Refugees’ health risks and resilience to environmental disasters in rural communities

Abstract

This study explores how social determinants of health and exposure to health information affect refugees’ perceptions of the public health risks caused by environmental disasters. We conducted survey research with 271 refugees in the Texas Panhandle, a rural area where a large number of refugees from diverse countries, cultures, and ethnic groups reside. The survey yielded four major findings. First, refugees were highly vulnerable to environmental disasters, evidenced by a collection of social-demographic variables. Second, refugees demonstrated low levels of disaster awareness and disaster preparedness. Third, refugees’ perceived susceptibility to the health risks caused by environmental disasters was predicted by age, gender, income, housing status, and involvement in social groups. Finally, perceived neighborhood characteristics predicted response efficacy, and social and community context predicted self-efficacy. The major limitation of this study is that refugees’ limited language proficiency and literacy comprehension abilities could have undermined the quality of survey responses. We translated the questionnaire into multiple languages, but some cultural implications might be missing during the translated versions. Despite the limitations, this study contributes to a broader understanding of the direct and indirect health impacts of environmental disasters on vulnerable populations in rural areas. In particular, we suggest that public health agencies improve refugees’ environmental disaster preparedness and disaster resilience through alleviating refugees’ socioeconomic vulnerability. In addition, given different refugee groups’ diverse cultural norms, tailored and culturally specific disaster communication efforts are needed to achieve best outcomes.