Service Needs of Immigrants and Refugees

Action, Reaction and Resignation: How Refugee Women and Support Organisations Respond to Labour Market Integration Challenges during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Even without the impact of a global pandemic, refugee women face obstacles to their integration into the labour market. Complex integration challenges are situated across different, yet interwoven, levels. These include restrictive policies at the institutional level, limited funding for support measures at the organisational level and a lack of skills at the individual level. Many of these are gendered and specifically affect women. Some might be further intensified by Covid-19. However, the pandemic's effect on the labour market integration of refugee women has yet to be explored.

This paper examines specific challenges support organisations and refugee women have faced during the pandemic and their responses to these. Following a process perspective, we utilise a qualitative methods approach with semi-structured interviews. We collected our data in Austria, a European country that hosts numerous refugees and has an elaborate support network.

Results show that the external shock of the pandemic amplified the importance of developing digital skills to support post-pandemic labour market integration. In addition, the pandemic exacerbated challenges for refugee women and support organisations. This led to ‘action’, ‘reaction’ and ‘resignation’ responses. We discuss these, and provide avenues for further research and practice.

Suicidal ideation and social integration in three Canadian provinces: The importance of social support and community belonging

Extending recent developments in the neo-Durkheimian analysis of suicidality as an indicator of social pathology, this paper analyses individual level survey data on suicidal ideation, perceptions of social support, and the sense of belonging from three Canadian provinces drawn from the Canadian Community Health Survey (2015-16). We ask whether or not social support and a sense of belonging affect suicide ideation differently. In answering this question, we pay attention to both subjective and objective indicators of integration, and how subjective indicators independently affect suicide ideation. Results show that a higher level of social support had the largest effect on suicidal ideation and that the effect of a sense of belonging disappeared when measures of social support are accounted for. These findings are consistent with Durkheim's general theory of suicide and previous studies on mental health, highlighting the importance of regular, proximate social interaction as a prophylactic against suicidality.

Overcoming Barriers to Service Access: Refugees’ Professional Support Service Utilization and the Impact of Human and Social Capital

After arriving in a new country, refugees are typically dependent on professional support to re-establish their livelihood. However, it is well documented that refugees face barriers when seeking access to services aimed at facilitating their settlement. This study examines refugees’ support service needs, their actual utilization, and investigates the impact of social and human capital on service utilization. Using data from the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees (2016–2019; N=7662), this paper, employing nested logistic regression models, highlights the diversity of refugees’ support service needs as well as large differences in utilization across eight different domains during the first couple of years after arriving in Germany. It provides evidence for an overall positive association between human and social capital and service utilization in general while also revealing differences in service domains. While language proficiency is positively associated with service utilization across all service domains, previous work experience in the country of origin particularly increases utilization of employment-related services. The analyses also find a positive association of inter-ethnic networks, whereas intra-ethnic connections are negatively associated with service utilization across many domains. The findings are especially relevant since they support the hypothesis of exclusive host community knowledge that benefits those refugees who engage with individuals outside their own ethnic network. The findings of this study accentuate the need to acknowledge the diversity of refugees’ service needs as well as the barriers to service utilization that only well-equipped refugees seem to be able to overcome.

The Role of Immigrant Admission Classes on the Health and Well-being of Immigrants and Refugees in Canada: A Scoping Review

Many countries offer different pathways through which migrants can enter a new country. In Canada, there are three main immigrant admission classes: economic, family, and refugee. Previous research suggests that there are differences in health outcomes among various subgroups of migrants. A scoping review was conducted to characterize the role of immigrant admission classes on the health and well-being of immigrants and refugees in Canada. MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, and EconLit databases were searched for quantitative studies published in English after 1990. The screening and selection process identified 27 relevant studies. Studies were categorized into four key reported outcomes: health care and services utilization, self-rated health and mental health, medical conditions and chronic illnesses, and social integration and satisfaction. Findings confirm that certain subgroups have worse health outcomes after arrival, particularly refugees, family class and other dependent immigrants. Health outcomes vary significantly across immigrant subgroups defined by the admission class through which they entered Canada.

Cultivating social occupations, spaces, and networks: service providers’ perspectives on enabling immigrants’ social participation

Abstract Introduction Immigrants may experience many barriers to social participation within host societies. Immigrants’ integration into Canadian society is supported through government-funded services. Objective In the present study, we explored the perspectives of service providers working in community organizations regarding their role in enabling immigrants’ social participation through occupations in British Columbia, Canada. Method Representatives from twenty different organizations providing services to the community participated in a constructivist qualitative study aiming to uncover aspects shaping opportunities for occupational participation provided for immigrants. Results Drawing on semi-structured interviews and using thematic analysis, we identified three main themes relating to cultivating social occupations, spaces, and networks. Findings illustrate that service providers’ cultivation of these opportunities can support immigrants’ desired social roles and social identities, further enabling their participation in receiving societies. Conclusion Emphasis upon supporting socio-economic integration into society appears to limit a client-centred approach to developing opportunities for social participation through occupation. Implications for occupational therapists and scientists are discussed.

Factoring in Societal Culture in Policy Transfer Design: the Proliferation of Private Sponsorship of Refugees

The Canadian model of private sponsorship schemes (PSS) for refugees is becoming an increasingly popular target for policy transfer in the field of migration. This article argues that the influence of societal culture on this transplanting process has played an underexplored role in the literature. We seek to provide original guidance for factoring in cultural elements into the policy transfer framework by demonstrating how specific design choices in PSS transfer display clear cultural associations. A tentative study of nine countries that have adopted different models of PSS corroborates this hypothesis empirically. Our preliminary findings suggest that cultural compatibility may indeed increase the effectiveness of a policy transfer in some instances, while culturally preferred choices being adopted in other cases may result in suboptimal design. This converse interplay indicates that cultural awareness constitutes a crucial element of successful transfer processes and stresses the need to adopt a culturally sensitive perspective more frequently and more explicitly.