The Resettlement of Central American Men in Canada: From Emotional Distress to Successful Integration

Kevin Pottie; Judith Belle Brown; Samuel Dunn

doi:10.25071/1920-7336.21335

The Resettlement of Central American Men in Canada: From Emotional Distress to Successful Integration

Authors

Kevin Pottie Institute of Population Health and Immigrant Health and Visiting Friends and Relatives Program and University of Ottawa
Judith Belle Brown University of Western Ontario
Samuel Dunn Banger Productions

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.21335

Keywords:

Canada, Central American migrants, refugee men, male migrants, gender, mental health, stress, responsibility, resettlement

Abstract

Stress associated with immigration, particularly forced migration, may aggravate men’s emotional distress and reluctance to seek help. This qualitative study of Central American immigrant and refugee men explored the process of coping with distress during resettlement. “Losing the way,” a common theme of resettlement, was frequently a solitary struggle accompanied by anxiety, depression, and/or abusive behaviours. “Finding the way,” grieving socio-cultural losses and seeking help, became possible when participants were able to accept responsibility for their behaviour. The role of “belonging” (support groups, jobs, family obligations) was a key motivating factor in the process of accepting responsibility and personal change.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Downloads

(limited-accessibility).PDF

Published

2005-09-01

How to Cite

Pottie, K., Brown, J. B., & Dunn, S. (2005). The Resettlement of Central American Men in Canada: From Emotional Distress to Successful Integration. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 22(2), 101–111. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.21335

Download Citation

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 2 (2005): Refugees and Stateless Persons in Limbo

Section

Feature Articles

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Refuge authors retain the copyright over their work, and license it to the general public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows for non-commercial use, reproduction and adaption of the material in any medium or format, with proper attribution. For general information on Creative Commons licences, visit the Creative Commons site. For the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, review the human readable summary.