Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a critical public health and human rights concern, disproportionately affecting immigrant women and shaped by intersecting social, cultural, and systemic inequalities. This review employs thematic synthesis to analyse qualitative evidence on how risk and protective factors influence IPV experiences among immigrant women after arrival in host countries. Following PRISMA guidelines, a comprehensive search of peer-reviewed literature published between 2000 and 2024 was conducted across six databases. A total of 31 studies were included, comprising both fully qualitative studies and the qualitative components of mixed-methods research. The findings indicate that the main risk factors are structural and systemic barriers, cultural norms and gender expectations, internalized barriers, and interpersonal and familial dynamics. In contrast, the protective mechanisms identified include personal empowerment and resilience, culturally sensitive formal support, and practical resources and accessibility. In addition, motherhood, informal social networks, employment, and religious practice emerged as double-edged factors, functioning as either risks or protections depending on policy environments and cultural meanings. Crucially, although this review focuses on IPV after arrival in host countries, the findings indicate that these experiences are deeply embedded in, and often shaped by, a continuum of violence spanning the migration life course. This synthesis advances understanding by situating IPV after arrival within broader life-course and structural violence perspectives, calling for multilevel, intersectional interventions that sustain immigrant women's safety across migration trajectories.

Against the backdrop of increasingly severe agricultural labor aging (ALA), the aging process not only threatens food security but also poses challenges to green and sustainable agricultural development. Existing studies have paid insufficient attention to how ALA simultaneously affects grain production efficiency (GPE) and grain eco-efficiency (GEE), and there is a particular lack of systematic investigation into the moderating roles of different crop types and social networks. To address this gap, this study utilizes survey data from 1056 farm households across five major grain-producing provinces in China and employs Tobit regression models to empirically examine the dual effects of ALA on GPE and GEE, while also revealing the moderating mechanisms of formal and informal dual-layer social networks. The main findings are as follows: (1) ALA generally inhibits both GPE and GEE across different grain crops, with a more prevalent negative impact on GEE. (2) The impact of ALA on the two types of efficiency exhibits crop-specific nonlinear characteristics: a positive U-shaped relationship for maize, an inverted U-shaped relationship for rice, and no significant nonlinear relationship for wheat. (3) Social networks play significant linear and nonlinear moderating roles in mitigating the negative effects of ALA, though their effects vary depending on network type, crop system, and efficiency dimension. Based on these findings, it is recommended to implement differentiated intervention strategies tailored to crop characteristics and aging stages, build a multi-tiered social network support system, and strengthen the research, extension, and service support for green technologies targeting middle-aged and older farmers, thereby synergistically enhancing grain production capacity and ecological sustainability.

ABSTRACT This study examines whether hometown-based business associations (HBAs), as formal social networks, can help firms overcome cross-regional trade barriers. Using data on the top five customers of Chinese listed companies to measure firms’ cross-regional trade and leveraging the establishment of HBAs at different time points as an exogenous shock, we construct a multiple-period difference-in-differences model. Our findings reveal that HBAs significantly promote cross-regional trade for hometown firms, increasing their likelihood of entering the market in the province in which they operate by an average of 20.7%. Mechanism analysis suggests that HBAs facilitate cross-regional trade primarily by alleviating information constraints, mitigating market segmentation, and enhancing bilateral trust. Furthermore, HBAs serve as substitutes for informal social networks in facilitating interregional trade. Additional analysis shows that HBAs enhance the stability of firms’ cross-regional trade, further reinforcing their economic significance. Our study contributes to the literature on social networks that influence firms’ developmental constraints.

• This study emphasizes the importance of professionals’ view on vulnerable families • The article provides insights through an ecological and preventive approach. • Findings show professionals face challenges with parents, isolation, and cooperation. • The study stresses adopting a preventive and collaborative approach to help families. The increasing risk of poverty and social exclusion in Italy poses challenges to the support of vulnerable families, requiring a preventive and collaborative approach across services. The literature emphasises the importance of exploring the views of professionals on the challenges they face when working with vulnerable families. This study investigates the challenges faced by professionals working in a northern Italian region piloting a new territorial service system for vulnerable families. A mixed-methods approach using semi-structured interviews was implemented with 62 professionals (18 social workers, 10 professional educators, 15 NGO workers, 9 psychologists and 10 health professionals). These examined the indicators of family fragility identified by the professionals, as well as the main challenges and resources of local services when working with these families. Three main challenges were identified: supporting the educational role of parents; the role of informal social networks in tackling isolation; and the promotion of networking and cooperation between services. The results are discussed in relation to how services can promote the autonomy of families to help them overcome difficult times. The findings emphasise the importance of adopting an ecological, preventive and collaborative approach to services.

