Views of Adolescent Bhutanese Refugees on Home Learning During School Shutdown Across the Period of COVID-19

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is now a global crisis, resulting in the intermittent closure of many schools, worldwide. The school closures are believed to have affected adolescents’ education, particularly for vulnerable adolescents including those from a refugee-background. The study explores the home learning experiences of adolescent Bhutanese refugees in Tasmania, Australia and draws on social capital theory to interpret findings. Interviews with adolescent Bhutanese refugees revealed four overarching themes: disengagement from learning, the experience of isolation, the complexity of family relationships and motivation through relationships. This article makes an important practical and theoretical contribution to home learning through challenging Putnam’s binary distinction between bonding and bridging and suggesting alternative conceptualisations based on the role of bonding in the creation of bridging social capital. These findings have potential implications for the development of mitigation measures to support refugee-background students under extraordinary circumstances.

Validation of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25/Nepali Version among Bhutanese Refugees in the United States

BackgroundBhutanese refugees’ mental problems are relatively high. The Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) has been used widely in examining refugees’ mental health, but its psychometric properties in Nepali version is unknown.PurposeTo examine psychometric properties of the HSCL-25/Nepali version.MethodsBhutanese refugees (n = 209) responded to demographic questionnaire, the HSCL-25/Nepali, and the Refugee Health Survey-15. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), convergent validity, and internal consistency were performed. Results: After three rounds of EFA, item 14 was deleted resulting in HSCL-24/Nepali with good construct validity and excellent internal consistency (α = .94).ConclusionsThe HSCL-24/Nepali version is reliable and valid and can be used to culturally, appropriately assess psychological distress of Bhutanese refugees as it omits item 14 that captures individual’s sexual interest.

Psychological distress among Bhutanese refugees living in the northeast region of the United States

The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of psychological distress among adult Bhutanese refugees living in the United States. We recruited 376 adult Bhutanese refugees living in the northeast US region, the majority of whom were employed, married men in their 40 s who were US citizens. Using Bayesian Negative Binomial Regression modelling, we examined the impact of sociodemographic measures, health status and refugee integration measures on psychological distress outcomes. The most common predictors of depression, stress and anxiety were social connection deficits and self-reported health conditions. Other associated factors included: health access deficits, number of years living in the US, paid employment, citizenship and living in more than one US city. The findings of our study revealed that mental health outcomes in this subset of the population of Bhutanese refugees are impacted by a variety of social and health related factors. Public policy makers and practitioners need to recognize the complex issues affecting mental health of Bhutanese refugees. Advocacy for expanded culturally congruent policies and evidence based mental health services are recommended. Future research needs to examine culturally relevant concepts and measures related to mental health and integration in this population.