Exploring highly educated refugees' subjective theories of their psychosocial experiences

This study aimed to elicit the meanings refugees attach to their post-migration psychosocial experiences and to explore whether these are aligned with experts' conceptualisations of refugees' problems. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 15 highly-educated refugees in the UK to elicit their subjective theories regarding experienced stressors, resources activated, and psychological health. The participants used the notions of stress, coping, and psychological health in all their richness and did not create necessarily negative meanings. In contrast to stereotypes often implied in experts' theories, the participants did not emerge as ‟vulnerable” and ‟passive”. In their subjective theories they talked about problems but also how they tackled these. At the same time the resources and psychological outcomes they discussed varied. The findings of the study suggest that experts should consider refugees' subjective theories when planning psychosocial interventions.