Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Impacts Of A Social Support Intervention For Somali And Sudanese Refugees In Canada, Miriam Stewart, Laura Simich, Morton Beiser, Knox Makumbe, Edward Makwarimba, Edward Shizha

Edward Shizha

The aim of this paper is to design and pilot test a culturally tailored intervention that meets the support needs and preferences of two refugee groups. The study employed a multi-method participatory research design and was conducted in two urban centres in western and central Canada. Support was delivered to Sudanese and Somali refugees (n = 58), by trained peer and professional helpers, in face-to-face groups matched by gender and ethnicity and in telephone dyads. Participants completed three quantitative measures before (pre-test) and following (post-test) the intervention. Group interviews with refugee participants and individual interviews with peer and professional helpers …