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Coping mechanisms among Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia during the transition period

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia cope with the challenges they face during their transitional destination. These families have recently fled from conflict zones in various Arab countries and moved to Malaysia where they registered in the...

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Main Authors: Eid, Iyad Muhammad, Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura
Format: Article
Language:English
English
Published: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. 2019
Subjects:
HM Sociology
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/83139/1/83139_Coping%20mechanisms%20among%20Palestinian%20refugee_new.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/83139/2/83139_Coping%20mechanisms%20among%20Palestinian%20refugee_scopus.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/83139/
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJMHSC-08-2018-0052/full/html
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spelling my.iium.irep.831392020-09-24T08:12:00Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/83139/ Coping mechanisms among Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia during the transition period Eid, Iyad Muhammad Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura HM Sociology Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia cope with the challenges they face during their transitional destination. These families have recently fled from conflict zones in various Arab countries and moved to Malaysia where they registered in the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur, waiting for resettlement in a third country. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilizes the qualitative research approach, drawing descriptive analysis (thematic analysis technique) of data collected by semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 30 Palestinian families. For sample selection, the author used purposive sampling and employed the Snowball technique to select the families who have experienced refuge life for the second time. Then the sample was equally divided into three groups to include ten families moving from Iraq, Syria and the Gaza Strip. The interviews were conducted with the head of the families who varied in terms of gender and age composition. The study involved 9 female participants and 21 males. They are all Muslims and aged between 24 and 80 years old. In terms of educational background, all of the participants are literate with formal school education, diploma or tertiary education. Findings – The study shows that refugee families adopt four main ways of coping commonly used to improve the quality of their life during their transition in Malaysia. They turn to religion and spirituality, keep in touch with relatives and friends in the diaspora and conflict zones, develop a positive image about their present situation by comparing it to worse living conditions of others living in conflict zones and plan to migrate to Europe to hold a European passport which will give them the opportunity to visit their original country, Palestine. Originality/value – The paper tackles the Palestinian refugee family life and explores their real-life stories and experiences during transition in Malaysia. It provides them with an opportunity to speak up their suffering and reveal the various strategies they adopt to cope with life challenges. Besides, the result of the study will be a fruitful addition to the corpus of sociological knowledge as well as an important contribution to the families that stay in transition in different societies around the world. Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. 2019-12-15 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/83139/1/83139_Coping%20mechanisms%20among%20Palestinian%20refugee_new.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/83139/2/83139_Coping%20mechanisms%20among%20Palestinian%20refugee_scopus.pdf Eid, Iyad Muhammad and Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura (2019) Coping mechanisms among Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia during the transition period. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 15 (3). pp. 191-200. ISSN 1747-9894 https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJMHSC-08-2018-0052/full/html 10.1108/IJMHSC-08-2018-0052
institution Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia
building IIUM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider International Islamic University Malaysia
content_source IIUM Repository (IREP)
url_provider http://irep.iium.edu.my/
language English
English
topic HM Sociology
spellingShingle HM Sociology
Eid, Iyad Muhammad
Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura
Coping mechanisms among Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia during the transition period
description Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia cope with the challenges they face during their transitional destination. These families have recently fled from conflict zones in various Arab countries and moved to Malaysia where they registered in the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur, waiting for resettlement in a third country. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilizes the qualitative research approach, drawing descriptive analysis (thematic analysis technique) of data collected by semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 30 Palestinian families. For sample selection, the author used purposive sampling and employed the Snowball technique to select the families who have experienced refuge life for the second time. Then the sample was equally divided into three groups to include ten families moving from Iraq, Syria and the Gaza Strip. The interviews were conducted with the head of the families who varied in terms of gender and age composition. The study involved 9 female participants and 21 males. They are all Muslims and aged between 24 and 80 years old. In terms of educational background, all of the participants are literate with formal school education, diploma or tertiary education. Findings – The study shows that refugee families adopt four main ways of coping commonly used to improve the quality of their life during their transition in Malaysia. They turn to religion and spirituality, keep in touch with relatives and friends in the diaspora and conflict zones, develop a positive image about their present situation by comparing it to worse living conditions of others living in conflict zones and plan to migrate to Europe to hold a European passport which will give them the opportunity to visit their original country, Palestine. Originality/value – The paper tackles the Palestinian refugee family life and explores their real-life stories and experiences during transition in Malaysia. It provides them with an opportunity to speak up their suffering and reveal the various strategies they adopt to cope with life challenges. Besides, the result of the study will be a fruitful addition to the corpus of sociological knowledge as well as an important contribution to the families that stay in transition in different societies around the world.
format Article
author Eid, Iyad Muhammad
Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura
author_facet Eid, Iyad Muhammad
Mohamad Diah, Nurazzura
author_sort Eid, Iyad Muhammad
title Coping mechanisms among Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia during the transition period
title_short Coping mechanisms among Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia during the transition period
title_full Coping mechanisms among Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia during the transition period
title_fullStr Coping mechanisms among Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia during the transition period
title_full_unstemmed Coping mechanisms among Palestinian refugee families in Malaysia during the transition period
title_sort coping mechanisms among palestinian refugee families in malaysia during the transition period
publisher Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.
publishDate 2019
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/83139/1/83139_Coping%20mechanisms%20among%20Palestinian%20refugee_new.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/83139/2/83139_Coping%20mechanisms%20among%20Palestinian%20refugee_scopus.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/83139/
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJMHSC-08-2018-0052/full/html
_version_ 1680320892789325824
score 13.211869

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