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35 J. Refugee Stud. 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/jrefst35 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal of Refugee Studies Vol. 35, No. I © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com doi:10.1093/jrs/feab068 Advance Access Publication 23 April 2021 Voices of Resettled Refugee Congolese Women: A Qualitative Exploration of Challenges Associated with Resettling in Ohio NA'TASHA M. EVANS * School of Health Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA, nevans8@kent.edu KAMESHA SPATES Department of Sociology, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA, CHELSEY KIRKLAND College of Public Health, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA CEDRIC MUBIKAYI KABASELE College of Public Health, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA MS received July 2020; revised MS received March 2021 Refugees, specifically women, experience challenges associated with being resettled in Ohio. Existing research gives little attention to challenges associated with reset- tling, specifically among Congolese refugee women. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide Congolese refugee women an opportunity to narrate the chal- lenges that they face resettling in Ohio. Translator-assisted, face-to-face interviews were conducted among resettled Congolese refugee women who were 18 years of age or older. All participants (n = 20) were receiving assistance from a local resettlement agency at the time of the study. Researchers applied a thematic analysis approach during the data collection and data analysis process. The three overarching themes were financial insufficiency and unemployment, family concerns, and daily experi- ences of health. Findings from this study provide an increased understanding of the many complex factors affecting resettled Congolese refugee women and provide re- settlement agencies with the information to better support them. Keywords: Congolese, women, refugee, resettlement, qualitative Introduction The most recent report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2019) states that there were more than 70 million individuals displaced worldwide at the end of 2018. These trends represent an increase of 2.3 million individuals