Understanding the Role of Collective Trauma on Afghan Refugee Mental Health: A Transformative Mixed Methods Study

Afghan refugees in the United States experience high rates of individual trauma, resulting in poor mental health outcomes. Decades of war and displacement have also produced extensive collective trauma, a construct that is rarely investigated in forced migration literature. This study aimed to increase understanding of the concept of collective trauma among Afghan refugees and examine its association with mental health outcomes. A transformative explanatory mixed-method design was used, incorporating community-based participatory research methods. Quantitative analysis included regression models to test the role of collective trauma as both an independent variable and a moderating variable between individual trauma and mental health outcomes. Qualitative data were collected to contextualize and deepen understanding of the quantitative findings. Regression analyses demonstrated that collective trauma was a significant predictor of mental health outcomes and significantly moderated the relationship between individual trauma and mental health. Specifically, the effect of individual trauma on mental health worsened at higher levels of collective trauma. Qualitative findings supported these results, with participants describing collective trauma experiences such as the loss of culture, land, and language, as well as concerns over the integration of their children. These findings highlight the significant impact of collective trauma on Afghan refugees' mental health and underscore the need to consider collective trauma as an important factor in mental health research and interventions for forced migrant populations. Future research should further explore this construct to enhance understanding of collective trauma across diverse forced migrant groups.