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‘The War Made Me a Better Person’: Syrian Refugees’ Meaning-Making Trajectories in the Aftermath of Collective Trauma

2021Journal article Open access
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dc.contributor.authorMatos, Lisa
dc.contributor.authorCosta, Pedro Alexandre
dc.contributor.authorPark, Crystal
dc.contributor.authorIndart, Monica J.
dc.contributor.authorLeal, Isabel
dc.date.accessioned2021-12-23T19:38:13Z
dc.date.available2021-12-23T19:38:13Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.abstractfirst_pagesettings Open AccessArticle ‘The War Made Me a Better Person’: Syrian Refugees’ Meaning-Making Trajectories in the Aftermath of Collective Trauma by Lisa Matos 1,*ORCID,Pedro A. Costa 1ORCID,Crystal L. Park 2ORCID,Monica J. Indart 3 andIsabel Leal 1 1 William James Center for Research, ISPA—Instituto Universitário, 1149-041 Lisbon, Portugal 2 Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA 3 Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Academic Editors: Alessandra Talamo and Camilla Modesti Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(16), 8481; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168481 Received: 6 July 2021 / Revised: 3 August 2021 / Accepted: 6 August 2021 / Published: 11 August 2021 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Refugees across Communities: Health and Place Attachment in Resettlement) Download PDF Browse Figure Citation Export Abstract The centrality of the collective to Syrian identity and the ability of war to disrupt community ties have led to significant violations of Syrians’ pre-war assumptions about themselves, the world, and their place in the world. Guided by the integrated meaning-making model, this qualitative cross-sectional study assessed Syrian refugees’ meaning trajectories through their reappraisals of the war, attempts to repair community-informed shattered meanings, and those processes’ outputs (i.e., meanings-made) and outcomes (i.e., perceived psychological adjustment). We conducted semi-structured cognitive interviews with 39 Syrian war-exposed adults living in urban communities across Portugal, most of whom were beneficiaries of higher education programs for refugees. Interviews were analyzed through thematic analysis. Results suggest that the war severely disrupted Syrians’ sense of collective self, and that they repeatedly engaged in search for meaning, appraisals of the war, and reappraisals of shattered beliefs, life goals, and sense of purpose, both during wartime and in resettlement. In Portugal, despite persistent negative beliefs about the collective and ongoing and distressing searches for meaning, participants’ lived experiences concomitantly informed positive meaning reappraisals, including progressive restoration of worldviews, new opportunities for self-realization, and newly-found purpose, leading to perceived psychological benefits and growth. These findings suggest that meaning-making is both a trajectory and a dynamic process, informed by place and sociopolitical context. Clinical work to facilitate adaptive meaning-making and meaning-informed psychosocial interventions that help restore refugees’ shattered beliefs about safety, predictability, trust, and belonging, may be helpful directions to promote positive psychological adjustment and improve long-term integration prospects in refugees.pt_PT
dc.description.sponsorshipFundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTpt_PT
dc.description.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionpt_PT
dc.identifier.citationLisa Matos, Pedro A. Costa, Crystal L. Park, Monica J. Indart, & Isabel Leal. (2021). ‘The War Made Me a Better Person’: Syrian Refugees’ Meaning-Making Trajectories in the Aftermath of Collective Trauma. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(8481), 8481. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168481pt_PT
dc.identifier.doi10.3390/ijerph18168481pt_PT
dc.identifier.issn1660-4601
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/8388
dc.language.isoengpt_PT
dc.peerreviewedyespt_PT
dc.publisherMDPI Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institutept_PT
dc.relationPsychological adjustment in resettled refugees: Making and finding meaning in collective trauma
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/pt_PT
dc.subjectCollective violencept_PT
dc.subjectSurvivors of war and traumapt_PT
dc.subjectForced migrationpt_PT
dc.subjectPosttraumatic growthpt_PT
dc.subjectStudent refugeespt_PT
dc.subjectWorld assumptionspt_PT
dc.subjectCore beliefspt_PT
dc.subjectCognitive processingpt_PT
dc.subjectQualitative researchpt_PT
dc.title‘The War Made Me a Better Person’: Syrian Refugees’ Meaning-Making Trajectories in the Aftermath of Collective Traumapt_PT
dc.typejournal article
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.awardTitlePsychological adjustment in resettled refugees: Making and finding meaning in collective trauma
oaire.awardURIinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT//SFRH%2FBD%2F129602%2F2017/PT
oaire.citation.conferencePlaceSwitzerlandpt_PT
oaire.citation.endPage18pt_PT
oaire.citation.issue16pt_PT
oaire.citation.startPage1pt_PT
oaire.citation.titleInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Healthpt_PT
oaire.citation.volume18pt_PT
person.familyNameMatos
person.familyNameCosta
person.familyNamePark
person.familyNameLeal
person.givenNameLisa
person.givenNamePedro Alexandre
person.givenNameCrystal
person.givenNameIsabel
person.identifierhttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aQMaXFYAAAAJ&hl=pt-PT&oi=sra
person.identifier.ciencia-id4219-59F4-4704
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-2724-8554
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-9826-9881
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-6572-7321
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-6714-9123
person.identifier.ridJ-3748-2014
person.identifier.scopus-author-id55681481200
project.funder.identifierhttp://doi.org/10.13039/501100001871
project.funder.nameFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspt_PT
rcaap.typearticlept_PT
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