Stories of pre-war, war and exile: Bosnian refugee children in Sweden.
While standardized questionnaires produce counts of isolated events, a semi-structured interview derives a story, a complex narrative in time and place. Ninety Bosnian refugee children and adolescents (ages 1-20), resettled in Sweden, were assessed in a semi-structured clinical interview designed to identify and offer support to children at risk. A family-child account of traumatic exposure was analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Type-stories or clusters of experience were identified for three distinct periods: prior to war, during war, and after war in exile. The extent of trauma-stress exposure during each of these periods proved unrelated. Pre-war experience presented as preponderantly good and safe. Differences in child exposure during war and exile could be understood in relation to identifiable socio-demographic factors; particularly ethnic background, social class, child age and family size. Further, the stories derived cast light on the equity of Swedish refugee reception, exposing both egalitarian and discriminatory tendencies.
Goldin
S
S
Department of Clinical Sciences, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Umeå University, Sweden. Stephen.Goldin@epiph.umu.se
Levin
L
L
Persson
L A
LA
Hägglof
B
B
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D017522:Bosnia and Herzegovina / Q000208:ethnology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D014857:Warfare