Table 2 Thematic Map
From: A qualitative study on resilience in adult refugees in Germany
Themes’ Function within Resilience | Themes | Theme Contents |
|---|---|---|
Manifestations of process of, capacity for, and outcome of successful adaptation | Cognitive coping strategies | • Acceptance • Focus on the present or future • Active forgetting • Focus on daily tasks • Belief in an internal locus of control • Favorable comparisons between life in Germany and life in the country of origin • Comparisons to peers • Growth through adversity mindset |
Behavioral coping strategies | • Work as distraction • Withdrawal from stressors • Connecting to cultural roots or faith • Processing through creative outlets • Seeking mental health care | |
Self-ascribed resilience as an enduring capacity | • Character traits • Learned, life-long positive attitude • Resilience due to good past | |
Volunteering, activism, and work for refugee causes | • Being active for refugee causes as a manifestation of psychological and other resources, sense of one’s rights • Giving meaning to hardships, distance from hardships, agency and identity, sense of community • Using strengths to be a voice for peers • Activism in the country of origin turned activism in the host country; proactive individuals | |
Factors facilitating successful adaptation | Social support | • Acceptance, feeling more at ease, sense of belonging, concrete support • Infrastructure for social support (tandems, meet-ups) can be vital • Language teachers as important contacts • Family |
Experiencing migration as an opportunity for self-expression, belonging, and personal development | • Living more in keeping with values post-migration • Enjoying greater freedom • Opportunity for learning and personal development • Having wanted to migrate • Appreciation of multiculturalism and diversity | |
Experiencing migration as an opportunity for women | • Opportunities for women beyond motherhood • Freedom to choose and pursue education and career • Feelings of youthfulness due to opportunities • Changes in the marital relationship | |
Being a parent | • Children’s opportunities • Remaining hopeful for children • Reducing stress for children • Meaning from children • Children as a new beginning | |
Being young | • Not such severe loss of status • Friends at the educational facility as key to well-being • Clear metrics of success within an educational facility • Educational facilities as suitable contexts for integration |