Content area
Forced displacement has myriad long-term impacts on health and well-being. Despite indication of how the physiological and psychosocial stressors of forced displacement may contribute to chronic disease risk, chronic health conditions are under-prioritized in displaced populations. This lack of focus on noncommunicable health conditions is particularly pronounced in research on health concerns among displaced people from Burma living in Thailand. The research in this dissertation approaches questions related to forced displacement and long-term health and well-being, including consideration of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and of mental stressors. Paper 1 of this compilation maps the available literature on NCDs and psychosocial health concerns among people from Burma who have experienced displacement and are living in Burma or in Thailand. Using a scoping review methodology, it identifies trends and gaps in the existing literature. Paper 2 focuses on the experience of the structural drivers of NCDs in communities on the Thailand-Burma border. Data from in-depth interviews with border residents working in agriculture and with other stakeholders indicate potential structural factors that contribute to vulnerability to NCDs. This paper encourages further research into how dietary change in this context is contributing to hypertension risk – and how dietary change is linked with processes of land dispossession, displacement, and economic precarity in the border area. Paper 3 examines a relationship-based program that matches volunteers with refugee families resettled in the southeastern US. Data from in-depth interviews with current and former volunteers is analyzed in order to understand strengths and challenges of this program model of long-term mutual support. Findings offer insight into the relevance of social support networks rooted in an ethos of mutual aid for the well-being of resettled refugees. All three studies are motivated by the need for attention to structural inequities as drivers of multiple overlapping health concerns, alongside the need for a focus on the priorities of people experiencing displacement.