Knowledge From the Afrikan World, For the World

PMC Articles

Coping Processes of Congolese Refugee Women Newly Resettled in the United States: A Qualitative Exploration

PMCID: PMC12385956

PMID:

Abstract

The present study aimed to provide Congolese refugee women with an opportunity to narrate firsthand experiences coping with resettlement challenges in the United States. Translator-assisted, face-to-face semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with newly resettled Congolese refugee women (n = 20) aged 18 and older who arrived in the United States between 2011 and 2018. All participants were receiving assistance from a resettlement agency, located in the Midwestern US, at the time of the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive coding and thematic analysis. Three overarching themes were developed, indicating that Congolese refugee women adopt three main coping mechanisms to deal with challenges they face after resettling in the United States: (1) use of social support, (2) acceptance of the situation, and (3) spirituality. Resettlement support services, such as those provided by resettlement agencies, mental health providers, and community-based organizations, should integrate both economic and cultural dimensions into their services to address the complex physiological, mental, and emotional impacts of resettlement. These services should prioritize culturally and spiritually sensitive techniques that are linguistically accessible.

Full Text

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defines refugees as individuals who have been forced to flee their country and seek safety beyond its borders because of persecution, war, violence, and/or human rights violations [1]. Although the United States has steadily reduced the number of accepted refugees in recent years, it remains the largest refugee resettlement destination in the world, with approximately three million refugees resettled since the Refugee Act of 1980.
Over the past decade, many refugees have been resettled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo [2]. The Democratic Republic of Congo, the second-largest country in Africa, has been mired in armed conflicts for decades [3,4]. The conflict in its eastern region, dubbed the deadliest since World War II, has resulted in over six million casualties since 1996, as well as millions of refugees being internally displaced [5,6].
Congolese women in conflict zones have endured a widespread occurrence of sexual and gender-based violence [7,8,9]. Throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo, such violence has been systematically used as a weapon of warfare to penalize civilian populations for their perceived support of opposing factions [10,11].
Prior to resettling in the United States, many Congolese refugee women lived in refugee camps with their children to flee persecution [3,4]. In the refugee camps, they often faced challenges such as violence, structural discrimination, food and water shortages, poor health, and sanitation problems [12,13,14]. Furthermore, because of the separation from family members and the disruption of social structures caused by armed conflicts, up to forty percent of Congolese women have experienced sexual violence and trauma as refugees [15,16] through forced prostitution, sexual exploitation in return for access to resources and essential needs, domestic violence, and sexual attacks or coercion, including by camp authorities and workers [9,17].
All the problems that Congolese refugee women face while living in camps are exacerbated by the length of their stay [18]. Refugee camps, in nature, are designed to provide temporary housing while waiting to return to their homes if deemed safe or being resettled to a permanent location. However, most Congolese refugees live in a protracted refugee situation, defined by the UNHCR as “one in which refugees find themselves in a long-lasting and intractable state of limbo. Their lives may not be at risk, but their basic rights and economic, social, and psychological needs remain unfulfilled after years in exile” [18]. Usually, this happens when refugees are displaced for more than five years [19]. Congolese refugee women in our study have reported living in refugee camps for up to 20 years before resettlement.
Twenty percent of Congolese refugee women in the United States are referred to as “women-at-risk”, which is defined as women or girls who experience reduced protection based on their gender and lack effective protection normally provided by male family members, face compounded challenges due to the intersection of gender, limited kin networks, and cultural displacement. These women may be single, accompanied, or unaccompanied by other family members. Upon migrating to the United States, the challenges faced by these at-risk women become exacerbated due to their novelty in the environment, restricted familial connections, and insufficient understanding of how to navigate their new lives within the United States [14,20,21,22]. Previous research noted that integration difficulties may influence how they cope with resettling in the United States [23].
Upon arrival in the United States, refugees receive support, such as food, clothes, housing, language training, and employment guidance from refugee agencies [24]. The United States Refugee Resettlement Program has emphasized assisting newly resettled refugees to obtain a job as soon as possible for them to achieve economic self-sufficiency by [24,25], expecting refugees to obtain a job and/or enroll for social benefits after the initial assistance from refugee agencies expires [26]. However, finding employment is a challenge for Congolese refugee women as most do not speak English, lack previous work experience, and/or formal education [27,28]. Thus, they often end up in low-paying jobs with little opportunity for occupational advancement [23,27,28,29,30]. Furthermore, Congolese refugee women who have children but no one to help take care of them are faced with difficulty keeping their employment. Consequently, many are forced to choose between caregiving and economic survival, reinforcing economic dependency and social isolation [31,32].
Refugees are required to receive a comprehensive health screening overseas to be cleared for admission into the United States and then receive a subsequent domestic medical screening upon arrival [33,34]. Most refugees including Congolese women are coming to new communities after spending years in refugee camps or poverty-stricken and conflict-torn regions [20,35,36], and many are torture or sexual assault survivors and/or are affected by undiagnosed or untreated chronic conditions [33,37]. Due to cultural and ethnic differences between refugees and health care providers, it can be difficult for refugees to clearly explain their experiences and understand a provider’s diagnosis, even with the help of a translator due to stigma, religious beliefs, and the fear of traumatization [38,39,40].
