Over 95% of the refugees from Syria who have resettled in the United States are Muslim. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the role of the Islamic faith in contributing to resiliency among recently resettled refugees from Syria. Ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Syrian adults who had arrived in the United States between 3 months and 2 years prior to the study. Findings emphasized the primary role of the Islamic faith in the lives of participants. For participants in this study, identifying as Muslim was an essential part of their identity and served as a source of comfort, strength, pride, and humility. Parents in the study expressed fears that their children would lose their connection to their culture and would grow up to devalue the Islamic faith and traditional religious practices due to their exposure to American values which they viewed less strict regarding dress, alcohol consumption, and faith practices. Understanding the important role that the Islamic faith can have in providing a source of comfort, strength, and empowerment for Syrian refugees, and working to build infrastructure to support and sustain these faith traditions is an essential component of refugee resettlement in the United States.

Mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are disproportionately experienced by refugees who have often witnessed traumatic events in the process of fleeing their homelands. For many refugees these problems persist even after they have escaped the threat of persecution and physical harm through resettlement in a host country. The present study examined the effect of a group-based financial education program for Bhutanese refugee women who had been recently resettled in the United States. Participants were divided into three groups, two that were provided a version of the intervention and one that served as a control. Results from pre/post and follow-up assessments indicate that participants in both intervention groups experienced significantly less depression, anxiety, somatization, and PTSD symptoms at posttest and that these improvements in mental health status persisted at 3-month follow-up. Control participants' mental health symptoms became more severe over time. These results suggest that a structured group-based educational intervention can have a positive impact on the mental health of recently resettled refugees. Further, these results provide alarming evidence that without intervention, recently resettled refugees may actually experience declines in mental health status over time in their host country.

Mental health concerns are a major factor in the overall wellness and stability of resettled refugees. While the need for mental health treatment for this population has been well-documented, less is known about the effectiveness of various treatment modalities on mental health outcomes. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to assess the impact of three different mental health interventions among refugees from Burundi, Burma, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Bhutan. The effects of eight weeks of randomly assigned office-based counseling (treatment as usual [TAU]), home-based counseling (HBC), and a community-based psycho-educational group (CPG) on posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, somatization, and social support were evaluated using a pre–post design. Results indicate merit in each of the treatment modalities, with varying efficacy across intervention according to mental health symptoms. In general, however, participants in HBC and CPG demonstrated greater overall improvement in mental health outcomes than participants receiving TAU.

This article describes research to develop a breast health intervention for women in Hawaiian churches. Native Hawaiian women are disproportionately burdened by breast disease and tend to be diagnosed at advanced stages when treatment options are more limited. Research suggests that cultural conflict may be a factor in Hawaiian women's underutilization of conventional health services. Phenomenological approaches guided data collection and analysis to explore the influence of religiosity and ethnocultural tradition in coping with breast cancer. The overarching theme was kakou (we or us), which emphasized ways of coping oriented to the family collective and focused on family well‐being. Findings offer a portal for understanding the lived experience of survivors and families in Hawaiian churches. Considerations are suggested for those practitioners assisting clients from collectivist‐oriented cultures.

Purpose.: To explore young, multi-ethnic adolescents' attitudes and influences related to cigarette smoking for the purpose of developing and producing a youth-led, tobacco-prevention drama. Design.: Focus groups and demographic surveys. Setting.: Island of Oahu, Hawaii. Participants.: Fifty-four multi-ethnic youth, ranging in age from 10 to 14 years, participated. The study was promoted in schools with a large representation of Hawaiian, Filipino, and Pacific Islander students. Methods.: Each of five focus groups was audio-recorded, and an observer recorded extensive notes throughout the sessions. Content analysis consisted of coding focus group notes for recurrent themes and using the audio recording as confirmation. Results.: Just more than one quarter (n = 15) of the youth had tried smoking, and two-thirds (n = 35) currently lived with someone who smoked. Participants expressed the feeling of being surrounded by smoking influences at home, in their communities, and at school. Youth were negatively affected by family members' tobacco use, and they desired skills that could enable them to help family members stop using tobacco. Conclusion.: Family influences may play an important role in youth attitudes toward tobacco use, especially given the cultural significance of extended family and of filial piety that are reflected in many traditional, Asian and Pacific Islander families. Interventions targeting youth in Asian and Pacific Islander communities should incorporate key cultural references to the extended family and to a respect for elders to establish relevance in the life experiences of young people in these population groups.

Accurate and timely dissemination of critical information while facilitating reciprocal communication channels is critical during times of crisis. The Graduate Student Leader (GSL) program is a peer-based leadership and mentoring intervention that proved helpful in addressing the needs of a large and diverse student body of approximately 1,300 graduate social work students during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The GSL program is designed to facilitate virtual communication using e-mail, instant messaging, and virtual conferencing and, as such, exists as a supportive mechanism for both online students and students who typically attend classes on campus. This qualitative study used focus groups of current students (n=20), individual interviews with current GSLs (n=9), and analysis of instant messaging responses (among faculty, staff, and GSLs) to document the effect of the GSL program during the first 4 months of the pandemic. Four major themes resulted from the analysis of the combined data: advocacy and information sharing, program impact, program need, and comradery. It is evident that the GSL program represented an important mechanism through which students could easily connect with one other, share resources and support, and facilitate communication between students and university administration. Implications of these findings, including implementation recommendations for other graduate social work programs, are included.