Reintegration Experiences Research Articles

Deployment experiences of military nurses: A systematic review and qualitative meta-synthesis.

AimsThe purpose of this systematic review is to explore military nurses’ preparation, deployment and reintegration experiences in order to provide recommendations for effective management of the nursing team.BackgroundNurses provide health care in different settings including community, hospital and the disaster site. Military nurses have a long history of deploying for global health.MethodA systematic review and qualitative meta‐synthesis of studies focusing on the preparation, deployment and reintegration experiences of military nurses was carried out.ResultsFive synthesized findings were concluded: (a) preparing and sharing experience are the key coping strategies; (b) transition from the civilian care to emergency situations; (c) teamwork contributing to team bonding and the growing role of nursing in the medical team; (d) devoting to nursing duty achieves growth; (e) reintegration is not easy and external support matters.ConclusionTransition from civilian care to deployment and from structured deployment environment to reintegration poses challenges to nurses, and better preparation, sufficient support enables them to gain growth.Implications for Nursing ManagementNurse managers should consider how to sustain a competent and ready nursing team by proposing training protocols to nurses for the potential challenges during the deployment cycle when responding to disasters and public emergencies.

Drinking as routine practice among re-integrating National Guard and Reservists from Arkansas

Active duty enlisted military personnel are more likely to misuse alcohol than civilians – a pattern which persists even after the transition to civilian life. We used in-depth, substance use history interviews to elicit drinking trajectories from 54 re-integrating Army National Guard, Air Force Reserve and Army Reserve personnel from Arkansas with a history of problematic substance use. A hybrid inductive-deductive analytic approach revealed institutional norms, shared beliefs about drinking, and social values and expectations among military peers present in the context of military service that Veterans described as having shaped their drinking trajectories. Framing Veterans’ narratives vis-à-vis practice theory revealed the complex processes by which excessive drinking was embodied as routine practice during military service and subsequently reproduced in a very different post-deployment context, often with deleterious results. Elucidating these implicit processes suggested pro-active strategies for preventing problematic drinking by active duty personnel and improving the re-integration experiences of Veterans.

Repatriation for diseases or non-battle injuries (DNBI): long-term impact on quality of life

IntroductionThroughout history, diseases and non-battle injuries (DNBI) have threatened deployed forces more than battlefield injuries. During the Dutch involvement in Afghanistan, the amount of DNBI that needed medical evacuation out...

The art of coming home. Experiencias de reinserción laboral de migrantes deportados de Estados Unidos

El objetivo del artículo es analizar la experiencia de la deportación y reinserción laboral de una mujer migrante que se ha establecido en el municipio de Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México desde 2016. A partir de una metodología cualitativa y un enfoque biográfico recuperamos la voz de nuestra informante y su subjetividad sobre la experiencia vivida en Estados Unidos, así como de las acciones emprendidas para autoemplearse en un contexto urbano. Los hallazgos advierten que entre la población migrante deportada es necesario cambiar la mirada del norte al sur para una reinserción laboral exitosa, aunque ello no necesariamente signifique que pueden despojarse del que consideran su hogar en ese país. Asimismo, se destaca el papel de la persona migrante como agente y de los capitales humano, social y político como recursos para la implementación de iniciativas que promueven la reinserción laboral individual y colectiva de los migrantes deportados.

Military Families' Stressful Reintegration, Family Climate, and Their Adolescents' Psychosocial Health

AbstractObjectiveGrounded in the Contextual Model of Family Stress, this study sought to identify (a) how military families' postdeployment reintegration experiences relate to the psychosocial health of adolescents and (b) indicators of family climate as a linking mechanism.BackgroundReintegration requires individuals, families, and systems to readjust after a period of family disruption. Assessing reintegration is pivotal for understanding how military families are faring and what leverage points exist for enhancing their well‐being.MethodThe sample included 238 Active Duty (AD) military families with one service member and one civilian parent. Most parents were married and between the ages of 31–40 years. Adolescents (51.3% boys) ranged from 11 to 18 years (M = 14.13). A path analysis model with data from multiple family members examined the associations between (a) AD and civilian parents' perceptions of their family reintegration and military context, (b) their adolescents' perceptions of family climate, and (3) adolescents' psychosocial health (i.e., anxiety, depression, self‐efficacy, and personal well‐being).ResultsBoth parents' experiences with family reintegration were indirectly related to adolescents' psychosocial health through indicators of family climate, particularly interparental conflict. The magnitude of significant effects ranged from small to medium, and time since deployment and gender were found to modify select findings.ConclusionThese findings suggest clear leverage points for interventions with military families as they adjust to deployment reintegration, including a focus on parenting, parents' interactions with one another as a family reorients after deployment, and how adolescents perceive their own adjustment and that of their parents.

