Resettlement stressors for women of refugee background resettled in regional Australia

Women of Refugee Background (WoRB) have been repeatedly identified as an extremelyvulnerable population. Within an Australian context, WoRB are increasingly resettled to nonmetropolitan locations, otherwise known as regional locations. Despite this, to date, no research hasfocused on the lived experience and challenges associated with the resettlement of WoRB to regionalcontexts. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature by investigating the resettlementexperience of WoRB resettled in Tasmania—a state in Australia classified as a rural and regionallocation. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a group of 21 individuals (nine WoRB and 12service providers). Thematic analysis identified four overarching themes—Communication Barriersand Lack of Fluency in English, Challenges Accessing Everyday Basic Needs, Loss of Connectionto Culture of Origin and Inability to Access Mainstream Mental Health Services for Help. Participants also highlighted a number of unique gender-related vulnerabilities experienced duringresettlement, which were exacerbated in regional locations due to health services being overstretchedand under-resourced. Results of the current study are discussed in regard to policy and practicalimplications, taking into consideration the unique vulnerabilities experienced by WoRB, which, todate, are often overlooked