Belonging Beyond Borders: Contact with Dutch People as the Key to Fostering Belonging Among Ukrainian Migrant Women

Nguyen, Minh Hieu Teresa (2024) Belonging Beyond Borders: Contact with Dutch People as the Key to Fostering Belonging Among Ukrainian Migrant Women. Master thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

More than eight million Ukrainians fled their country after the Russian invasion in Ukraine in February 2022, with 82,000 of them being mostly women arriving in the Netherlands. While their structural integration was facilitated by the EU’s temporary protection directive that grants them immediate access to housing, work, and a living allowance, their psychosocial integration is an equally important matter. Thus, this thesis investigated how language proficiency, employment, and contact with Dutch people contribute to the psychosocial integration of Ukrainian migrant women in the Netherlands. The study had a correlational design: 66 Ukrainian migrant women, who live in the Netherlands and had signed up for an informal Dutch language buddy program, filled in an online survey. As expected, Ukrainian women who had more contact with Dutch people experienced higher belonging. Furthermore, employed Ukrainian women experienced a stronger belonging indirectly through more contact, mainly driven by contact at work. Those who spoke and understood Dutch on an average or higher level benefited even more from contact with Dutch people. Interestingly, Ukrainians who wanted to stay in the Netherlands showed a stronger sense of belonging and had more contact with Dutch people. Considering that Ukrainian women had overall little contact with natives and did not speak Dutch well yet, the current research suggests investing in language courses and socializing opportunities for Ukrainian women to stimulate belonging and overall psychosocial integration.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Hansen, N.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	09 Jul 2024 14:33
Last Modified:	09 Jul 2024 14:33
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3770

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