ABSTRACT Child protection policy in Sweden, as in many other countries, emphasises the involvement of families’ informal social networks in assessment and decision-making. However, limited empirical knowledge exists about how informal networks are recognised and used in investigative practice. This study examines how informal social networks are identified, described, and involved in child protection assessments in Sweden, and whether practices differ between municipalities using Signs of Safety and those that do not. The analysis draws on 242 assessments from six municipalities and observations of 30 case-focused supervision sessions. The findings reveal that informal network members were mentioned in most assessments, but direct involvement was rare. Network information was seldom integrated into analytical reasoning. Differences between municipalities were more pronounced than differences associated with SoS use. While SoS appeared to shape attention to networks, it did not substantially transform investigative routines. Drawing on institutional logic theory and legal literacy research, the study suggests that accountability and legal defensibility shape what knowledge becomes actionable in assessments. Informal networks' contributions are difficult to document and justify within investigative reasoning. The findings point to the need for organisational conditions that support the operationalisation of network-oriented ambitions in child protection assessments.

In scientific social networks, academic groups play a significant role in facilitating collaboration between researchers and promoting the dissemination of papers, which provides unique opportunities for paper recommendation. However, existing paper recommendation methods rarely consider the valuable group information, which limits their potential for improving recommendation performance. In this article, a novel multi-graph fusion network with attention mechanism (GI-MFA) is proposed for paper recommendation considering group information. First, the group-researcher bipartite graph, the researcher-paper bipartite graph and the group-paper bipartite graph are constructed to model the relationships between researchers, papers and groups. Graph neural networks are used to learn the embeddings of researchers and papers at both the individual and group levels across these bipartite graphs. Second, to effectively fuse the individual-level and group-level embeddings, we introduce researcher-wise attention and paper-wise attention mechanisms. To verify the effectiveness of GI-MFA, experiments are conducted on a real-world dataset CiteULike. The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of GI-MFA over all baselines.

Risk perception is central to wildlife disease management and informs both public health and conservation strategies. Understanding perceptions of wildlife-related health risks helps public health professionals and conservationists develop effective communication strategies to foster both public safety and species conservation. Reunion Island is a Southwestern Indian Ocean island where human-bat interactions are common, especially with the urban-adapted endemic species Mormopterus francoismoutoui. Concerns about olfactory nuisance and respiratory health impacts resulting from these interactions make perceptions of bat-related sanitary risks especially salient. This study surveyed 768 residents to explore how general opinions and past experiences with bats influence perceived health risks. The mean bat-related health risk perception index (RPI) was 2.87 ± 0.03 on a 5-point scale. Perceived risk was significantly higher among individuals with negative opinions (3.14 ± 0.05) compared to neutral (2.95 ± 0.03) and positive opinions (2.56 ± 0.05; p < 0.001). A similar pattern was observed for past experiences, with negative experiences associated with the highest perceived risk (p < 0.001). Island natives (OR = 2.00) and social interactions about bat-related diseases (OR = 1.49) were the strongest predictors of higher perceived risk. In contrast, trust in science reduced perceived risk (OR = 0.75), while younger respondents reported slightly higher risk perception. These findings highlight the importance of social information networks and scientific trust in shaping perceptions, underscoring the need for clear, targeted, and evidence-based risk communication to promote coexistence and mitigate heightened fears.

Beyond conventional metrics: Exploring psychosocial impacts and coping strategies in hurricane-affected communities in Jamaica

Rural areas face persistent accessibility challenges due to low population density, long travel distances, and strong dependence on private cars. Shared mobility services and coworking spaces have been promoted as potential solutions, yet their feasibility in sparsely populated areas remains uncertain. This paper evaluates the implementation of a novel mobility service introduced in four rural towns in Sweden in conjunction with local coworking spaces. Drawing on a mixed-methods design combining implementation analysis, a household survey, and semi-structured interviews, we examine adoption levels, user attitudes, and barriers to uptake. The results reveal limited adoption of both the mobility service and coworking spaces, despite generally positive attitudes toward the concepts. Regression analysis shows that car ownership strongly decreases positive attitudes, while individual innovativeness increases them. Interviews highlight the dominance of private car dependence, the reliance on informal social networks for carpooling, and low demand for coworking facilities. The paper contributes to the transport geography literature by demonstrating that the challenges of rural shared mobility lie less in attitudinal resistance and more in structural car dependence, lack of local anchoring, and the mismatch between urban-oriented mobility visions and rural everyday practices. • The shared mobility service saw only marginal use in the four rural villages. • High car ownership was linked to lower interest in the shared mobility service. • Greater innovativeness was associated with positive attitudes to shared mobility. • Interviews show car dependence can coexist with high perceived accessibility. • Rural MaaS is constrained by structural conditions that facilitates car use.

