Kathryn Price’s research while affiliated with Boston Medical Center and other places

Today there are about one billion migrants worldwide and about 40 million migrants in the United States. Of these migrants, 3.5 million are of Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African (Arab/MENA) descent. The Arab/MENA community in the United States has been exposed to historical, premigration, perimigration, and postmigration trauma and stress. Despite the considerable research on migrants’ trauma exposure, much remains to be known about their resilience. More recently, the resilience literature has expanded beyond the micro (individual) level to explore resilience across the ecological system. Yet the chronosystem (time, intergenerational trauma, and resilience) and the process of passing on resilience within the context of oppression remain understudied. Thus, there is a need to understand intergenerational resilience, in the context of intergenerational trauma, defined as the transmission of resilience across generations for Arab/MENA communities. This study explored the lived experiences of intergenerational resilience for first- and second-generation Arab/MENA migrants (N = 19). Data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three superordinate themes emerged including maintaining culture, cultivating resilience, and outcomes of resilience. Eight subthemes emerged including collective practices, intentional teaching, observational learning, firsthand experience, opportunity, positive identity, sense of belonging, and connection from a distance. Findings add to the literature by illuminating some processes for intergenerational resilience, identifying constructs for future empirical studies (e.g., family communication, cultural maintenance), and providing direction for intervention with this population. Implications for future research and practice are provided.

This “Notes from the Field” article discusses implementation strategies used to increase equity and access to research study participation among migrants. Common barriers to research participation for this population (e.g. language access, informed consent) limit the perspective of migrants within immigrant and refugee health scholarship, reducing the applicability of findings to diverse populations. We aimed to characterize barriers and solutions to migrants’ participation in research. Study participants included asylum-seeking patients at the largest safety net hospital in New England. Two researchers analyzed field notes, reflexivity notes, and standard operating procedure adaptations. Four themes emerged including challenges of conducting qualitative interviews with interpreters, technology literacy, reimbursement woes, and role of the researcher. The goal of the study was to uplift the experience of migrant research participants, describe challenges in the research process, and present recommendations to migrant participation in research. We provide lessons learned for immigrant and refugee health scholars. Keywords: qualitative research, research methods, migrants, minoritized populations, and research ethics