The UNHCR defines the integration of refugees as “a dynamic and multifaceted two-way process which requires efforts by all parties concerned, including a preparedness on the part of refugees to adapt to the host society without having to forego their own cultural identity, and a corresponding readiness on the part of host communities and public institutions to welcome refugees and meet the needs of a diverse population [1]”. Furthermore, the process of integration is complex and gradual, comprising distinct but interrelated legal, economic, social, and cultural dimensions, all of which are important for refugees’ ability to integrate successfully as fully included members of the host society [22]. Cultural integration is the process through which immigrants adopt the essence of another culture while at the same time maintaining their own culture [41].
Refugees often experience stress due to the expectations of cultural integration, language adjustment, and substantial differences in social structures, norms, and values compared to their country of origin [42]. Language barriers are one of the largest barriers that refugees face after resettling in the US, especially since resources for social, economic, and cultural integration are closely related to the level of English literacy [38,43]. Congolese refugee women are particularly affected because they have a lower literacy level in their native language due to the limited access to education in refugee camps for women and girls, thus increasing their vulnerability in resettlement. Oftentimes, their education is hindered by cultural factors such as early/forced marriage and parents’ lack of interest in female education [28,44]).
This descriptive qualitative study used semi-structured individual interviews. We used this methodology as it provided the interviewers with the flexibility to gather in-depth, contextual stories of the participants’ firsthand experiences with coping during resettlement [45,46,47,48]. Additionally, the researchers determined richer data would be gathered through dialog between the participant and researcher rather than through interactions between participants [48].
To ensure accuracy, author CM, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, reviewed all audio recordings to verify the fidelity of the translation. Authors CK and CM transcribed verbatim all audio files and coded each using descriptive coding and thematic analysis [45,46,47,48] using QSR International’s NVivo 12 Pro qualitative data analysis software. Author NE reviewed each theme for accurate representation within the data, and we used intercoder reliability to finalize each theme. The first round of coding used descriptive coding with thematic analysis for the second and subsequent rounds. Descriptive coding assigns labels to data using a word or short phrase to summarize, which was appropriate for this social study [45,46,47,48]. Lastly, we used thematic analysis, which is appropriate for use within the exploration of participants’ psychological world of beliefs, constructs, and emotional experiences. While the translator aimed to convey participants’ responses verbatim and as accurately as possible, certain emotional expressions, words, or cultural concepts may not have direct equivalents in English. This can result in the loss of affective tone or cultural context. To mitigate this, the research team engaged in reflective discussions during data analysis. Additionally, author CM’s review of the original audio recordings allowed for detection of phasing that may not have been fully captured in translation.
A total of 20 women aged between 19 and 68 were interviewed (Table 1). The participants had resettled to the United States between 2011 and 2018, with most (n = 17) arriving in 2016 or later. Most (n = 16) spent some time in one or more refugee camps before traveling to the United States, and they all resettled with at least one other family member. Only two participants were employed at the time of the interview.
We identified three overarching themes when analyzing the coping processes of Congolese refugee women newly resettled in the United States: (1) use of social support, (2) acceptance of the situation, and (3) spirituality. Please refer to Table 2 for a list of themes and corresponding subthemes, definitions, frequency, and supporting quotes.
When using social support, participants reported that family members and refugee resettlement agencies helped them cope with resettlement by providing financial, emotional, and logistical assistance. This finding was consistent with the literature. The United States government collaborates with voluntary organizations, including faith-based groups, to support refugees throughout the resettlement process. These organizations ensure that refugees have shelter, food, and basic services in the first 30–90 days in the U.S. and beyond [39]. They also assist with language learning, access to health care, and finding employment [13]. For many refugees, like refugee Congolese women, these organizations replace social networks they were forced to abandon after leaving their countries [32,49]. In addition to the help they received from these organizations, our findings were consistent with the literature as participants also obtained help from family members who were already established in the U.S. [49].
Additionally, participants reported relying on spirituality to cope with resettlement. These findings are consistent with the literature [13], that refugee Congolese women relied on prayers as a major coping mechanism when faced with challenges both pre- and post-resettlement. These findings are also consistent with literature that has found that refugees, specifically Congolese refugee women, trust in their faith in God to give them strength when faced with adversity [50,51,52,53,54].
The work of Evans and colleagues [20] highlights the plethora of challenges faced by Congolese refugee women resettling in the United States in hopes of providing empirically based knowledge to better support these women. This study adds to a very limited body of literature on the experiences of Congolese refugee women in the United States by focusing exclusively on how Congolese refugee women cope with these challenges. This paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, this study provides Congolese refugee women with an opportunity to narrate firsthand experiences with coping during resettlement in the United States. Secondly, this study focuses solely on Congolese refugee women. We center the Midwestern U.S., thereby capturing a critical yet underexamined geographic and temporal context. Furthermore, we translate participants’ voices into practical recommendations for resettlement agencies and case workers.
Lastly, although the women participating in this study did not explicitly disclose their histories of trauma, it is essential for future scholarly inquiries involving Congolese refugees to consider the social and political context antecedent to their migration to the United States. The literature notes that these women encounter challenges upon their arrival that are only compounded [14,20,21,22]. Considering that these women sometimes migrate with their families, it is also essential to consider the potential benefits of providing support not only to the women but also to their familial unit.

