Well-being and quality of life in migrants involved in the emergency transit mechanism in Niger: a mixed-method pilot research

• Date: 05 September 2024
• Pages: 557-575
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-08-2023-0076
• Published date: 05 September 2024
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Inequalities & diverse/minority groups,Sociology,Race & ethnic studies,Minorities,Multiculturalism,Racial identity,Work,economy & organizations,Labour movements
• Author: Chiara Fiscone,Marzia Vigliaroni,Guido Veronese

Well-being and quality of life in migrants

involved in the emergency transit

mechanism in Niger: a mixed-method

pilot research

Chiara Fiscone, Marzia Vigliaroni and Guido Veronese

Abstract

Purpose –Sub-Saharan forced migration in recentdecades has reached alarming levels, significantly

increasing the risk to develop mental health vulnerabilities due to traumatic events and postmigration

stressors. Researchgaps persist within this population, necessitatingculturally sensitive studies within a

socioecological framework. This pilot exploratory mixed-methodstudy aims to investigate the quality of

life and subjectivewell-being among African displacedindividuals in Niger.

Design/methodology/approach –In total, 119 African displaced adults (M ¼26; SD ¼67.8) were

administered WHOQOL-BREFto assess the quality of life (objective well-being) and Perma profiler and

SWLS to assess subjective well-being, and 20 (M ¼30.8; SD ¼67.4) of the previously assessed

participants were in-depth interviewed to record their life stories, and transcripts were analyzed

throughoutthematic content analysis.

Findings –Quantitative results showed that all domains of quality of life, subjective well-being and life

satisfaction scored below the African normative population levels. Particularly, environment, positive

emotions and accomplishments in life were consistently below the normative mean score. The most

affected dimension was life satisfaction. Qualitative findings revealed three main themes: potentially

stressful or traumaticevents that occurred to migrants and refugees, well-beingas a continuum and the

multiple meanings of forced migration, explaining the multiple burdens and resources that displaced

people,affecting their subjective and objectivewell-being.

Originality/value –This study contributesto addressing mental healthgaps among sub-Saharan forced

migrants througha unique combination of quantitative andqualitative analysis, offering insights intotheir

experienceswithin the context of forced migrationand resettlement.

Keywords Displaced people, Mental health, Subjective and objective well-being, Life satisfaction,

Mixed-method design

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Over the past decade, forcibly displaced people have increased substantially, from 43.3

million in 2009 to 79.5 million in 2019 (UNHCR, 2020).Forced migration represents a global

challenge when individuals, communities or entire populations are forced to flee their place

of origin (Reed et al.,2016). Focusing on the sub-Saharan African regions, between 2013

and 2019, more than 600,000 migrants and refugees reached theEuropean coasts through

Italy across the Mediterranean Sea as a result of famine, persecution, conflict, violence and

human rights violations (Veronese et al., 2021). The involuntary facet of forced migrations

might increase the probability of encountering potentially traumatic experiences (PTEs)

during the migratory route and the cumulative hardships in the origin and host countries

Chiara Fiscone is based at

the Department of

Educational Sciences,

University of Genoa,

Genoa, Italy and

Department of Human

Sciences and Education,

University of Milano-

Bicocca, Milan, Italy.

Marzia Vigliaroni is based

at the Department of

Human Sciences and

Education “R. Massa”,

University of Milan-Bicocca,

Milan, Italy. Guido

Veronese is based at the

Department of Human

Sciences and Education

“R. Massa”, University of

Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

and Department of

Psychology, Stellenbosch

University, Stellenbosch,

South Africa.

Received 11 August 2023

Revised 2 March 2024

4 June 2024

Accepted 6 August 2024

DOI 10.1108/IJMHSC-08-2023-0076 VOL. 20 NO. 4 2024, pp. 557-575, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1747-9894 jINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MIGRATION, HEALTHAND SOCIAL CARE jPAGE 557

(Demurtas et al.,2018). Namely, most have faced interception followed by detention,

violence and abuse during travel or in destination places (e.g. imprisonment and torture in

Libya) (Margherita and Tessitore,2019). Moreover, often migrants are also reported to have

experienced a variety of stressorsin the postmigration environment (Li et al.,2016).

In forced migration, mental health outcomes might vary according to individual differences

in interaction with relational, cultural and socioenvironmental factors over people’s lifespan

(Harney, 2007). Indeed, according to Bronfenbrenner’s Person Process Context Time

model, an individual’s mental healthcannot be studied without considering that both person

and environment are interlockedin complex iterative systems (i.e. “person-in-environment”).

Reciprocal interactive processes occurbetween the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem

and macrosystem throughout the lifespan(Bronfenbrenner, 1979).

1.1 Mental health and general well-being in forced migrations

The international scholarly debateis gradually abandoning the biomedical approach where

mental health is analogous to physical ill-health as a binary view of having or not having a

psychological disease (Giacaman et al.,2011). For example, Palestinian researchers

developed an alternative approach to studying mental health that focuses on medical and

psychological symptoms and their connections to subjective well-being (SWB) and quality

of life (QoL) (objective well-being). They criticized the Western-led discourse for separating

ease and disease into distinct states, which overlap with functioning and illness in human

beings (Giacaman et al.,2007). Accordingly, this approach considers individual

experiencing within an ease–disease continuum fluctuating from mental well-being to

mental disease. Those who live in severe distress conditions, exposed to war, military

violence, insecurity and humiliation may constantly oscillate back and forth along this

continuum according to the nature of theviolation (i.e. its degree, chronicity and severity) as

well as the internal and external resources available to face the situation including financial

security, strength, cultural stability and social support (Giacaman, 2018). Well-being is

defined as a positive state generated by the concurrent and balanced satisfaction of

physical and psychological needs (Prilleltensky, 2008). According to the conceptual

framework outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO), well-being is a multifaceted

construct encompassing both objective indicators of QoL and subjective assessments of

individuals’psychological states, termed SWB (WHO, 2021). QoL pertains to tangible,

measurable elements such as health status, socioeconomic factors and environmental

conditions, whereas SWB encompasses individuals’cognitive and affective evaluations of

their lives, including feelings of satisfaction, fulfillment and purpose (WHO, 2021;

Skevington and Bo

¨hnke, 2018). In addition, a fundamental aspectof SWB is life satisfaction,

which is defined as an individual’s cognitive evaluation of the quality of their life

circumstances (Diener,1984).

This model acknowledges the interplay between objective circumstances and subjective

perceptions in shaping individuals’overall well-being, highlighting the importance of

addressing both material conditions and psychological experiences in promoting holistic

health and thriving societies (Veroneseet al., 2019).

Studies conducted in poor and politically unstable zones revealed that objective and

subjective factors are ecologically interconnected at different levels within an interactive

process creating adjustment factors to new environments and past adversities (Veronese

et al., 2021). Furthermore, research on the well-being of mobile populations underscores

the importance of conceptualizing well-being as a multilevel construct from an ecological

perspective. This perspective encompasses microlevel factors (such as family dynamics)

and macro-social dimensions (like community structures), all of which contribute to the

well-being of migrants (Veronese et al., 2019).

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