TY - JOUR
T1 - Connecting in resettlement
T2 - An examination of social support among Congolese women in the United States
AU - Wachter, Karin
AU - Gulbas, Lauren E.
AU - Snyder, Susanna
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Two dissertation research fellowships awarded to the first author supported this research, from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health (Harry E. and Bernice M. Moore Fellowship for Doctoral Research) and the Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault, both located at The University of Texas at Austin.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - This article examines how refugees rebuild social support in resettlement from the perspectives of women who fled the Democratic Republic of Congo and ultimately resettled in the U.S. The qualitative study involved in-depth individual interviews in 2016 with 27 adult women who lived in a mid-size U.S. town. The findings shed light on strategies women engaged to rebuild social support in a resettlement context. Using an inductive analytical approach, researchers identified five inter-related themes: (1) reconfiguring family support; (2) engaging multiple sources for practical support; (3) accessing mentorship; (4) attending places of worship; and (5) sustaining a relationship with God. Additionally, the analysis revealed crosscutting types and sources of social support women sought and valued in resettlement. Types of social support included emotional, informational, mentorship, practical, relational, and spiritual. Sources of social support included family and loved ones spanning local, national, and transnational geographies, God, neighbors, places of worship, and the resettlement agency. These findings contribute to developing context-specific conceptualizations of social support, with implications for research and practice.
AB - This article examines how refugees rebuild social support in resettlement from the perspectives of women who fled the Democratic Republic of Congo and ultimately resettled in the U.S. The qualitative study involved in-depth individual interviews in 2016 with 27 adult women who lived in a mid-size U.S. town. The findings shed light on strategies women engaged to rebuild social support in a resettlement context. Using an inductive analytical approach, researchers identified five inter-related themes: (1) reconfiguring family support; (2) engaging multiple sources for practical support; (3) accessing mentorship; (4) attending places of worship; and (5) sustaining a relationship with God. Additionally, the analysis revealed crosscutting types and sources of social support women sought and valued in resettlement. Types of social support included emotional, informational, mentorship, practical, relational, and spiritual. Sources of social support included family and loved ones spanning local, national, and transnational geographies, God, neighbors, places of worship, and the resettlement agency. These findings contribute to developing context-specific conceptualizations of social support, with implications for research and practice.
KW - immigration
KW - psychosocial
KW - women
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U2 - 10.1177/14733250211008495
DO - 10.1177/14733250211008495
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85104102900
SN - 1473-3250
VL - 21
SP - 349
EP - 366
JO - Qualitative Social Work
JF - Qualitative Social Work
IS - 2
ER -