SUPPORT GROUPS AND ADAPTATION OF FEMALE UKRAINIAN WAR MIGRANTS IN CATALONIA

Abstract

Purpose. The article determines the changes in the adaptation indicators of Ukrainian war migrant womenon the territory of Catalonia after they had visited support groups. Methods. The formative experiment ispresented. Independent variable – support groups (4 groups in total) – weekly two-hour group meetings during3 months. The questionnaire on sociodemographic indicators of the participants is used, descriptive statisticsof the sample are presented; primary and repeated measurement – “Inventory of personality adaptation toa new socio-cultural environment” (L. Yankovskyi, translation to Ukrainian); inventory’s reliability analysis –Alpha Cronbach’s coefficient; the definition of intragroup norms is applied to describe the indicators’ levelsand interpretations according to each reliable scale. The non-parametric Wilcoxon statistical test was used todetect shifts in the data. Results. The study involved 32 female participants with an average age of 38.5 years, most of them with a complete higher education, mainly from the South-Eastern and Central regions of Ukraine,who evacuated and lived in Barcelona and the surrounding area predominantly during 6–12 months. More thanhalf of the participants lived with their children, and almost 30% lived with their children with partners, friends,or relatives. Among the participants, primarily average indicators of adaptability, interactivity, depression,nostalgia, and alienation were found. After conducting peer-to-peer support groups, 35% of participantsshowed significant positive changes in adaptability, depression, and alienation. Conclusions. Group supportinterventions made it possible to soften the process of adaptation of Ukrainian war migrant women in Catalonia:the feelings of depression, desolation, hopelessness, helplessness in the face of life’s difficulties, guilt for pastevents, isolation, alienation, and abandonment began to appear less often; activity, confidence in relations withothers were restored, self-esteem was adjusted; it became possible to strive for self-realization, to plan future,the efforts began to be directed to the search for ecological solutions to meet their own needs. At the same time,the limitations of the study are that not all participants of the groups filled out the repeated survey, the specificsof the interventions in each of the four groups were not taken into account (such as the influence of externalfactors, missing meeting, personal characteristics and experience of the group conductors, etc.). Prospects forfurther research: attention to psychosocial interventions regarding further stages of adaptation of Ukrainianwar migrants in a new environment and reintegration of those who returned to Ukraine.