Return Migration Around the World: An Integrated Agenda for Future Research

Currently, two distinct bodies of scholarship address the increased volume and diversity of global return migration since the mid-1990s. The economic sociology of return, which assumes that return is voluntary, investigates how time living and working abroad affects returnees’ labor market opportunities and the resulting implications for economic development. A second scholarship, the political sociology of return, recognizing the increasing role of both emigration and immigration states in controlling and managing migration, examines how state and institutional actors in countries of origin shape the reintegration experiences of deportees, rejected asylum seekers, and nonadmitted migrants forced home. We review these literatures independently, examining their research questions, methodologies, and findings, while also noting limitations and areas where additional research is needed. We then engage these literatures to provide an integrated path forward for researching and theorizing return migration—a synergized resource mobilization framework.

From gender-blind to gender-transformative reintegration: women’s experiences with social reintegration in Guatemala

ABSTRACT Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) processes have become a standard component of international peace and security programming. Yet, in spite of increasing attention to the need for gender-sensitive DDR in policy and academic debates, the stereotypical ways in which female ex-combatants have traditionally been addressed have led to inadequate gendered reintegration policies. This article describes the effects of a gender-blind reintegration process on female ex-combatants’ experiences of long-term social reintegration in Guatemala. Social reintegration is a profoundly gendered process, which involves the rebuilding of civilian identities, social relationships, and trust between social groups. Based on in-depth interviews with female ex-combatants, this article describes how the absence of gender-sensitive reintegration strategies produced various problems for women. They faced difficulties in their emotional and family relationships, leading to mental health struggles and even violence, as well as persistent stigma which produced anxiety and challenges in the labor market. The article concludes with suggestions for making reintegration a gender-transformative process, by crossing the private–public divide, increasing collective strategies, and better aligning with transitional justice processes.

Expectations and Experiences of Women Imprisoned for Drug Offending and Returning to Communities in Thailand: Understanding Women’s Pathways Into, Through, and Post-Imprisonment

Thailand places a high priority on the gender-specific contexts out of which offending arises and the differential needs of women in the criminal justice system. Despite this, Thailand has the highest female incarceration rate in South East Asia and there has been substantial growth since the 1990s. This increase has been driven by punitive changes in drug law, criminal justice policy/practice which have disproportionately impacted women. As female representation in Thailand’s prisons grows, so does the number of women who return to communities. Thus, one of the challenges facing Thai society is the efficacious re-integration of growing numbers of formally incarcerated women. However, what is known about re-entry comes almost exclusively from studies of prisoners (usually men) returning home in western societies. Re-integration does not occur in a vacuum. Supporting women post-release necessitates knowledge of their pathways to, experiences of, and journeys out of prison. Utilising in-depth interviews with (n = 80) imprisoned/formally incarcerated women and focus groups with (n = 16) correctional staff, this paper reports findings from the first comprehensive study of women’s re-integration expectations and experiences in Thailand. Findings showed that women had multifaceted and intersectional needs which directed their pathways into, during, and out of prison.

How local community context shapes labour market re-entry and resource mobilisation among return migrants: an examination of rural and urban communities in Mexico

ABSTRACTRecent estimates suggest that nearly half of all international migrants return to their communities of origin within five years of emigration. Motivated by high levels of return migration, scholars are increasingly investigating the ways in which return migrants mobilise resources they acquire abroad, such as human and financial capital, to achieve economic mobility upon return. Yet, resource mobilisation and labour market reintegration unfold in heterogeneous community contexts. To understand the labour market reintegration of return migrants in various local contexts, we draw on an eight-year study that included interviews with 153 Mexican returnees to examine how labour market reintegration and resource mobilisation vary across three types of communities: urban, urban-adjacent, and rural. U.S.-Mexico migration is the largest binational return flow in the world, providing a unique opportunity to explore variations in the reintegration experiences of returnees. We find that labour market reintegration and resource mobilisation are contextually embedded processes that respond to the social, economic, and spatial features of migrants’ origin communities. Following our analysis, we extend three testable hypotheses that can guide future research on international migration and return.