As global higher education intensifies, international faculty mobility has become a defining dimension of globalization in the sector. However, existing scholarship remains primarily focused on flows toward major knowledge hubs, leaving reverse flows to non-Anglophone destinations underexamined. Drawing on push-pull theory, this study employed a qualitative research design by conducting 26 semi-structured interviews with international self-initiated expatriate (SIE) faculty members at a highly internationalized South Korean university to explore the motives and dynamic evolution of international mobility. Six core motives of initial mobility were identified and categorized into three levels by inductive thematic coding: macro-level (feasible job opportunities, family wellbeing, cultural continuity and novelty, economic and life stability); meso-level (intra-regional cooperation), and micro-level (life and career enhancement). To elucidate findings that transcended the push-pull paradigm, this study further integrated human capital and career capital perspectives. A central contribution of this study is the proposal of a two-stage Feasibility-to-Optimization decision trajectory. Findings indicate that in semi-peripheral hubs like South Korea, initial migration is primarily driven by macro-level two-sided motives, with structural push motives in the home country and facilitated by South Korea's state-led internationalization framework. Post-arrival, however, faculty members strategically pursue professional autonomy and cultural comfort at the micro-level to navigate institutional frictions within the South Korean system. Moreover, meso-level mobility is primarily facilitated through state-coordinated institutional channels rather than informal social networks. By constructing a multilevel theoretical framework for international faculty mobility, this study extends the explanatory scope of the push-pull model and offers policy implications for sustainable talent retention within peripheral higher education systems.

Despite its status as a Nordic welfare state, Finland demonstrates limited awareness, lacks policies, and provides underdeveloped services for children growing up with parents affected by mental and physical illnesses or substance abuse. This gap in support poses serious risks to children’s mental health and life trajectories, as highlighted by recent epidemiological studies on Finnish register data. Although efforts by Finnish non-governmental and children’s welfare organizations have started to raise awareness and advocate for statutory action, Finnish support systems remain largely unresponsive to the needs of this vulnerable group. As Finland lags in providing adequate preventive measures and support, further research on these children and adolescents’ experiences is required to guide the development of services. This study examines reflections of Finnish adults who, as children, grew up with a parent experiencing mental illness, substance dependency, or chronic physical illness or injury. The study explores their retrospective accounts of both formal and informal support received during childhood. By focusing on these adults’ narratives, the study seeks to elucidate how these individuals interpret the interactions they had with professionals, institutions, and informal social networks. In doing so, it deepens our understanding of the long-term impact of these support experiences and to identify both the gaps and possibilities in Finnish support systems for children affected by parental illness. Data consists of biographical interviews (N=29) conducted from 2021 to 2024 with adults who experienced parental illness during their upbringing. Prior research indicates that many individuals recognize the vulnerability of their childhood environments only in hindsight. As adults, they can morally evaluate perceived responsibilities, obligations, and intentions in significant past events, with time enabling them to reconstruct and assign meaning to these experiences. The analysis focuses on participants’ accounts of ‘critical episodes’ within their biographical narratives, specifically emphasizing two types of experiences: (1) moments of receiving support, and (2) instances where support was expected but either insufficient or absent, failing to meet the narrators’ needs or expectations. These critical episodes emerge as pivotal experiences carrying meaning for the participants in their present-day lives. Analyzing these episodes sheds light on how these episodes influenced their immediate and enduring experiences of support. The study’s findings are discussed through a socioecological framework that conceptualizes participants’ experiences within relational, institutional, structural, and cultural contexts. The results reveal deficiencies in formal and informal support across various levels but also highlight encounters and environments with potential that, if systematically supported, could enhance the well-being of children as next of kin. The framework emphasizes the intersections of these contexts, illustrating how they contribute to or detract from a supportive environment for children facing the challenges of parental illness. By holistically analyzing the sources of and gaps in psychosocial support, this study highlights the importance of creating an integrative, child-centered approach to support within a society. This analysis provides insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers seeking to understand and improve support systems for children as next of kin.

