Skip to main content
Log in

Refugee Families' Experience of Research Participation

  • Published:
Journal of Traumatic Stress

Abstract

Because refugees can experience crisis, bereavement, and traumatization, there has been a rapid increase of research carried out with refugees. This study investigated how refugee families respond to participation in research. A previous study explored how adults and children had communicated about the difficult question of repatriation after arriving in a new country. Did the in-depth interviews harm or benefit them? Are there any ethical risks in research on traumatized refugees? From an original sample of 74 Bosnian refugees (5–73 years), 30 family members from 9 families including 14 children aged 6 to 19, were re-interviewed. The refugees rated participation as positive. A few parents lacked information that could have enabled them to inform the children better before the interviews. The study shows that studies on traumatized/bereaved populations can have beneficial effects.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Balk, D. E. (1983). Adolescents' grief reactions and self-concept perceptions following sibling grief: A study of 33 teenagers. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 12, 137–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthels, S. J. (1987). The aftermath of suicide on the psychiatric inpatient unit. General Hospital Psychiatry, 9, 189–197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beskow, J., Runeson, B., & Åsgård, U. (1991). Psychological autopsies: Methods and ethics. Suicide and Life Threatening Behaviour, 20, 307–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brent, D. A. (1989). The psychological autopsy: Methodological considerations for the study of adolescent suicide. Suicide and Life Threatening Behaviour, 19, 43–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, C. L. (1986). Learning how to ask. A sociolinguistic appraisal of the role of the interview in social science research. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ceci, S. J., Peters, D., & Plotkin, J. (1985). Human subjects review, personal values, and the regulation of social science research. American Psychologist, 40, 994–1002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, A. S. (1995). Ethical issues in bereavement research: An overview. Death Studies, 19, 153–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cook, A. S.,& Bosley, G. M. (1995). The experience of participating in bereavement research: Stressful or therapeutic? Death studies, 19, 157–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denzin, N. (1989). Interpretive biography. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickens, B. M. (1981). Ethical issues in psychiatric research. Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 4, 271–292.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyregrov, A., & Dyregrov, K. (1999). Long-term impact of sudden infant death: A twelve to fifteen year follow-up. Death Studies, 23, 635–661.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyregrov, A., Gupta, L., Gjestad, R., & Raundalen, M. (1996). Is the culture always right? Paper presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, San Francisco, November 9–13.

  • Dyregrov, K.,& Raundalen, M. (1997). Hvordan kommuniseres hjemvendingsspørsmålet i den bosniske familien. Fokus på barn og unges rolle. Rapport. Senter for Krisepsykologi. Kommunal og Regionaldepartementet. Norge.

  • Favaro, A., Maiorani, M., Colobo, G., & Santonaastaso, P. (1999).Traumatic experiences, posttraumatic stress disorder, and dissociative symptoms in a group of refugees from former Yugoslavia. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 187, 306–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, K. L. (1993). Refugee mental health in Aalborg, Denmark. Traumatic stress and cross-cultural treatment issues. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 47, 251–256.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hundeide, K. (1995). A critical note: Balancing trauma therapy with some realities. Linjer, 1–2, 12–14. (Magazine Published by the Psychosocial Center for Refugees. Oslo, Norway.)

    Google Scholar 

  • Knudsen, J. C. (1992). ChickenWings. Refugee stories from a concrete hell. Bergen: Magnat Forlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews. An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehman, D. R., Ellard, J. H., & Wortman, C. B. (1986). Social support for the bereaved: Recipients' and providers' perspectives on what is helpful. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 438–446.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macklin, R. (1978). Case studies in bioethics: Studying grief without consent-Commentary. Hastings Center Report, 9, 22.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNiel, D. E., Hatcher, C., & Reubin, R. (1988). Family survivors of suicide and accidental death: Consequences for widows. Suicide and Life Threatening Behaviour, 18, 137–148.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishler, E. G. (1986). Research interviewing. Context and narrative. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nader, K., & Pynoos, R. S. (1991). Play and drawing as tools for interviewing traumatized children. In Schaefer, C. E., Gitlin, K., & Sandgrund (Eds.), Play, Diagnosis and assessment. New York: John Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parkes, C. M. (1988). Bereavement as a psychosocial transition: Processes of adaptation to change. Journal of Social Issues, 44, 53–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennebaker, J. W. (1990). Opening up. The healing power of confiding in others. New York: William Morrow and company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennebaker, J. W. (1993). Putting stress into words: Health, linguistic, and therapeutic implications. Behavior Research and Therapy, 31, 539–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennebaker, J.W. (1997). Opening up. The healing power of expressing emotions. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pynoos, R. S., & Nader, K. (1993). International handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes. New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raundalen, M., & Dyregrov, K. (1998). How to communicate about repatriation: Advising parents of refugee children. Center for Crisis Psychology. Bergen. Norway. In collaboration with ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Oslo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riches, G., & Dawson, P. (1996). Making stories and taking stories: Methodological reflections on researching grief and marital tension following the death of a child. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 24, 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Runeson, B., & Beskow, J. (1991). Reactions of survivors of suicide victims to interviews. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 83, 169–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (1995). Trauma and Transformation. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thulesius, H., & Håkansson, A. (1999). Screening of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms among Bosnian refugees. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 12, 167–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weine, S. M., Vojvoda, D., Becker, D. F., McGlashan, T. H., Hodzic, E., Laub, D., Hyman, L., Sawyer, M., & Lazrove, S. (1998). PTSD symptoms in Bosnian refugees 1 year after resettlement in the United States. American Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 562–564.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worden, J. W. (1982). Grief counselling and grief therapy: A handbook for the mental health practitioner. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

About this article

Cite this article

Dyregrov, K., Dyregrov, A. & Raundalen, M. Refugee Families' Experience of Research Participation. J Trauma Stress 13, 413–426 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007777006605

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007777006605

Navigation