Returning to their roots: Examining the reintegration experiences of returned Indigenous migrant youth in Guatemala

This article examines the reintegration experiences of Indigenous migrant youth returned to Guatemala from the United States and Mexico, thereby filling a gap in extant literature. This qualitative study employed a critical ethnographic approach with reflexive thematic analysis of fieldwork and interviews with social service providers working with this population through the lens of Critical Latinx Indigeneities. Four major themes emerged: identity negotiation (sub-themes being Indigenous identities and returned migrant identities), trauma and its consequences, institutional and internalized oppression, and decolonization. Implications for social work emphasize the importance of Indigenous and decolonizing approaches to social work.

Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Revisiting ‘Reintegration’ through a Psycho-Social Framework

The paper assesses ‘reintegration’ mechanisms implemented for child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the overall Disarmament-Demobilisation-Reintegration (DDR) programme. It re-visits the ‘macro-level success’ claimed by DDR mechanisms in DRC internationally and focuses on evaluation strategies at the ‘micro-level’ implementation of the said objectives. The paper advances a psycho-social assessment of reintegration of child soldiers considering their complex identities as ‘victim-perpetrator-bystander’. Identifying the gaps between individual experiences of war trauma (psychological breakdown) and community reintegration (social reintegration, discrimination, and stigma), the paper conceptualises reintegration measures vis-à-vis children’s psycho-social needs and greater community involvement.

Thrown back: Reintegration experiences of National Guard/Reserve mothers of young children

AbstractFew studies have examined the experiences and perceptions of servicewoman mothers and their children, even as an increasing number of them have experienced deployment and combat exposure. The present paper describes a qualitative study that explored National Guard/Reserve (NG/R) mothers' experiences with mothering and co‐parenting during reintegration and their perceived priorities, supports, challenges and needs. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of seven in‐depth qualitative interviews produced themes including reunion and loneliness, the importance of time, help seeking and gendered experiences. Notably, all participants transitioned immediately back into primary caregiver roles upon homecoming, and several described how difficult it was to readjust while privately dealing with unmet mental health needs. Findings underscore the importance of a flexible suite of service options that meet key needs, most importantly, child care, social–emotional support for children and peer‐based parenting support specific to servicewoman mothers. For NG/R mothers, who may live far from base, community‐based services are essential, but as participants described, civilian social workers and other professionals must develop specialized knowledge, skills and experience to provide appropriate support.

Measuring Multi-Dimensional Deprivation Among U.S. Veterans

Veterans attempt to reintegrate into civilian life, seeking to achieve goals related to economic, health, cultural, and social well-being. While many studies classify veterans as a homogenous group, both their military and reintegration experiences vary wildly by branch of service, education, combat-zone service, and other factors. This study puts the capability approach into practice by identifying which veterans experience simultaneous deprivations across multiple dimensions. Veterans that higher rates of deprivation in some area is suggestive of a barrier keeping reintegration from being realized. The 2012–2017 Current Population Survey Veterans Supplement is used to estimate a deprivation index, utilizing details of service and measuring outcomes related to disability, family income, educational attainment, and long-term unemployment. In a given year, an estimated 7% of veterans (about 60,000–70,000 veterans in terms of the population) experience two or more deprivations simultaneously. Younger veterans, Army, and those living in rural areas have higher odds of being multidimensionally deprived. Although veterans as a whole have lower rates of multidimensional deprivation than non-veterans, many groups of veterans experience higher rates of deprivation, especially in terms of disability.

A home is more than a roof over your head: Post-prison reintegration challenges in Austria

Life after prison can pose challenges for the formerly incarcerated, their families, and wider communities. This research studies Austria where probation services are either mandated by the court or sought voluntarily after prison. Through semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated individuals, reintegration experiences from their perspectives are examined. The narratives emphasized social factors that either assuage or complicate life after prison. The main factors addressed were stable housing, the maintaining and (re)building of relationships, and employment. Overall, a lack of stable housing appeared to complicate life after prison the most and also negatively affected relationships and employment. For some, life after prison was further exacerbated by immigration status and a perceived stigma related to the nature of one’s convictions. This study shows the importance of working towards a better understanding of the social context individuals are released into after prison to better meet their individual needs and to counteract recidivism.