For complex crowdsourcing tasks that require collaboration among multiple individuals, teams should be formed by considering both worker compatibility and expertise. Furthermore, the nature of crowdsourcing dictates the budget for tasks and worker remuneration, and excessively large teams may reduce collaborative performance. To address these challenges, we propose a heuristic optimization algorithm that leverages social network information to simultaneously form teams with optimized worker compatibility for multiple tasks. In our approach, historical collaboration is represented as a social network in which the edge weights correspond to the explicit ratings of worker compatibility. In a simulation experiment using synthetic data, we applied Gaussian process regression to examine the relationship between the eight experimental parameters and evaluation values, thereby analyzing the output of the proposed algorithm. To generate the data necessary for regression, we ran the proposed algorithm with experimental parameters that were sequentially estimated using Bayesian optimization. Our experiments revealed that the evaluation values were extremely low when the team size limit, degree mean of the social network, and task budget were set to low values. The results also indicate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the hill-climbing method under almost all experimental conditions. In addition, the highest evaluation values were achieved when the simulated annealing temperature decreased at a rate of approximately 0.9, whereas smoothing the objective function proved to be ineffective.

The serotonergic system regulates diverse social and emotional processes, including formation of social networks that continue to mature throughout adolescence. In adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE)-exposed male and female rats and postmortem human dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) tissue from adolescent-onset alcohol use disorder (AUD) cases, we observed persistent reductions of serotonergic markers (TPH2+, 5HT+) within the DRN and its projections, accompanied by robust neuroimmune activation (HMGB1, TLR4, pNFκBp65). Reduced DRN prodynorphin and selective reductions of medial DRN serotonergic neurons (TPH2+, 5HT+) suggest that specific serotonergic subpopulations are suppressed by AIE. We further found increased repressive histone markers (H3K9me2) and decreased activating markers (H3K4me3Q5ser) at the Tph2 gene promoter in the DRN, consistent with epigenetic repression of the serotonergic neuron phenotype. Post-AIE treatment with glycyrrhizic acid-an HMGB1 antagonist-or post-AIE exercise restored serotonergic neuron populations and their projections, reversed induction of neuroimmune signaling molecules, and normalized Tph2 promoter chromatin states, indicating reversible neuroimmune-mediated suppression of serotonergic phenotype rather than neuronal loss. Parallel changes in human AUD DRN tissue support a conserved mechanism. Behaviorally, AIE induced social deficits in rats that mirrors social withdrawal in AUD, an effect that was rescued by post-AIE glycyrrhizic acid treatment. In humans, early-onset problematic alcohol use is associated with social dysfunction, which is mitigated in individuals with high physical activity or anti-inflammatory interventions. Together, these findings implicate epigenetic regulation of serotonergic neuron phenotype as a key mechanism linking adolescent alcohol exposure to social pathology and identify potential targets for therapeutic interventions in individuals with adolescent-onset AUD.

Women’s football in South Korea exists within a male-centered football field where gendered valuation and institutional priorities shape athletes’ opportunities and recognition. In this field, female athletes face a complex process of shaping their identities and social positions, regardless of their performance, while dealing with psychological burdens and structural barriers. To gain a better understanding of the mental and structural support needed for sustainable female athletic development, we investigated how Korean female soccer players are acquiring and converting cultural and social capital into economic capital within women’s football-specific gendered power relations and organizational structures. Grounded in Bourdieu’s capital theory and gender power theory, with an intersectionality lens, we explore the structural inequalities constraining capital accumulation and the athletes’ strategic responses to such constraints. A qualitative case study approach is adopted in this study, examining the life experiences of former Korean female soccer players. Ten former athletes, with experience in semi-professional leagues, collegiate teams, or elite youth programs, were recruited using purposive sampling. Data were gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews and document analysis. The analysis followed a systematic and iterative process to identify thematic patterns related to structural constraints and agentive responses. The participants were informed of the study’s purpose, and written consent was obtained prior to their involvement in the study. The women reported facing persistent structural barriers throughout their athletic careers, including limited financial support, restricted opportunities for skill development, and exclusion from formal social networks. Within the women’s football environment in South Korea, these constraints were described as being sustained by institutionally limited investment in women’s teams, wage and contract arrangements that signaled unequal valuation, and fragile competitive infrastructures with insufficient routinized league fixtures and scouting-visible opportunities. Accordingly, economic capital accumulation was constrained by low wages and contract instability, whereas cultural capital acquisition was limited by unstable match-based learning and evaluative visibility. Social capital accumulation was also shaped by coach-centered, informal networks that operated as gatekeeping routes for information, placement, and post-playing opportunities. Additionally, participants’ alternative strategies (international careers, certifications, digital self-branding) were positioned as compensatory adaptations to gendered valuation and organizational gatekeeping rather than as levers of institutional change. Taken together, the findings suggest that gendered inequality in women’s football is reproduced through the combined operation of unequal valuation, constrained opportunity structures, and gatekeeping, which jointly shape athletes’ capital trajectories and limit conversion, particularly around career transition and post-playing planning. The findings indicate the need for reforms that stabilize investment and contract conditions, strengthen routinized competitive infrastructures and visibility pathways, and formalize transparent transition routes into coaching and administration, while also recognizing the psychosocial conditions under which athletes sustain motivation, self-evaluation, and future orientation.

