The Asylum Seekers Images-Mediated Narrative Interview: proposal for a new methodology to explore the asylum seekers' experiences through images

The project, taking a psychodynamic perspective, has the aims to develop a new type of narrative in-depth interview mediated by images and to evaluate its effects on narrative meaning making processes. Study 1 An exploratory study was carried on with the aim to evaluate traumatic and resilient levels and to explore in-depth meanings and representations of forced migratory experiences. Participants were 20 African asylum seekers hosted into two male Extraordinary Reception Centres (centres managed by private cooperatives and designated to the primary reception) located in the South of Italy. Participants were administered the PTSD Checklist (PCL-C) (Weathers, Litz, Herman, Huska, & Keane, 1993) and the Resilience Scale (RS) (Wagnild & Young, 1993a, b) and an in-depth interview. Results shed light into the extreme complexity of the asylum seekers experiences which need to be investigated in-depth in all their temporal phases (pre-migratory, migratory and post-migratory). There is also the need to take into account the challenges involved in using the narrative methodology in the research with this population as well as the need to develop new and more sensitive instruments able to take into account the problematic aspects of a “pure” narrative method. Study 2 Following the results obtained by the exploratory study, the second study aimed to develop a new narrative in-depth interview mediated by images in order to find a new sensitive instrument for the exploration of the forced migratory experience overall, in its all temporal phases. The development of the Asylum Seekers Images-Mediated Narrative Interview was carried out with the help of the asylum seekers themselves. A total of 40 asylum seekers hosted into two male Extraordinary Reception Centres participated in a focus group where they were asked to think about their pre-migratory, migratory and post-migratory experiences and to tell the first image/event/moment that came to their mind. The collected images were analysed through a calculation of frequencies. The most frequent images were used to choose some photographs that could be able to reflect the asylum seekers experiences. The efficacy of the chosen photographs in reflecting the asylum seekers experiences was evaluated by the asylum seekers themselves through a second focus group. Finally, once the photographs were chosen, a specific account and procedure were developed for the administering of the interview. Study 3 The third study aimed to evaluate the effects of the instrument on narrative meaning making processes. Participants of this study were 36 Nigeria male asylum seekers hosted in three Extraordinary Reception Centres. The participants were randomly divided into two groups: one experimental and one of control. Traumatic, resilient levels and post-migratory difficulties were assessed to all participants through the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire Revised (Mollica, 1992), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) (Connor & Davidson, 2003) and the Post-Migratory Living Difficulties Scale (PMDL) (Silove et al., 1997) in order to evaluate risk and protective factors. The experimental group was administered the images-mediated narrative interview and the control was administered an in-depth interview without images. Statistic analysis were made on quantitative data; whereas the interviews were analysed through different coding systems developed to evaluate the three principal dimensions of narrative meaning-making as highlighted by Fivush et al. (2012): internal states, coherence and reflective insight. Through an in-depth qualitative analysis of the interviews imaged-mediated, a proposal for a Grid to code the Asylum Seekers Images-Mediated Narrative Interview was also developed. Study 4 The fourth study aimed to explore in-depth meanings and representations of a small group of Nigerian female asylum seekers. The group of participants was a small but very homogeneous group of 5 Nigerian asylum seekers women. In line with the homogeneous characteristics of participants, their experiences were explored through a semi-structured interview developed and analysed on the basis of the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) principles (Smith, 1995). The experiences were analysed with a particular focus on the gender dimension. The implication of the whole project for the research as well as for the clinical practice will be discussed.