The Effects of Duration in Refugee Camp on the Coping Skills and Internal Resilience of African Refugee Children

by Brandon Baca, B.S.

Background

Refugees• Liberia, DRC, and Burundi

Warehousing• 8.5 million = 10+ years

Coping • 4 factor model (Ayers et al., 1996)

– active coping, distraction, avoidance, and support seeking strategies

Internal Resiliency• Six subscales (Hanson and Kim, 2007)

– cooperation & communication, self-efficacy, empathy, problem-solving, self-awareness, and goals & aspirations.

Research Questions/Methods

What are the psychological effects of refugee camps and warehousing on refugee children?

Specifically:• On Coping Skills• On Internal Resiliency

Methods:• 20 girls and 12 boys from ARWP• Ages 7-17 (mean = 11.69, SD = 3.02)• Two tailed pearson correlation

Results

Internal Resilience:• Significant negative correlation between time in camps and

overall internal resilience (r = - .61, p<.01)• And 5 of the 6 subscales: self-efficacy, empathy, problem-

solving, self-awareness, goals and aspirations.• Cooperation & communication subscale was not significant.

However, the reliability of this scale was low ( = .197)

Coping:• Significant negative correlation between time in camps and

active coping (r = - .48, p < .01) • Other subscales (distraction, avoidance and support seeking

strategies) were not significantly related• However, reliability was also low for these subscales

Discussion

Limitations:• Factors prior to displacement were not controlled • Specific camp experiences were not included • Unreliable coping scales• No standardized methods of measuring coping and resilience

Implications:• Current refugee camp system is inadequate • UNHCR policies should be enforced to eliminate warehousing• Need of standardized methods of measuring coping and resilience.• U.S. health workers should be sensitive to the unique needs of

child refugees