Abstract Lee Teng Hwee (1872–1947) is well-known as the founder and first president of Fudan University in Shanghai. This article focuses on the turning points in his life before he embarked on that mission. A Peranakan boy from Java educated at the Methodist Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore, Ohio Wesleyan, and Yale, he joined the Straits-Chinese reform movement before being denied entry to the US for graduate study, organizing the World’s Chinese Students’ Federation in Shanghai and starting a Christian home with his Chinese bride. I will apply a micro-historical, inter-actional perspective to the social, cultural, and political context in each turning point to explore what it meant to be a trans-national Chinese Christian with an educational mission. I will also argue that the voices of missionaries, teachers, classmates, reformer colleagues, and especially Chinese Christian women at these turning points reveal the formation and expansion of a non-state social network among Lee’s generation of trans-local Chinese.

ABSTRACT In this paper we explore the role of gendered social capital in shaping the adaptive capacity of women farmers in Aotearoa New Zealand in response to climate variability and change. Drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted with women farmers across multiple regions in Aotearoa New Zealand, we examine how social networks and gender norms shape women's capacities to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Our findings demonstrate important gender differences in participation within social networks, with women farmers more often relying on informal, community-cantered social networks for both practical and emotional support and encounter marginalisation within male-dominated formal farming networks. These informal social networks proved critical for women sharing knowledge, skills, resources, and strategies, which enhanced their resilience to climate-induced stresses and shocks. However, the persistence of patriarchal norms in formal agricultural settings continue to restrict women's access to critical resources and decision-making roles. In this scoping study we underscore the need for gender-sensitive policies that recognise the significant contributions of women in agriculture and horticulture, support inclusive climate adaptation strategies, and engender more equitable access to social capital. By demonstrating these social dynamics, our study offers insights into the intersection of gender, social capital, and climate adaptation in the Global North, with wider implications for farming communities around the globe.

The use of herbicides for weed control is a common practice in rice farming. A variety of factors influences farmers’ decisions to use herbicides. This study aims to analyze the factors affecting farmers' decisions to use herbicides in Jelekong Village, Baleendah District, Bandung Regency. A quantitative research design was employed using a survey technique. The respondents consisted of 115 randomly selected rice farmers. Data were analysed using logistic regression and descriptively through the top two boxes analysis. The results indicate that cost efficiency is the primary factor influencing farmers' decisions to use herbicides. Other significant factors include ease of use, product effectiveness, and the size of the cultivated land. Another key finding is that informal social networks among farmers play a substantial role in the decision-making process, outweighing the influence of extension agents or promotional efforts from herbicide producers. These findings highlight the importance of community-based extension approaches and the need for integrated technology dissemination strategies that account for the social, economic, and informational dynamics experienced by farmers.

