An exploration of the adaptation and development after persecution and trauma (ADAPT) model with resettled refugee adolescents in Australia: A qualitative study.

Refugee adolescents endure high rates of traumatic exposure, as well as subsequent resettlement and adaptational stressors. Research on the effects of trauma in refugee populations has focussed on psychopathological outcomes, in particular posttraumatic stress disorder. However this approach does not address the psychosocial and adaptive dimensions of refugee experience. The ADAPT model proposes an alternate conceptualization of the refugee experience, theorizing that refugee trauma challenges five core psychosocial adaptive systems, and that the impact on these systems leads to psychological difficulties. This study investigated the application of the ADAPT model to adolescents' accounts of their refugee and resettlement experiences. Deductive thematic analysis was used to analyse responses of 43 adolescent refugees to a semistructured interview. The ADAPT model was found to be a useful paradigm to conceptualize the impact of adolescents' refugee and resettlement journeys in terms of individual variation in the salience of particular adaptive systems to individuals' experiences. Findings are discussed in light of current understandings of the psychological impact of the refugee experience on adolescents.

Differential accounts of refugee and resettlement experiences in youth with high and low levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology: A mixed-methods investigation.

In recent years there has been increased debate and critique of the focus on psychopathology in general, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in particular, as a predominant consequence of the refugee experience. This study was conducted to broaden the conceptualization and examination of the outcomes of the refugee experience by jointly examining how adaptive processes, psychosocial factors, and psychopathology are implicated. A mixed-methods approach was used to specifically examine whether adolescents' (N = 10) accounts of their refugee and resettlement experiences differed according to their level, "high" or "low," of PTSD symptomatology. The superordinate themes of cultural belongingness and identification, psychological functioning, family unit functioning and relationships, and friendships and interpersonal processes, were identified as having particular relevance for the study's participants and in distinguishing between participants with high and low levels of PTSD symptomatology. Findings were characterized by marked differences between adolescents' accounts according to their symptomatology levels, and may thereby inform important avenues for future research as well as clinical prevention and intervention programs with refugee youth.