Counseling Asian Refugees

An article summary & infographic

By Alisha Bachman

There is a call for action and research when it comes to best practices for refugees from Asia. For Asian refugees the stressors of displacement included high levels of poverty, unemployment, family conflict, violence, discrimination, separation from family members, uncertainty about asylum or refugee status, detention in asylum seekers centers, and loss of social support network systems. Other barriers during the displacement process include changing roles in the family and familial conflict, bureaucracy and complex immigration and asylum policies, language barriers, and acculturation. What McGarity-Palmer, Saw, and Keys were curious about, was what the current literature already says about interventions and effective approaches when delivering to asian refugee populations in order to enhance their mental health. They reviewed over 43 studies and 36 reports that were published after the Resettlement Act of 1980. The themes that they wanted to discover were (a) how frequently Asian refugee communities participate and are engaged in psychosocial interventions, (b) the ways in which Asian refugee communities participate and are engaged, (c) the impact of community engagement in these psychosocial interventions, and (d) the barriers for Asian refugee communities participating in the intervention process. What they discovered was that eighteen studies (42%) noted how community member engagement in the intervention and research positively impacted both study and the community members, this is due to a few factors but an important one is how the community can offer the ability of the intervention in the participants’ language. Only six studies (14%) noted challenges to having community members participate in the intervention and research processes. This is due to a few factors but generally, it was related to trying to find and use spaces to hold intervention that was accessible to the community (transportation, etc). Twelve studies (28%) reported no improvement in participants’ psychosocial outcomes, whereas 31 studies (72%) reported participant improvement in all or at least some psychosocial outcomes when community engagement was involved. Eighteen studies (42%) described recommendations and lessons learned from conducting community-engaged intervention research with Asian refugee communities. Overall, when community engagement is part of treatment, services, research, and interventions; it creates positive impacts included in language-matched interventions, which results in a wider distribution of psychosocial care. 

McGarity-Palmer, R., Saw, A., & Keys, C. B. (2023). Community engagement in psychosocial interventions with refugees from Asia: A systematic review. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 14(2), 117–132. https://doi-org.antioch.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/aap0000285