Supporting mental health and psychosocial wellbeing through social and emotional learning: A participatory study of conflict-affected youth resettled to the U.S.

Lindsay Stark,Michael Wessells,Alli Gillespie,Carine Allaf,Jeremy Aldrich,Wafa Hassan,Cyril Bennouna,Mackenzie V Robinson

doi:10.1186/s12889-021-11674-z

Abstract

BackgroundA growing literature has drawn attention to the central role that schools play in supporting the adjustment of resettled refugee youth and promoting their mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. In particular, the recent proliferation of school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) initiatives presents an opportunity to strengthen supports for resettled adolescents. This participatory research study aims to understand how high school students resettled from countries in the Middle East and North Africa region are experiencing the challenges and opportunities of acculturation and the ways in which they believe schools can better support them in this process.MethodsWe analyzed primary data collected during focus group discussions as part of the SALaMA study. During these discussions, we used participatory ranking methodology to elicit adolescents’ suggestions on how high schools can better support students both academically and psychosocially after resettlement. Fourteen focus group discussions were held with male (n = 38) and female (n = 31) adolescents aged 14–20 years, who were selected purposively across six public high schools in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Austin, Texas, and Detroit, Michigan. Participants offered suggestions and then ranked them in order of importance using consensus ranking.ResultsThematic analysis of the PRM results across sites produced a wealth of suggestions centered around three broad themes, namely: skills related to navigating social and academic challenges, culturally responsive teaching, and socially and culturally equitable learning environments.ConclusionsFindings reported illustrate limitations of the conventional, universal SEL model and shed light on how schools can adapt transformative SEL strategies to serve their students better, especially newcomers from conflict-affected countries.

Highlights

A growing literature has drawn attention to the central role that schools play in supporting the adjustment of resettled refugee youth and promoting their mental health and psychosocial wellbeing
Setting Data were collected as part of the Study of Adolescent Lives after Migration to America (SALaMA) to assess the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of adolescents from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region resettled in the U.S [44,45,46,47,48]
Analysis of the participatory ranking method (PRM) results across sites produced a wealth of suggestions pertaining to seven main themes of support, which correspond closely to the CASEL model and underscore the relevance of several elements of transformative social and emotional learning (SEL) to the lives of newcomer students

Summary

Introduction

A growing literature has drawn attention to the central role that schools play in supporting the adjustment of resettled refugee youth and promoting their mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. The recent proliferation of school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) initiatives presents an opportunity to strengthen supports for resettled adolescents This participatory research study aims to understand how high school students resettled from countries in the Middle East and North Africa region are experiencing the challenges and opportunities of acculturation and the ways in which they believe schools can better support them in this process. A growing literature has documented the central role that schools play in supporting the adjustment of resettled newcomers [9] Part of this adjustment involves acculturation, or the “changes that take place as a result of contact with culturally dissimilar people, groups, and social influences” [10]. Schools can serve as critical points of care and referral for specialized mental health and psychosocial supports (MHPSS), helping to overcome numerous barriers to services, including stigmatized attitudes towards mental health, inadequate resources, and limited access to providers among resettled families [13,14,15,16,17]

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Results

Conclusion