the real experiences of the refugees in the foreign countries. This approach of representing the real experiences of the refugees are articulated on two foundational concepts, which are, the relational and the reflective narratives that are told either by an individual or a group of all the events that happened and as they were conceived at each particular time.
It is notable that the narratives that are told by the refugees are performable in which the incorporation of aspects such as visual sociology, performance arts and narrative therapy makes it possible for analytical frames of data can be obtained thus ensuring that this data is interpreted accordingly.
This enables an inter-disciplinary interaction in which the collaboration of the ethnographic bibliographic narratives that are obtained directly from the refugees themselves on their encounters with the artistic representations that exhibit the actual experiences of the refugees.
The same enriched interdisciplinary collaboration has come up with groundbreaking findings that have solved some of the constituent societal dilemmas that exist, such as whether it is possible for art to change how the society looks at refugees (O’Neill 3).
It is evident that the issue of art and its relation to the society requires a lot of mediation and meditation because of its complexity. Artwork can be expressed as a form of feeling in which the creation is based on the tension that exists between exciting knowing of the artist and the historical techniques that are applied in the production of the artwork.
Simply put, it is evident that art is a social product because it originates from the society and also it aims at manifesting specific aspects of the society. Simply put, art makes it possible for the world to see experiences as well as ideas in a reflective space. Art brings new things in the world and thus contributes immensely in the field of knowledge and the capability to understand some complex issues in the world.
For instance, a photograph can intrinsically bring out a lot of meanings. It has the power to penetrate the human heart and bring it to light with the intractable truth in such a way that it makes the experience unforgettable and consequently, aiding them to develop compassion and concise conscience (O’Neill 19).
Artwork has been used to represent some sedimented aspects of the society in which the artist is able to exhibit precisely how such things perpetuate in the society. Thus, artwork unfolds the hidden parts of the society. The artwork of a person can be stated as the animation of his or her spirit.
The experience involves the awareness of the inside and the outside of the art by the artist in which it gives him or her the insight on how best to express the artistic imagination that he or she possesses. This is because the dialectic mimesis rationality and constructive creativity in the art are held in the society.
For instance, ethno-mimesis involves accurate retelling of the life narratives that had been recorded from the refugees in account of their experiences in pursuit for peace in an artistic form in which the narrator is expected to capture the most critical aspect of the narration in which he or she should bring out the sensuous meaning of the refugees and create a rapport with the audience in such a way that it will revive the experiences of the refugees as they had taken place.
The mimesis is expected to arouse memories that should translate into emotional empathy from the audience so that they can understand the plight of the refugees in a closer set dimension.
A good narrator of the refugee experiences should always be in a position to bring out all the senses that were experienced by the refugee and this is attainable if there is collaboration between an ethnographer and the narrator. An absolutely superb narration can be experienced if all parties that are involved in this process are able to revolutionalize their image of the world and in this case, the actual experiences of the refugees.
A good combination of all these aspects of mimesis storytelling an artistry is conceived in which a sensuous and transformative experience is meted to the audience and in which they become fully aware of how dehumanized the refugees are.
Therefore, it is prudent to conclude that the methodological combination of ethnography and art to bring out how narratives and images can be used artistically to depict the experiences of the refugees to the rest of the world on how it has continuously ignored their plight (Darznik 145).
The Albany Community for Afghan Refugees (ACFAR) is an activist group that advocated for refugees. The group took the initiative of petitioning the government on behalf of the refugees in which they sort to bring the plights of the refugee overboard so that they would be addressed to reduce the suffering that they were undergoing.
They also employed other techniques that were expected to address the issue of refugees in the country and they included media campaigns, public forums, festivals and art activities in which artists of all genre were invited whether professional or non- professional.
The Albany community had engaged itself in helping the refugees where the group helped them in doing shopping and in filling the forms that the authority had asked them to fill to legitimatize their presence in Australia. The group also helped them deal with the country’s bureaucracy and organize football teams for them, among other things (Tilbury, Toussaintz and Dari 1).
It is evident that the welcoming experiences that the refugees at Albany experienced were in contrast to the experiences of the other refugees and the negative perceptions that the refugees are accorded by the rest of the Australian population in which the Australians look at the refugees as illegitimate, illegal intruders who threaten the stability of the country and the serenity that clouds its citizens.
This has made the Australian authorities to come up with hostile border protection patrols and bases that are expected to flash out any possible entry of an outsider in search of peace or for whatever reason (Tilbury, Toussaintz and Dari 4).
One of the ways that the people of Albany had been able to interact with the refugees in Australia had been through artwork in which the refugees were welcomed by being asked to decorate a standard doormat.
On a later stage, the refugees were engaged in artwork that brought themes of threshold and arrivals which much borrowed their concept from liminality as the theoretical tool that sets the base for understanding the change and the transformation the refugees undergo in their quest for peace, stability and a new beginning.
It is evident that liminality has acted as an artistic commentary that has attempted to expose the plights of the refugees and in turn, changed how they are treated by the natives of any given locality. This is because the artwork has catalyzed the development of a potential relationship between the refugees and the people of Albany (Tilbury, Toussaintz and Dari 12).
According to Rotas (52), a large number of refugees were arriving at the seashores of the United Kingdom seeking asylum. Due to their large numbers, there were high probabilities that there were professional artists amongst them. It is evident that the refugees in their search for asylum had faced marginalization, which resulted in inconsiderable trauma amongst the refugees.
The artists in this community were expected to overlook the ethnic diversity that exists between them and the host community and link amongst themselves under the pain they have endured due to their displacement and the hostility of the reception they had received from the hosting community.
The artists have been challenged to come up with artistic creation that was expected to address issues such as public stereotyping about refugees as being a threat to national security.
The artists should provide a learning board on which they would educate the society about the plights of the refugees and the dehumanizing experiences they undergo and the ability of the artists to express themselves on behalf of the other refugees as a means in which they are capable of dealing with issues such as trauma amongst the refugees, the ability to acquire skills and mentor other artist refugees (Rotas 60).
Conclusion
It is evident that art has been used in this case by refugee artists to describe their value and plights not with the motive of attracting public sympathy, but as an attempt to integrate with the rest of the community that they had joined.
This is because they identified that art has defied the limits that had been set by societies on what was acceptable or not by being an independent entity in which it is possible to create a complex form of human interaction.
Art has impact on the consciousness of humans and as a result it, has to be used to integrate communities and therefore, it would be prudent to conclude that art has the capacity of changing how the world thinks of refugees.
References
Carruthers, A., Oakley, R. & Thi, M.L. Isle of Refugee. Paddington: lvan Dougherty Gallery, 2003.
Darznik, J. Forough Goes West: The Legacy Of Forough Farrokhzad In Iranian Diasporic Art And Literature. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies. 6 (1) 2003: 103-116,145.
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