Sections

"[{\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B1-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"1. Introduction\", \"text\": \"The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defines refugees as individuals who have been forced to flee their country and seek safety beyond its borders because of persecution, war, violence, and/or human rights violations [1]. Although the United States has steadily reduced the number of accepted refugees in recent years, it remains the largest refugee resettlement destination in the world, with approximately three million refugees resettled since the Refugee Act of 1980.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B2-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B3-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B4-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B5-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B6-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"1. Introduction\", \"text\": \"Over the past decade, many refugees have been resettled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo [2]. The Democratic Republic of Congo, the second-largest country in Africa, has been mired in armed conflicts for decades [3,4]. The conflict in its eastern region, dubbed the deadliest since World War II, has resulted in over six million casualties since 1996, as well as millions of refugees being internally displaced [5,6].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B7-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B8-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B9-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B10-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B11-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"1. Introduction\", \"text\": \"Congolese women in conflict zones have endured a widespread occurrence of sexual and gender-based violence [7,8,9]. Throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo, such violence has been systematically used as a weapon of warfare to penalize civilian populations for their perceived support of opposing factions [10,11].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B3-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B4-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B12-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B13-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B14-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B15-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B16-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B9-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B17-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"2.1. Congolese Refugee Women\\u2019s Experiences Before Resettlement in the United States\", \"text\": \"Prior to resettling in the United States, many Congolese refugee women lived in refugee camps with their children to flee persecution [3,4]. In the refugee camps, they often faced challenges such as violence, structural discrimination, food and water shortages, poor health, and sanitation problems [12,13,14]. Furthermore, because of the separation from family members and the disruption of social structures caused by armed conflicts, up to forty percent of Congolese women have experienced sexual violence and trauma as refugees [15,16] through forced prostitution, sexual exploitation in return for access to resources and essential needs, domestic violence, and sexual attacks or coercion, including by camp authorities and workers [9,17].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B18-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B18-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B19-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"2.1. Congolese Refugee Women\\u2019s Experiences Before Resettlement in the United States\", \"text\": \"All the problems that Congolese refugee women face while living in camps are exacerbated by the length of their stay [18]. Refugee camps, in nature, are designed to provide temporary housing while waiting to return to their homes if deemed safe or being resettled to a permanent location. However, most Congolese refugees live in a protracted refugee situation, defined by the UNHCR as \\u201cone in which refugees find themselves in a long-lasting and intractable state of limbo. Their lives may not be at risk, but their basic rights and economic, social, and psychological needs remain unfulfilled after years in exile\\u201d [18]. Usually, this happens when refugees are displaced for more than five years [19]. Congolese refugee women in our study have reported living in refugee camps for up to 20 years before resettlement.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B14-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B20-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B21-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B22-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B23-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"2.2. Mental Health Risks and Sequelae of Trauma\", \"text\": \"Twenty percent of Congolese refugee women in the United States are referred to as \\u201cwomen-at-risk\\u201d, which is defined as women or girls who experience reduced protection based on their gender and lack effective protection normally provided by male family members, face compounded challenges due to the intersection of gender, limited kin networks, and cultural displacement. These women may be single, accompanied, or unaccompanied by other family members. Upon migrating to the United States, the challenges faced by these at-risk women become exacerbated due to their novelty in the environment, restricted familial connections, and insufficient understanding of how to navigate their new lives within the United States [14,20,21,22]. Previous research noted that integration difficulties may influence how they cope with resettling in the United States [23].