Adolescent refugees’ traumatic experiences and its influence on the vision of the present life circumstances

Abstract: The development of psychological health interventions for adolescent refugees is complicated by the cultural and linguistic diversity of individuals. Additionally, both post traumatic experiences with ongoing development during the process of acculturation make a problem of psychological assessment even more complex. Those aspects are the effects of violence and traumatic loss as well as migration hardships and settlement stresses. When assessing this population group for possible treatment and formulating appropriate interventions for promoting psychological health and well-being generally, a comprehensive understanding of the perception of the past experience by adolescent refugees themselves has to be taken into account. Hence, a phenomenological approach is seen as the most appropriate one for studying of identified problem. Six adolescent refugees’ interviews were analyzed qualitatively with MCA-Minerva software. Regardless the culture being with the family during the war was the only positively marked memory. Those participants, who express less negative, but instead neutral vision of the past experience, performed positive-wishes and expectation for the future to higher degree. There are particular activities that provide adolescents with the sense of life purpose, hence, the availability of these social activities provides general satisfaction of the life’ circumstances. The paper discusses stated above findings and some others.