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Recently-Arrived Afghan Refugee Parents’ Perspectives About Parenting, Education and Pediatric Medical and Mental Health Care Services

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Abstract

Refugee children are at risk for mental/behavioral health problems but may not receive timely diagnosis or care. Parental experiences and perspectives about resources in the US may help guide interventions to improve mental/behavioral health care. In a community-academic partnership, we performed a qualitative study of recently-arrived Afghan refugee parents, using in-depth, semi-structured interviews to characterize experiences with parenting, education, and health care services. A four-person coding team identified, described, and refined themes. We interviewed 19 parents from ten families, with a median residence in the US of 24 months. Four themes emerged; parents described: (1) shifting focus as safety needs changed, (2) acculturation stress, (3) adjustment to an emerging US support system, and (4) appreciation of an engaged health care system. Health and educational providers’ appreciation for the process of acculturation among newly-arrived refugee Afghan families may facilitate screening, diagnostic, and intervention strategies to improve care.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), a refugee resettlement agency in New Haven, CT, for their ongoing collaboration and insight and the parents who participated in the interviews. They are thankful to the Yale National Clinician Scholar Program and the Dr. Peter Muehrer Scholarship fund for their generous support of this research.

Funding

Funding was provided by National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (US) (Grant No. TL1 TR001864).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale National Clinician Scholars Program, PO Box 208088, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA

    Julia Rosenberg & Marjorie S. Rosenthal

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Yale Medical School, New Haven, CT, USA

    Julia Rosenberg, Camille Brown & Marjorie S. Rosenthal

  3. Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA

    Jessica Kung Leung

  4. Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, New Haven, CT, USA

    Kristin Harris & Arzoo Rohbar

  5. Hartford HealthCare, Hartford, CT, USA

    Amer Abdullah

Authors
  1. Julia Rosenberg
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  2. Jessica Kung Leung
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  3. Kristin Harris
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  4. Amer Abdullah
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  5. Arzoo Rohbar
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  6. Camille Brown
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  7. Marjorie S. Rosenthal
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Correspondence to Julia Rosenberg.

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Rosenberg, J., Leung, J.K., Harris, K. et al. Recently-Arrived Afghan Refugee Parents’ Perspectives About Parenting, Education and Pediatric Medical and Mental Health Care Services. J Immigrant Minority Health 24, 481–488 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01206-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01206-7

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