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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Disaster and Emergency Medicine
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1372900
This article is part of the Research Topic Building Resilience in an Era of Multiple Global Crises View all 10 articles

Understanding Resilience Among Migrant Women in a Humanitarian Reception Centre: A Qualitative Study

Provisionally accepted
Maria Del Mar Jimenez Lasserrotte Maria Del Mar Jimenez Lasserrotte 1María Angustias Sánchez-Ojeda María Angustias Sánchez-Ojeda 2*Gloria Vázquez-González Gloria Vázquez-González 3María Dolores Ruiz-Fernández María Dolores Ruiz-Fernández 1Azahara Peña Rodríguez Azahara Peña Rodríguez 4Isabel María Fernández Medina Isabel María Fernández Medina 1José Granero Molina José Granero Molina 1,5
  • 1 Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Almeria, Almería, Andalusia, Spain
  • 2 Faculty of Health Sciences of Melilla, University of Granada, Melilla, Spain
  • 3 Facultad de Enfermería, Fisioterapia y Podología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
  • 4 Spanish Red Cross, Almería, Andalusia, Spain
  • 5 Autonomous University of Chile, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The European Union receives thousands of irregular migrants and refugees annually. Irregular migrant women are admitted to Humanitarian Reception Centres. These migrants face multiple adversities on their migration journey, and resilience is key to coping with process. The aim of this study was to describe and understand irregular migrant women's experience of resilience when living in humanitarian reception centres. Methods: Descriptive qualitative study. In-depth interviews and a focus group were carried out with 21 migrant women from different African countries, with an average age of 31.8 years. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data using ATLAS.ti computer software. Results: Three main themes emerged: (1) Irregular migrant women in transit: extreme vulnerability; (2) Migration support networks; (3) Promoting irregular migrant women's resilience. Conclusion: The harshness of the migration process tests the resilience of irregular migrant women, who are a vulnerable group at high risk of social exclusion. Their time in humanitarian reception centres is significant in their process of developing resilient behaviours. The multidisciplinary resources of the humanitarian reception centre help the irregular migrant women in their personal development.

    Keywords: irregular migrant women, Psychosocial health, qualitative study, resilience, social support

    Received: 18 Jan 2024; Accepted: 06 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jimenez Lasserrotte, Sánchez-Ojeda, Vázquez-González, Ruiz-Fernández, Peña Rodríguez, Fernández Medina and Granero Molina. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: María Angustias Sánchez-Ojeda, Faculty of Health Sciences of Melilla, University of Granada, Melilla, Spain

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.