Abstract
The aim of the 'Pathways to Independence' study was to gain knowledge of how to facilitate a healthy development for unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) after settling in Norwegian municipalities. The project is located in the URM child welfare services (URM CWS) of the Bergen municipality. We invited 101 URMs older than 15 years connected to the URM CWS to participate in a comprehensive survey. Of the invited, 81 consented to participate. The survey included questions on the user's experiences and satisfaction with the URM CWS, and questions related to schooling, social support and activities after settlement. We also included standardized and validated questionnaires on potential traumatic events, mental and somatic health, protective factors and quality of life. These questionnaires have previously been used in two Norwegian epidemiological studies, the 'Youth@Hordaland' and 'Young in Foster care', facilitating comparison of the results with other youth populations in Norway. Results from the project will be valuable in the process of reaching knowledge-based recommendations for successful settlement of URMs.
Highlights
URM child welfare services (CWS) Social support and Schooling activities Acculturation strategiesPotential traumatic events (PTEs) Mental healthHealth complaints SleepQuestions on the unaccompanied refugee minors’ (URMs’)background and demography such as sex, country of origin, age and living arrangements in Bergen.We constructed a questionnaire on the experience and satisfaction with 13 the work of the CWS provided to the URMs
We conducted a comprehensive survey in URMs settled in Bergen municipality including questions related to experiences and satisfaction with the URM child welfare services (URM CWS), schooling, social support, and activities after settlement, in addition to standardized and validated questionnaires on potential traumatic events, mental and somatic health, protective factors and quality of life
Settlement of refugees has over time been a prioritized area in the municipality, and settlement of URMs has been a part of the municipal CWS for the last 20 years
Summary
The overall aim of the ‘Pathways to Independence’ study was to gain knowledge on how to facilitate a healthy development for URMs after settling in Norwegian municipalities. We conducted a comprehensive survey in URMs settled in Bergen municipality including questions related to experiences and satisfaction with the URM CWS, schooling, social support, and activities after settlement, in addition to standardized and validated questionnaires on potential traumatic events, mental and somatic health, protective factors and quality of life. Based on the results from the survey and subsequent processes in the URM CWS, the overall purpose was to make knowledge-based adjustments to the services provided to the URMs. The main objective of the current paper was to describe the design and procedures of the survey
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