Understanding Afghan Families Needs and Strengths During Resettlement and Refining Mental Health Measures for Afghan Youth

Project Summary

The RPCA and partners have been working to support resettled Afghans in the United States since 2021. The RPCA has conducted multi-dimensional research projects to understand the needs and strengths of Afghan communities. Through partnership with the International Rescue Committee's Switchboard Program, the RPCA is working to develop, refine, and optimize a mental health screening toolkit with psychometric properties and instrument functioning of mental health screening toolkits to provide refugee service agencies with a culturally relevant and statistically validated toolkit to use with Afghan children and youth. 

Background and Aims

Afghanistan’s recent political upheaval has led to the resettlement of thousands of Afghan families in the United States. Thirty percent of these new arrivals are under eighteen years of age. These young people often arrive with significant trauma, including the loss of family members, exposure to violence, and the stress of leaving their homeland. Once in the U.S., they face additional challenges such as cultural adjustment, language barriers, and social isolation. Understanding and addressing these mental health challenges is crucial for ensuring their successful integration and well-being. Resettled Afghan children and adolescents frequently experience various mental health challenges, most commonly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. These conditions often result from exposure to traumatic events, including war, persecution, and displacement. Studies have shown that refugee children and adolescents, including those from Afghanistan, are at higher risk for mental health disorders than their non-refugee peers due to the cumulative impact of their experiences. The RPCA has produced a culturally appropriate screening tool through a mixed-methods approach for tool development. This tool has been evaluated by researchers and partners and we will now administer the screening to up to 300 Afghan adolescents aged 13-17 and their caregivers in multiple states across the country. The project will target research or resettled Afghan youth and can be applicable to refugee service providers who serve the Afghan population, including resettlement agencies and affiliates, state agencies, community-based organizations, and other Office of Refugee Resettlement funded organizations providing services to refugees.

Aims of current project:

• Administer the screening tool to up to 300 Afghan adolescents (age 13-17) and their caregivers in multiple states. 
• Evaluate scale- and item-level statistical properties of the instrument, such as internal consistency, point-biserial correlations, and IRT item parameters (discrimination, difficulty, item-fit statistics).
• Conduct age and gender Differential Item Functioning analyses to evaluate potential item-level bias statistics.  
• Make further refinements to the instruments (e.g., items removal, wording) as needed, based on the IRT results.
• Provide user guidance to providers and potential toolkit users while summarizing what is known about cross-cultural mental health assessment with resettled Afghan communities. 
  

Disclaimer*

The IRC received competitive funding through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Grant #90RB0052. The project is 100% financed by federal funds. The contents of this document are soley the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.