How American Attitudes about Race, Ethnicity, and Gender affect the Health and Wellbeing of Black-African Refugee Men in the United States

More than half of all refugees currently resettled in the United States are racial-ethnic-minority men. Yetrefugee health scholarship has not fully explored racial ethnic minority refugee men's encounters with resettlement environment norms about race, ethnicity and gender. This paper describes an intersectional-informed qualitative study of the daily stressors experienced by Black-African refugee men in the United States to explain how such experiences impact their health and wellbeing. These men’s life narratives illumi-nate how stigma and discrimination associated with race, ethnicity, gender affect their health and wellbeing during resettlement. These findings offer evidence that the realities of ethnic minority refugee men in the United States, while unique, can contribute to broader discourses about minority men’s health inequities.

Trauma Experiences of African Men from a Refugee Background in Western Australia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background As people from the African continent continue to settle in Australia, exposure of men from African refugee backgrounds to potentially traumatic events not only impact negatively on their settlement but have also been linked to increased mental health issues and family and domestic violence. This study aims to describe the prevalence and dominant forms of potentially traumatic experiences of African men from a refuge background in Western Australia. Methods Survey data from 421 African men from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Republic of Congo–Brazzaville, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sudan and South Sudan, Burundi and Somalia were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results The study showed that 81% of the participants experienced at least one potentially traumatic event either in their home country or in a refugee country. However, the prevalence of potentially traumatic events in their home country ranged from 45% (Somalia) to 95% (Democratic Republic of Congo) while in refuge countries, the potentially traumatic experience prevalence ranged from 17% (Somalia) to 51% (Sudan and South Sudan). The majority of the participants (64%) experienced "War at close quarter" in their home country. In comparison, the dominant potentially traumatic experience in refuge countries was "Forced Separation" (28%). The study showed that 53% of the participants who experienced one or more potentially traumatic events in their home country also experienced one or more potentially traumatic events in the refugee country. Conclusions This study will provide baseline data on the prevalence and dominant forms of potentially traumatic events of African refugee men now resident in WA. The impact of potentially traumatic events should be addressed in counselling, and other interventions developed and delivered by both government and non-government agencies.