The Asylum-Seeker and Refugee Experience - An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Interview Data Elicited Through the Use of Artefacts

Theme 3: Protection of the ‘most vulnerable’ - children, young people growing up in ‘austerity’ older people, migrants Background: There is a pressing need to understand the experiences of those who undertake forced migration. The UNHCR (2016) has reported that “one in every 113 people globally is now either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced or a refugee” - this is at its highest level since the Second World War. Aims: This study sought to explore the lived experiences of asylum-seekers and refugees based in the United Kingdom in an effort to understand the psycho-social challenges and support systems in place for them. Methods: This was a qualitative study. 11 participants were interviewed on two separate occasions. In the first interview, each participant was asked to bring an artefact of something that was personal to them and best represented their life experiences. The second interview allowed for further exploration of issues that arose from the first interview and also enabled rapport to be developed in an effort to elicit a deeper level understanding of the lived experience of being an asylum-seeker or refugee from conversations in the second interview. Findings: Findings to be reported in this presentation will show themes related to: meaning-making, offering and receiving collective support, and the potential for growth via connections with spiritual communities. Conclusions: A detailed analysis of these personal accounts from this sample of asylum-seekers and refugees could help inform an understanding and appropriate intervention planning on a local, national, and global level when aiming to address the psycho-social and spiritual needs of this target group. Mainstreaming community psychology interventions: reflections on workin