Practitioner competencies for working with refugee children and young people: A scoping review

Abstract

Research indicates that refugee and asylum seeker children and young people often require specialised psychological support. Competencies have been established as helpful in guiding the training, education and ongoing professional development of practitioners working in specialised areas. To date there has been no comprehensive review of the literature concerning practitioner competencies for working with refugee or asylum seeker children and young people. This scoping review therefore aimed to synthesise all literature regarding practitioner competencies that are considered important for working in the area of mental health with refugee and asylum seeker children and young people. Literature was sourced from PsycINFO, Scopus, and PubMed. Studies were included if they: a) were published in peer-reviewed journals, b) were published in English, c) were published in the last 25 years, d) collected primary data, e) related to children and/or young people (defined as aged under 25) with refugee or asylum seeker backgrounds, and f) discussed practitioner competencies (in relation to refugee or asylum seeker children or young people). Nine articles met criteria and a deductive thematic analysis identified six key competencies: 1) knowledge of the complexity of needs of refugees; 2) use of holistic approaches; 3) ability to work in co-ordination with others in the child's network; 4) ability to build therapeutic relationships; 5) seeking feedback; and 6) cultural competency. Further empirical research that directly aims to identify practitioner competencies, from both the practitioner and client perspective, will support the challenging work done by practitioners working with refugee and asylum seeker children and young people.