Refugee caregiver-child mental health: Pathways to promote well-being across migration

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Supporting the mental health of refugee caregivers is a critical priority, both from a public health perspective (UNHCR, 2021) and in light of the role caregivers play as mediators and moderators of child wellbeing (Masten et al., 2015). High levels of stress have been documented in refugee caregivers across the migration period (Miles et al., 2019), a period of protracted exposure to adversity, resource deprivation, and instability. The three papers in this symposium focus on the links between refugee caregiver mental health and impacts on child development. The first paper explores relations between accumulated parent-child stress exposures in migration and caregiver-child mental health in resettlement with a sample of largely Syrian and Iraqi families. This paper examines several risk and protective factors as moderators of migratory stress on parent-child wellbeing. The second paper examines a phone-based parenting intervention implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic to support Syrian refugee and Jordanian caregivers with young children residing in Jordan. The third paper examines the effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on caregiver mental health and caregiving behaviors in rural and urban Uganda, examining longitudinal impacts on early childhood emotional reactivity and socio-cognitive development. This project deepens understanding of the mechanisms underlying the intergenerational transmission of adversity, in a population with high prevalence of maternal adverse experiences and depressive symptomatology. Together, these papers converge in their focus on caregiver mental health, while exploring causes, consequences, and an intervention lever in a variety of displacement and adverse contexts.

Sub Unit

• Solicited Content: Displacement Related

Chair

• Elly Miles, Urban Institute

Discussant

• Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University

Individual Presentations

• Syrian and Iraqi caregiver-child perimigration stress and wellbeing in resettlement: A community-engaged assessment - Presenting Author: Elly Miles, Urban Institute; Lydia J. Mathis, University of Denver; Julie Olomi; Anne DePrince, University of Denver; Paul Stein; Abir Alkabani; Soad Altaai; Mohamed Juma; Sarah E Watamura, University of Denver

• Impact of a mid-pandemic phone-delivered early stimulation parenting program targeting Syrian refugee and host community caregivers in Jordan - Presenting Author: Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University; Anaga Ramachandran, Centre for Learning Resources; Dennis Hilgendorf; Ragheb Fityan, International Rescue Committee; Rawan Abu Seriah; Mohammad Khanji, International ResuceCommittee; Mohammad Alaabed, International ResuceCommittee; Ayat Al Aqra, International ResuceCommittee; Phoebe Sloane, International Rescue Committee; Andres Molano, Universidad de los Andes (Uniandes); Joyce Rafla, New York University

• Consequences of maternal childhood maltreatment on infant and child socio-cognitive development in Uganda - Presenting Author: Moritz Köster, Freie Universität Berlin; Herbert Ainamani, Kabale University; Eunice Murokore, Kabale University; Philipp Töpfer, Universität Greifswald; Eeva Holmberg; María José Lobeda-Garzón, Humbolt University; Michelle Fernandez, Oxford University; Julian Busch, Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Riikka Korja, University of Turku