2500 words dissertation proposal

Forcible displacement of individuals due to conflict or fear of persecution in their homeland is at its highest rate since 1994 (UNHCR, 2013). An estimated 1.2 million people worldwide sought asylum during 2013 (UNHCR, 2013), with around 23,500 asylum applications in the UK (UNHCR, 2014). The trauma of events leading to a departure from the homeland, the journey in transit, trying to cope with the alien nature of the country of refuge and in some cases, detention, contributes heavily to mental health issues in individuals, both adults and children, who seek asylum as well as those who have received refugee status (Fazel and Stein, 2002). These include stress, anxiety and depression (MIND, 2009; Quinn, 2014) and in some cases, co-morbid issues of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and problematic drug use (McCormack and Walker,2005).

A further factor which contributes to poor mental health in both refugees and asylum seekers (RAS) in the UK is a lack of access to basic entitlements e.g. education, reasonable quality accommodation, and healthcare (Quinn, 2014). This is exacerbated by the often slow decision making to either grant or refuse refugee status and also dispersal, often to less ethnically diverse geographical areas and away from contacts and relationships cultivated in the diaspora (MIND, 2009). In 2013, an estimated 2,500 16 – 18 year olds, including many arriving unaccompanied, sought asylum in the UK, with the majority of applications taking place in London (Home Office, 2014). The Learning and Wellbeing Foundation (LWF) will focus on young RAS aged 16 – 18, who are a part of a wider RAS marginalised community in a high-income country i.e. the UK. The young people are based in Slough, a large, ethnically diverse town on the periphery of London, but with a lesser density of RAS support organisations. The main area of focus is the lack of access to post-16 education and the associated decreased emotional wellbeing from thissituation.

The Refugee Council (2013) contends that the asylum seeking process impacts access to post-16 learning as funding rules and types of courses available are complex and continuously changing for this population. Whilst waiting for a decision on their asylum case, some individuals are left in an uncertain state, without education and with either a risk of mental health problems or an actual morbidity of these (MIND, 2009). Since 2013, the school participation age has increased to 18, regardless of immigration status,therefore

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education to this age is a legal requirement (Coram Legal Children’s Centre, 2012). An additional problem is a lack of understanding from some learning providers of the rules and regulations which are applicable to individuals without an immigration status as well as those with refugee status (Refugee Council, 2013). The aims of this exploratory project are, therefore, to assess the needs of these vulnerable children and young adults and to raise learning providers’ and local authorities’ awareness of the deleterious effects on mental health and emotional wellbeing of their lack of knowledge concerning admission criteria and a lack of access to education ingeneral.

The capabilityapproach

Amartya Sen’s capability approach characterises human development as a ‘freedom’, achievable by ‘removing the obstacles to what a person can do in life’ (Fukuda-Parr 2003, 304). Sen (1999) defines a person’s capability as the ‘alternative combinations of functionings that are feasible for her to achieve’ (75). ‘Functionings’ can be understood as the things people value, their existence ‘create a better conceptual space in which to assess social welfare than utility or opulence’ (Alkire 2005, 118), taking us beyond the restrictions of a market-based economy. Through emphasising the capabilities of all individuals, Sen’s theory is sensitized to and redresses the fact that women’s health might have traditionally been overlooked (Fukuda-Parr2003).

Analysing Sen’s work, Robeyns (2005) explicitly links the capability approach to health: it is a tool to evaluate policies impact on people’s capabilities, including whether they have the means and resources to be healthy. By recognising that health goes beyond clinical and curative services, the capability approach creates scope to engage in far broader health promotion strategies that encourage a rights-based approach to programming and community engagement. Relatedly and mirroring a key principle of the Charter, Sen argues that health equity’s contribution to achieving social justice cannot be overestimated (Sen2002).

In contrast to other commentators, Sen has resisted providing an exhaustive list of capabilities. By doing this he ‘demonstrates respect for the agency of those who will use this approach’ (Alkire 2005, 128), recognising their potential to be instruments of social change through individual and collective action. In the absence of universal health care, as advocated for by Sen (2015), it is of increased importance to understand what people value, and ensure access to this (Alkire 2005). This is at the heart of our projectdesign,

Ottawa Charter

The Ottawa Charter describes health promotion as “the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health” (WHO, 2009). Whilst this project has health promotion as a focus, in that it aims to facilitate RAS young people to elucidateissues about their emotional wellbeing, it also has an element of education in that it seeks to educate learning providers about RASissues.

There are five key action areas in the Ottawa Charter, which proposes the involvementof communities at all levels of health promotion: “Building Healthy Public Policy, Creating Supportive Environments, Reorienting Health Services, Developing Personal Skills and Strengthening Community Action” (WHO, 2009). The HESIAD model (Hubley and Cooperman, 2008) which regroups the five action areas into “Health Education, Service Improvements and Advocacy” (Figure 1) conveys the levels at which some ofthedeterminantsofhealthoccur,fromthemicrolevele.g.individual,themesolevel,e.g. community through to the macro level, e.g. public health policymakers.