In the United States, men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) have high HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness, yet uptake rates remain extremely low. This signifies the presence of certain barriers not yet addressed in policy and practice and facilitators not yet utilized in designing effective interventions. This systematic review used the Gelberg and Andersen Model of Vulnerable Populations as a theoretical framework to explore barriers and facilitators to PrEP uptake among MSM and TGW in the US. We searched PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Web of Science in May 2025 to identify eligible studies exploring barriers and/or facilitators to PrEP uptake among MSM and TGW in the US. Studies published in 2012 onward in the English language and particularly focusing on uptake (initiation) met the eligibility criteria. We excluded studies focused on awareness, willingness, adherence, persistence, and other components of the PrEP care continuum. The review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 Statement. Barriers and facilitators reported in studies were mapped into the domains of the Gelberg and Andersen model and then narratively synthesized using a thematic approach. Eleven studies (9 qualitative and two mixed methods) met the eligibility criteria. Utilizing the Gelberg and Andersen model, within the predisposing factors domain, three themes emerged, namely (a) PrEP knowledge, health beliefs, and misinformation, (b) stigma, discrimination, and trust, and (c) influence of social environment and lived realities. Within the enabling factors domain, three themes emerged, namely (a) financial access and insurance coverage, (b) healthcare provider and system factors, and (c) addressing specific community needs and systemic vulnerabilities. Finally, within the need factors domain, one theme emerged, namely perceived versus evaluated need for PrEP. Additionally, a sub-group analysis showed that Black and Latino TGW may experience additional barriers to PrEP uptake due to intersecting stigma related to race, sexuality, and HIV and scarcity of culturally competent and gender-affirming care. Also, rural MSM may experience additional barriers due to reliance on urban social networks for information and support because of lack of such networks and support tailored to their geographical location. The findings of this review reveal an intricate interplay between predisposing, enabling, and need factors, which aligning with the observations that although PrEP awareness among MSM and TGW has grown, significant gaps in knowledge and misinformation remain, and uptake remains extremely low. These factors extend beyond general awareness levels and hence must be addressed through policy and practice interventions to enhance HIV prevention efforts among this key population in the US.

The research analyzes the healthcare barriers that undocumented Afghan immigrants encounter in Peshawar, Pakistan. Using a mixed-methods design, the study triangulated a descriptive survey (n = 284), nineteen in-depth interviews, and four focus-group discussions to document structural, social, and individual barriers to healthcare and migrants’ strategies for seeking care. Research on migrant health continues to increase, while studies about Afghan migrants, specifically, along with undocumented individuals, remain insufficiently investigated. Results show that immigration-related fear, combined with lack of documentation and insufficient money, serve as the main obstacles that stop Afghan migrants from using official healthcare services. The exclusion of Afghan migrants from healthcare services worsens because of their encounter with social and cultural barriers such as discrimination, alienation, and communication barriers. Migrants adapt their healthcare access by depending on informal social networks, traditional medical practices, and healthcare provider negotiations. Study findings reveal that mental health problems are widespread among study participants, yet these individuals struggle to obtain culturally suitable mental healthcare options. The research reveals how healthcare exclusion operates across systems and also shows how Afghan migrants demonstrate persistence when dealing with life’s difficulties. The study expands migrant health knowledge through its examination of Afghan undocumented immigrants’ circumstances while supporting a human rights framework in healthcare delivery. The study highlighted evidence-based policy suggestions to detach healthcare services from immigration status while growing affordable healthcare access and increasing cultural knowledge of providers. The findings demand systemic reforms that aim to resolve health inequality structures to prevent any person from losing their right to healthcare because of their immigration status.

Social support is a key coping resource; its specific role for refugees from sub-Saharan Africa in high-income settings remains poorly understood. This systematic review synthesises existing evidence on the sources of social support and how these networks aid coping during resettlement. We applied an optimised search strategy to identify studies examining social support among sub-Saharan African refugees across six academic indexing databases. We then undertook a meta-synthesis of the identified studies. This involved the use of meta-thematic analysis of the interpretations and quotes presented in each study, combining thematic analysis through the reviewer's reflexivity. The PRISMA framework guided the review process to ensure methodological rigour. A total of 22 articles were included in the qualitative meta-synthesis. The synthesis revealed four key sources of social support: 1) family, 2) friends, 3) ethnic and community groups, and 4) cultural and religious supports. These support sources played multiple roles, including enhancing community engagement and reciprocity, providing practical and emotional assistance, offering relief from distress and cultivating cultural continuity and adaptation. However, some individuals distanced themselves from their ethnic community and preferred self-driven coping. Access to social support systems remains a crucial coping resource for many sub-Saharan African refugees in high-income settings, alleviating distress and enhancing resilience. Programs that strengthen informal social support networks through community-driven initiatives can enhance the relevance of social support. Future research should investigate the role of social support across various phases of resettlement in relation to psychosocial well-being.