Role of acculturation and stress factors among Black African immigrants

Project (M.S.W., Social Work) -- California State University, Sacramento, 2010.As the United States continues to experience an enormous influx of refugees and immigrants, it generates a number of challenges for the social work profession. From the perspective of social work, each group must be understood in terms of its own cultural framework of meaning. African immigrants who re-settle to the U.S. must make profound adjustments to learn how to live in the American society and culture. The shift that takes place in relocating can be psycho-culturally overwhelming. This study utilizes a qualitative content analysis approach to examine the acculturation experiences of black African immigrants living in the United States. The major findings reported by the ten participants interviewed were: (1) cultural adjustment difficulties; (2) racial adjustment difficulties; and (3) the role of low acculturation in being a protective factor against acculturative stress. Implications for social work and policy are discussed.Social Wor