Acculturation, subjective well-being and depression among South Sudan Refugees in Uganda

Abstract

Upon migrating into a new country, refugees are faced with the challenge of acculturating to a new culture.Failure to adjust to the new culture has been associated with low levels of subjective wellbeing and depression. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the strategies of acculturation amongst South Sudan refugees,to examine the relationship between acculturation and subjective wellbeing amongst South Sudan refugees,to examine the relationship between acculturation and depression amongst South Sudan refugees and finally to examine the moderation role acculturation plays between subjective wellbeing and depression amongst South Sudan refugees.The study was quantitative and used a correlation design.Standardizedquestionnaires wereadministered to 250 refugees who consented to take part in the study.Purposive sampling specifically the homogeneous sampling technique was used to select eligible participants from Kiryandongo with shared characteristics.Results showed thatthe majority of the refugees 164 (65.60%) were using the separation strategy of acculturation,47(18.80%) used the integration strategy of acculturation and 39(15.60%) used the assimilation strategy of acculturation.There was a significant relationship between acculturation and subjective wellbeing.Additionally, there was a significant relationship between acculturation and depression.This information will help inform clinical psychologists and counsellors about the effects of acculturation, subjective well-being and depression better thus improving their capacity to design appropriate.Findings from this study are important to stake holders working with refugees in understanding refugee post migration adustments thatv form the basis of better psychological outcomes like improved well being or thye absence of negative sequel for instance depression