African Refugee Well-being Project

African Refugee Well-being Project

Principal Investigator: Jessica R. Goodkind, Ph.D.
Start and End Dates: 04/01/05– 09/30/08
Source of Funding: UNM School of Medicine Research Allocation Committee, Catholic Charities of New Mexico, St. Joseph Community Health Services and the UNM Department of Pediatrics Research Committee

The African Refugee Well-being Project (ARWP) is a community-based participatory research study with the goal of promoting the mental health and well-being of refugees in New Mexico through an innovative 6-month program that emphasizes mutual learning and the mobilization of community resources. The project has two components: (1) Learning Circles that occur twice weekly. Each meeting is two hours and involves refugee participants and undergraduates. Learning circles begin with cultural exchange, which provides a forum for refugees and undergraduates to learn from each other through discussions aided by interpreters. Next, one-on-one learning occurs as undergraduates and refugee participants work in pairs. Refugee participants choose their areas of learning such as speaking, reading, writing English or learning to complete job applications. Child and adolescent Learning Circles include homework help, tutoring, and other fun learning activities; and (2) Advocacy that is based on the Community Advocacy model, which has been successfully applied to domestic violence survivors and juvenile offenders. The undergraduate students spend an additional two to four hours weekly (outside of the Learning Circles) advocating for and transferring advocacy skills to their refugee family to mobilize community resources based on unmet needs identified by the family.

The learning and advocacy are two inextricable parts of one holistic program. The program is centered around the Learning Circles, which provide participants with opportunities to discuss their advocacy efforts, share ideas and resources, and get assistance from the interpreters. Besides emphasizing what refugees need to learn to survive in the U.S., the program also focuses on mutual learning, whereby refugees both learn from and teach Americans. Through this process, refugees’ culture, experiences, and knowledge are valued and utilized in the promotion of their well-being. By design, the program has the potential to incorporate the strengths and needs of refugees while addressing multiple aspects of the empowerment process: 1) building skills and knowledge for critical thinking and action (e.g., English proficiency, advocacy skills); 2) changing attitudes and beliefs (e.g., value of own culture and knowledge, self-efficacy); 3) validation through collective experiences; and 4) securing real increases in resources and power through action and systems-based advocacy. The study employs a within-group longitudinal design with five quantitative data collection points over a period of 12 months. Refugees also participate in two open-ended qualitative interviews.

ARWP is funded by the UNM School of Medicine Research Allocation Committee, and the UNM Department of Pediatrics Research Committee. ARWP also involves partnership with Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program, St. Joseph Community Health Services, and the UNM Departments of Psychology, Anthropology, Africana Studies, and Research Service Learning Program.

African Refugee Well-being Project Contacts:

For more information about this project, please contact
Principal Investigator: Jessica R. Goodkind, Ph.D., 505-272-4462, JGoodkind@salud.unm.edu.

Research Coordinator: Ann Githinji, M.S., 505-272-4462, AGithinji@salud.unm.edu.