Building on research with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people (UASC) from a resilience perspective, this study investigates the protective mechanisms that support UASC in adapting to life in the UK. ‘Positive adaptation’ is framed as: emotional wellbeing, educational success and social connectedness. Two strands of research are carried out: 1) focus groups that investigate views of key adults (foster carers and social care staff) working with UASC, in order to understand how they frame UASC’s positive adaptation; the protective mechanisms they have experienced to promote emotional wellbeing; and approaches they have found successful in addressing mental health difficulties; and 2) individual interviews, using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analytical approach, with five UASC who were considered resilient. Interviews investigated how individual UASC felt that they had coped with their experiences. I relate findings to resilience frameworks that recognise a complex matrix of risk factors, vulnerability and protective mechanisms operating for each individual at the individual, the family and community/societal level. Findings provide a strong argument for a psycho-social approach to mental health with UASC, establishing stability, whilst building on personal coping strategies, personal strengths and sense of autonomy and competence. Implications for services and interventions are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:607218 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Farmbrough, Joanna |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/5057/ |
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