Mobility, Knowledge Transfer, and Innovation: An Empirical Study on Returned Chinese Academics at Two Research Universities

This study provides an in-depth analysis of the effects of academic mobility on higher education innovation through an empirical study on returned Chinese academics at two research universities in China. Based on data obtained through document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 15 academic returnees, this paper aims to examine the everyday interactions between individual returnees and their environment, with a focus on exploring how different institutional contexts affect returnees’ capacity for integration and innovation. It finds that returned academics play an important role in promoting higher education innovation in China through mobilizing their transnational capital and resources. However, their capacity to innovate is largely subject to their working environment. Evidence from the study suggests that differing institutional contexts make a substantial difference to the reintegration experiences of returnees and to their contributions to institutional changes. This paper provides a window into the changing institutional environment in China and the academic lives of returnees there. It also provides important implications for talent policy decisions.

КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНІ ЗАСАДИ ДЕРЖАВНОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ ВІДНОВЛЕННЯ ТА ПОСТІЗОЛЯЦІЙНОГО СУПРОВОДУ ОСІБ, ЗВІЛЬНЕНИХ З ПРИМУСОВОЇ ІЗОЛЯЦІЇ (ПОЛОНУ)

Recovery, reintegration and post-isolation support for people released from captivity at the territories under the effective control of Russian Federation is a topical challenge for Ukrainian state. The USA and NATO approaches for recovery and reintegration processes were applied during the reintegration and post-isolation support activities focused on returnees released on December, 27, 2017. One part of the reintegration and post-isolation support lessons learned is a Concept of Recovery and Post-Isolation Support Public Policy for Ukraine. The milestones of the Policy Concept are describing in the article. The reintegration and post-isolation activities for the release of December, 27, 2917 were organized and coordinated by the Office of the Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Rehabilitation of Combatants. It was the first experience of reintegration and post-isolation activities for military personnel and civilian returnees in Ukraine. The reintegration and post-isolation activities were designed as an operational process of providing medical and psychological care to personnel recovered from isolation, and debriefing them for intelligence and lessons learned purposes.The very intensive hybrid pressure on returnees and reintegration team members has demonstrated clearly the necessity and importance of recovery and post-isolation support public policy and the advisability of planning reintegration and post-isolation activities as a part of the recovery process due to the policy.All problems of captured and released Ukrainian citizens and their family members could be generalized into three main groups: - problems related to the protection of human rights, freedoms and lawful interests of captured, isolated and released persons; - problems related to the physical and mental recovery, rehabilitation and post-isolation adaptation of returnees; - problems related to threats to national security and national interests of Ukraine. In addition, the conceptual framework for a unified recovery and post-isolation support public policy was developed. Namely, the policy principles, purpose, strategic goals and tasks were formulated.

Employment after incarceration: managing a socially stigmatized identity

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the social stigmatization of the formerly incarcerated identity and how this affects employment post-release. The authors consider the characteristics of this identity and the identity management strategies that individuals draw from as they navigate employment.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 men at various stages of release from federal institutions in Canada. Participants were actively searching for employment, intending to or would consider searching for employment, or had searched for employment in the past post-incarceration. Participant data were simultaneously collected, coded and analyzed using an inductive approach (Gioia et al., 2012).FindingsFormerly incarcerated individuals have a unique awareness of the social stigmatization associated with their criminal record and incarceration history. They are tasked with an intentional choice to disclose or conceal that identity throughout the employment process. Six identity management strategies emerged from their accounts: conditional disclosure, deflection, identity substitution, defying expectations, withdrawal and avoidance strategies. More specifically, distinct implications of criminal record and incarceration history on disclosure decisions were evident. Based on participants’ accounts of their reintegration experiences, four aspects that may inform disclosure decisions include: opportune timing, interpersonal dynamics, criminal history and work ethic.Originality/valueThe authors explore the formerly incarcerated identity as a socially stigmatized identity and consider how individuals manage this identity within the employment context. The authors identify incarceration history and criminal record as having distinct impacts on experiences of stigma and identity management strategic choice, thus representing the experience of a “double stigma”.

