Bridging, building, and bonding: Somali mothers' experiences in a family-focused community program

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Vanja Pejic1, Robyn S Hess2, Katlyn F Frey

  • 1Department of Psychiatry, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
|December 22, 2022
PubMed

Developing community programming that integrates cultural context, family systems, and social connection is key to promoting well-being and acculturation among refugee families. This study explored the resettlement experiences of Somali refugee mothers as they sought to navigate their changing personal identities, childrearing approaches, and integration into a new community. The Somali Parent Program (SPP) represents a culturally specific, family-focused, 8-week program designed to address participants' questions and challenges. A phenomenological approach was used to understand how Somali mothers in the program made meaning of their experiences before, during, and after program completion. Emergent themes focused on how being a part of the program provided sources of belonging and support, highlighted the value of parent-child relationships, and emphasized the importance of visibility and voice. Culturally specific family-focused programs such as SPP may provide an effective method for addressing acculturation and integration among refugee families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

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