The association between perceived psychosocial support and resilience among Venezuelan migrant women: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from 2022

TL;DR

This study finds that perceived psychosocial support is strongly linked to resilience in Venezuelan migrant women, offering insights for mental health interventions.

Contribution

The study empirically confirms the association between perceived psychosocial support and resilience in a large sample of Venezuelan migrant women.

Findings

Participants in the top tertile of perceived psychosocial support had 2.12 times the odds of resilience compared to the bottom tertile.

Resilience was positively correlated with age and relative wealth, but negatively with displacement duration and health issues.

There was no significant association between resilience and LGBTQ+ self-identification.

Abstract

Migrants experience profound threats to their mental health, with women facing additional vulnerabilities such as sexual exploitation and trafficking. Resilience protects against the impacts of these threats through mental, emotional, and behavioural adaptations. A central component of resilience is perceived psychosocial support (PPS), which describes the belief that assistance is available to mitigate the effects of stressors. This study analyzes the association between PPS and resilience among Venezuelan migrant women using data from a cross-sectional study (2022) involving 9116 Venezuelan migrants aged 14 + . We hypothesized PPS and resilience would be positively correlated. Following the ‘sensemaking’ methodology, each participant shared a brief experience and completed a questionnaire contextualizing their experience. PPS and resilience were assessed using two single-item measures: one capturing how supported participants felt, and the other evaluating how often they believed they successfully coped with challenges. Using data from 5388 micro-narratives, we constructed a logistic regression model using backward elimination with inclusion at p < 0.20. Overall, 65% of participants self-reported resilience. The model included five of eight covariates: age, ethnicity, health issues, displacement duration, and relative wealth. Participants in the top tertile of PPS had 2.12 times the odds of resilience compared to those in the bottom tertile (95% CI: [1.84, 2.47], p < 0.0001), while the middle and bottom tertiles were equally resilient (OR=0.99, 95% CI: [0.87, 1.14], p = 0.91). Resilience correlated positively with age and relative wealth, and negatively with displacement duration and health issues. This study confirms PPS is important in the resilience of Venezuelan migrant women and elucidates several unexpected results for further investigation, including the null association between resilience and LGBTQ+ self-identification. Future studies should administer validated questionnaires to better understand the contributions of the constituent components of resilience among this population. These results can be utilized to develop tailored resilience-fostering interventions and more efficiently direct mental health resources.

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