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B24-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B24-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B25-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B26-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B27-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B28-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B23-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B27-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B28-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B29-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B30-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B31-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B32-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"2.3. Economic Integration\", \"text\": \"Upon arrival in the United States, refugees receive support, such as food, clothes, housing, language training, and employment guidance from refugee agencies [24]. The United States Refugee Resettlement Program has emphasized assisting newly resettled refugees to obtain a job as soon as possible for them to achieve economic self-sufficiency by [24,25], expecting refugees to obtain a job and/or enroll for social benefits after the initial assistance from refugee agencies expires [26]. However, finding employment is a challenge for Congolese refugee women as most do not speak English, lack previous work experience, and/or formal education [27,28]. Thus, they often end up in low-paying jobs with little opportunity for occupational advancement [23,27,28,29,30]. Furthermore, Congolese refugee women who have children but no one to help take care of them are faced with difficulty keeping their employment. Consequently, many are forced to choose between caregiving and economic survival, reinforcing economic dependency and social isolation [31,32].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B33-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B34-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B20-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B35-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B36-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B33-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B37-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B38-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B39-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B40-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"2.4. Mental Health and Coping with Trauma, Including Barriers to Health Care\", \"text\": \"Refugees are required to receive a comprehensive health screening overseas to be cleared for admission into the United States and then receive a subsequent domestic medical screening upon arrival [33,34]. Most refugees including Congolese women are coming to new communities after spending years in refugee camps or poverty-stricken and conflict-torn regions [20,35,36], and many are torture or sexual assault survivors and/or are affected by undiagnosed or untreated chronic conditions [33,37]. Due to cultural and ethnic differences between refugees and health care providers, it can be difficult for refugees to clearly explain their experiences and understand a provider\\u2019s diagnosis, even with the help of a translator due to stigma, religious beliefs, and the fear of traumatization [38,39,40].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B1-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B22-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B41-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"2.5. Cultural and Linguistic Integration\", \"text\": \"The UNHCR defines the integration of refugees as \\u201ca dynamic and multifaceted two-way process which requires efforts by all parties concerned, including a preparedness on the part of refugees to adapt to the host society without having to forego their own cultural identity, and a corresponding readiness on the part of host communities and public institutions to welcome refugees and meet the needs of a diverse population [1]\\u201d. Furthermore, the process of integration is complex and gradual, comprising distinct but interrelated legal, economic, social, and cultural dimensions, all of which are important for refugees\\u2019 ability to integrate successfully as fully included members of the host society [22]. Cultural integration is the process through which immigrants adopt the essence of another culture while at the same time maintaining their own culture [41].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B42-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B38-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B43-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B28-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B44-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"2.5. Cultural and Linguistic Integration\", \"text\": \"Refugees often experience stress due to the expectations of cultural integration, language adjustment, and substantial differences in social structures, norms, and values compared to their country of origin [42]. Language barriers are one of the largest barriers that refugees face after resettling in the US, especially since resources for social, economic, and cultural integration are closely related to the level of English literacy [38,43]. Congolese refugee women are particularly affected because they have a lower literacy level in their native language due to the limited access to education in refugee camps for women and girls, thus increasing their vulnerability in resettlement. Oftentimes, their education is hindered by cultural factors such as early/forced marriage and parents\\u2019 lack of interest in female education [28,44]).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B45-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B46-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B47-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B48-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B48-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"3.1. Study Design\", \"text\": \"This descriptive qualitative study used semi-structured individual interviews. We used this methodology as it provided the interviewers with the flexibility to gather in-depth, contextual stories of the participants\\u2019 firsthand experiences with coping during resettlement [45,46,47,48]. Additionally, the researchers determined richer data would be gathered through dialog between the participant and researcher rather than through interactions between participants [48].