FAMREUN-prosjektet skal forske på psykososial helse og integrering av enslige mindreårige flyktninger (URM) som har blitt gjenforent med sine familier i Norge, og på hjelpeapparatet som jobber med dem.
Siden 2015 har nærmere 2000 URM fått familiegjenforening i Norge. Familiegjenforening forstås som et viktig aspekt ved psykososial helse for tidligere flyktninger. Å bli gjenforent med sine familiemedlemmer i et trygt og sikkert miljø, bedrer deres velferd, og styrker integrering og deltakelse i samfunnet.
Målet med prosjektet er å få kunnskap om disse ungdommenes erfaringer med familiegjenforening, og om helse- og integreringstjenestens erfaringer med å jobbe med URM som har vært familiegjenforent, Kunnskapen skal brukes til å optimalisere kvalitet, kompetanse, effektivitet og samarbeid mellom disse tjenestene.
The project investigates how family reunification affects the psychosocial health and integration of unaccompanied refugee minors (URM), and the role of support healthcare and integration services in this process. The project’s starting point is the proven links between health and integration, and health and family relations. Research show that refugees are more vulnerable for drivers of ill health than the native-born population across the health continuum, while experiencing more barriers to accessing health services. Tackling health vulnerabilities and providing equal access to health care is therefore essential both for public health and to ensure inclusive societies. URM is a particularly vulnerable group with regards to psychosocial health, and family reunification is seen as potentially improving their wellbeing but also posing challenges. By producing new and actionable knowledge about 1) URM’s experiences related to family reunification, and 2) health and integration services’ experiences of working with URM who have been family-reunited, the project will contribute to make services better adapted to their needs, thereby improving health and integration outcomes for this group, in the interests of a more inclusive society. FAMREUN takes an interdisciplinary approach, encompassing public health, social anthropology, social work, education, gender and migration studies. It adopts qualitative, user-centred research and practice involving close collaboration with URM, their families and local healthcare and integration services as well as with nationally and internationally renowned researchers in the health and integration fields. By anchoring its research in the salutogenetic model of health the project will adopt a holistic approach which will facilitate the investigation of the complex interplay between individual, relational and social factors, and relevant public service provision.