A conceptual model on reintegration after prison in Norway.

Many offenders struggle when attempting to reintegrate into society after release from prison, and the conditions they face after release often lead to reoffending. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual model on reintegration after prison. The model has the potential to guide practitioners in their understanding of the relationships between welfare services and the agency of the offender. The model was developed from a small-scale study in the Norwegian Criminal Justice system, which is well known for its emphasis on rehabilitation and crime prevention. Data collection aimed to explore the reintegration process from the perspective of the hard-to-reach and vulnerable population of serial offenders. Nine prisoners in two different prisons were interviewed. A thematic analysis identified two main themes that related, first, to the personal challenges the offenders faced in the rehabilitation and reintegration process and, second, to the factors in the welfare services that interacted with the prisoners' psychosocial issues in the reintegration process. Findings suggest that the interaction between the psychosocial needs of the prisoners and the organization of the welfare services is complex and does not harmonize. The findings underpin the argument that the current reintegration strategies for certain groups of inmates need to be questioned and challenged. The model is a conceptual model intended to provide a lens from which to reinterpret offenders' experiences of reintegration and applied to only the small and exploratory study described in this paper. As such, it requires further testing and substantiation, and the model and the study's findings should be regarded as tentative and cannot be generalized to a larger population. The prisoners were selected by the first author for convenience, and it is possible that this also influenced the findings. Other inmates may have presented other experiences. There are few studies looking into reintegration from the reoffenders' perspective, and this study also presents a model that serves as a reflective and analytical tool to developing new approaches to supporting offenders in their reintegration into society from prison in the future.

'No one prepared me to go home': Cerebrovascular accident survivors' experiences of community reintegration in a peri-urban context.

BackgroundThe South African health system has policies and strategies to ensure effective rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals who have survived a cerebrovascular accident into their respective communities. However, implementation of such guidelines remains an issue.AimThis study sought to explore cerebrovascular accident (CVA) survivors’ experiences of community integration.SettingThe study was located in a peri-urban community within the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.MethodsAn explorative qualitative study with eight purposively selected CVA survivors was conducted via semi-structured individual interviews. Data were audio-recorded and manually transcribed prior to thematic analysis. Trustworthiness of the study was maintained by strategies such as analyst triangulation, an audit trail and use of thick descriptions. Ethical principles of autonomy, informed consent, confidentiality and privacy were also maintained in the study.ResultsSix themes emerged that highlighted (1) loss of autonomy and roles, (2) barriers to community reintegration, (3) social isolation of participants, (4) finding internal strength, (5) enablers of community reintegration including the positive influence of support and the benefits derived from rehabilitation and (6) recommendations for rehabilitation.ConclusionThe study revealed both positive and negative influences that impact CVA survivors’ ability to effectively reintegrate into their respective communities following a CVA. Recommendations include the need for education and awareness around access to rehabilitation services for CVA survivors, advice on how to improve CVA survivors’ ability to mobilise in the community and make environmental adaption to facilitate universal access, provision of home programmes and caregiver training for continuity of care and for inclusion of home-based rehabilitation into current models of care.

War Violence Exposure, Reintegration Experiences and Intimate Partner Violence Among a Sample of War-Affected Females in Sierra Leone

Although international attention has focused mostly on boys as child soldiers and youth affected by armed conflict, girls account for more than 40 % of this population globally. Primarily recruited and abducted into armed conflict to serve as “wives” and sexual slaves for commanders and other soldiers, girls experienced high rates of rape and sexual abuse. Using data from a longitudinal study conducted in collaboration with a major international Non-Government Organization (NGO) in Sierra Leone, this study examined the contributions of potentially stigmatizing war violence exposures and more recent post-conflict reintegration experiences to IPV. Results indicate the various aspects of wartime violence, this sample of female youth showed the highest rates of ambient wartime violence, victimization, and sexual assault. However, this sample also showed a non-trivial proportion of perpetrating wartime violence. Overall, this sample reported middling levels of community reintegration, and similar average rates of family reintegration. This study indicates a need for war-affected females to have greater access to resources that can empower them post-conflict.