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B45-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B46-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B47-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B48-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B45-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B46-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B47-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B48-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"3.6. Data Analysis\", \"text\": \"To ensure accuracy, author CM, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, reviewed all audio recordings to verify the fidelity of the translation. Authors CK and CM transcribed verbatim all audio files and coded each using descriptive coding and thematic analysis [45,46,47,48] using QSR International\\u2019s NVivo 12 Pro qualitative data analysis software. Author NE reviewed each theme for accurate representation within the data, and we used intercoder reliability to finalize each theme. The first round of coding used descriptive coding with thematic analysis for the second and subsequent rounds. Descriptive coding assigns labels to data using a word or short phrase to summarize, which was appropriate for this social study [45,46,47,48]. Lastly, we used thematic analysis, which is appropriate for use within the exploration of participants\\u2019 psychological world of beliefs, constructs, and emotional experiences. While the translator aimed to convey participants\\u2019 responses verbatim and as accurately as possible, certain emotional expressions, words, or cultural concepts may not have direct equivalents in English. This can result in the loss of affective tone or cultural context. To mitigate this, the research team engaged in reflective discussions during data analysis. Additionally, author CM\\u2019s review of the original audio recordings allowed for detection of phasing that may not have been fully captured in translation.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"ijerph-22-01208-t001\"], \"section\": \"4.1. Characteristics of Participants\", \"text\": \"A total of 20 women aged between 19 and 68 were interviewed (Table 1). The participants had resettled to the United States between 2011 and 2018, with most (n = 17) arriving in 2016 or later. Most (n = 16) spent some time in one or more refugee camps before traveling to the United States, and they all resettled with at least one other family member. Only two participants were employed at the time of the interview.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"ijerph-22-01208-t002\"], \"section\": \"4.2. Qualitative Results\", \"text\": \"We identified three overarching themes when analyzing the coping processes of Congolese refugee women newly resettled in the United States: (1) use of social support, (2) acceptance of the situation, and (3) spirituality. Please refer to Table 2 for a list of themes and corresponding subthemes, definitions, frequency, and supporting quotes.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B39-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B13-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B32-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B49-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B49-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"5. Discussion\", \"text\": \"When using social support, participants reported that family members and refugee resettlement agencies helped them cope with resettlement by providing financial, emotional, and logistical assistance. This finding was consistent with the literature. The United States government collaborates with voluntary organizations, including faith-based groups, to support refugees throughout the resettlement process. These organizations ensure that refugees have shelter, food, and basic services in the first 30\\u201390 days in the U.S. and beyond [39]. They also assist with language learning, access to health care, and finding employment [13]. For many refugees, like refugee Congolese women, these organizations replace social networks they were forced to abandon after leaving their countries [32,49]. In addition to the help they received from these organizations, our findings were consistent with the literature as participants also obtained help from family members who were already established in the U.S. [49].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B13-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B50-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B51-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B52-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B53-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B54-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"5. Discussion\", \"text\": \"Additionally, participants reported relying on spirituality to cope with resettlement. These findings are consistent with the literature [13], that refugee Congolese women relied on prayers as a major coping mechanism when faced with challenges both pre- and post-resettlement. These findings are also consistent with literature that has found that refugees, specifically Congolese refugee women, trust in their faith in God to give them strength when faced with adversity [50,51,52,53,54].\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B20-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"5.1. Contributions to the Literature\", \"text\": \"The work of Evans and colleagues [20] highlights the plethora of challenges faced by Congolese refugee women resettling in the United States in hopes of providing empirically based knowledge to better support these women. This study adds to a very limited body of literature on the experiences of Congolese refugee women in the United States by focusing exclusively on how Congolese refugee women cope with these challenges. This paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, this study provides Congolese refugee women with an opportunity to narrate firsthand experiences with coping during resettlement in the United States. Secondly, this study focuses solely on Congolese refugee women. We center the Midwestern U.S., thereby capturing a critical yet underexamined geographic and temporal context. Furthermore, we translate participants\\u2019 voices into practical recommendations for resettlement agencies and case workers.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC12385956\", \"pmid\": \"\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B14-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B20-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B21-ijerph-22-01208\", \"B22-ijerph-22-01208\"], \"section\": \"5.2. Practice Implications\", \"text\": \"Lastly, although the women participating in this study did not explicitly disclose their histories of trauma, it is essential for future scholarly inquiries involving Congolese refugees to consider the social and political context antecedent to their migration to the United States. The literature notes that these women encounter challenges upon their arrival that are only compounded [14,20,21,22]. Considering that these women sometimes migrate with their families, it is also essential to consider the potential benefits of providing support not only to the women but also to their familial unit.\"}]"

Metadata

"{}"