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Embroidery (tatriz) and Syrian refugees: Exploring loss and hope through storytelling

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Abstract

Canada is now home to at least 44,615 Syrian refugees. Of these refugees, four out of five
are women and children. There is a clear need for an increase in mental health resources,
resource accessibility, and social connection for Syrian refugees. This paper describes a
Syrian refugee women’s embroidery program that provided both an accessible art therapy
group and a way for the participants to process feelings of hope and loss. Postgroup questionnaires
indicated that the women experienced a sense of pride and mastery over their
completed artwork, built new friendships and community, and felt connected to their homeland
through the embroidery. One-on-one interviews were held to collect the participants’
stories. The participants’ artwork and stories are summarized in this paper, and the stories
are available in full as supplementary material.

Citation

  • Hanania, A. (2020). Embroidery (tatriz) and Syrian refugees: Exploring loss and hope through storytelling. Canadian journal of art therapy, 33(2), 62-69.
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Relevant Evidence Summaries

The evidence was reviewed and included in the following summaries: 

What can help refugees process traumatic grief?

There is limited strong evidence on interventions that specifically target traumatic grief. Prolonged and traumatic grief are usually closely associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and therefore many interventions target PTSD with grief symptoms as an auxiliary diagnosis. There appear to be some differences in interventions that target grief as a result of loss of […]

About this study

AGE: Adults

DIRECTION OF EVIDENCE: Positive impact

FULL TEXT AVAILABILITY: Paid

GENDER: Female

HOST COUNTRY: Canada

HOST COUNTRY INCOME: High

INTERVENTION DURATION: 12 Weeks

INTERVENTION: Embroidery

OUTCOME: loss

OUTCOME AREA: Mental Health

POPULATION: Refugees

REGION OF ORIGIN OF PARTICIPANT(S): Middle East

STRENGTH OF EVIDENCE: Suggestive

TYPE OF STUDY: Suggestive evidence

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2020

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