Transcultural Psychiatry
Volume 39, Issue 4, 2002, Pages 452-468

Towards a Researcher–Advocacy Model for Asylum Seekers: A Pilot Study Amongst East Timorese Living in Australia (Article)

Silove D. , Coello M. , Tang K. , Aroche J. , Soares M. , Lingam R. , Chaussivert M. , Manicavasagar V. , Steel Z.
  • a School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Australia
  • b Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors, Australia
  • c School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Australia
  • d School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Australia
  • e School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Australia
  • f School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Australia
  • g Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors, Australia
  • h Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors, Australia
  • i School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

During the 24-year Indonesian occupation of East Timor, widespread human rights abuses led to the flight of political dissidents to neighboring countries. We report a pilot study assessing a ‘Researcher– Advocacy’ model among East Timorese asylum seekers residing in Australia. The aim was to combine elements of advocacy, quantitative and qualitative research, and strategic assistance in a program of engagement with this marginalized group. Thirty-three consecutive asylum-seeker clients attending a newly formed clinic participated in the study, representing a quarter of the known population of asylum seekers from East Timor living in Sydney at the time. High levels of trauma including torture and other human rights abuses were recorded. Respondents also reported a wide range of resettlement and adaptational difficulties, particularly relating to their uncertain residency status. Eighty percent met criteria for one or more psychiatric disorder. The wider benefits of the study included the extension of services to a group that previously had shown a reluctance to seek assistance for traumatic stress, the engagement of the exile community as a whole, and building the capacity to respond both in Australia and in East Timor to the humanitarian emergency of 1999. Scientific limitations of the model included the labor-intensive nature of the program, the small and selective sample recruited and incomplete data collection. © 2002, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.

Author Keywords

East Timor Asylum seekers Research ethics trauma

Index Keywords

abuse refugee mental health service Australia demography human ethics injury mental stress illness behavior social support human rights mental disease Confidentiality health program Timor-Leste model pilot study qualitative analysis Article social adaptation migration privacy politics Personality research mental hospital quantitative analysis Torture
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0037002488&doi=10.1177%2f136346150203900404&partnerID=40&md5=36f3d0730398f6810b410e0ff5085629
DOI: 10.1177/136346150203900404
ISSN: 13634615
Cited by: 25
Original Language: English