February 7 the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) Ukraine within United Voices in Action (VIA) program launch the presentation of research results “Attitudes, Challenges, and Opportunities of IDPs Integration into Selected Host Communities”.
The research was conducted in partnership with the sociological center “Socioinform”. It covered 2,200 respondents, including IDPs from 2014, IDPs from 2022, and residents of 11 selected host communities in particular, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Lviv, Mukachevo, Ternopil, Uzhhorod, Uman, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy and Chernivtsi. Separate in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 representatives of local authorities and NGOs that work with IDPs issues in the community.
The resulting analysis will touch on the following issues:
1. Relations between IDPs and members of host communities
2. The needs of IDPs over the age of 30 and their juvenile children
3. Problems regarding discrimination and access to legal aid
4. The level of awareness of various human rights issues
5. Involvement of IDPs in community life
6. Psychological health
During the event, the quantitative and qualitative results of the research on the situation with IDPs in the host communities, social relations within the community, the level of their integration, access to legal aid, awareness of various human rights issues, as well as the state of their psychological health were considered.
According to the results of the research, it was established that most respondents assess the tension between representatives of the host population and IDPs as low or say that it is absent. 58% of respondents from the host population, 69% from 2014 IDPs, and 65% from 2022 IDPs agree with this statement. The difference in agreement between the groups suggests an underlying tension between the host population and IDPs.
At the same time, one of the factors of tension in communities on the part of the host population is the belief that local authorities are more concerned about the needs and problems of IDPs (70% noted this) than about the host population (62%). At that time, the IDPs from 2014 and 2022 believe that the community authorities pay equal attention to both residents of the host community and IDPs. During the in-depth interviews, cultural differences, ostentatious behavior of IDPs, and communication in Russian were cited as causes of tension.
However, the vast majority of research participants (86%) consider dialogue to be an effective tool for resolving conflicts in their communities. IDPs from 2022 (92%) rate the dialogue’s effectiveness the most optimistically, IDPs from 2014 (90%) somewhat less, and respondents from the host population of communities (82%) the least.
Within the research, the issue of psychological health was also considered. At the time of the assessment, almost eight months into the full-scale war, a significant proportion of the respondents had maintained their psychological health. At the same time, it was found that 40% of respondents experience symptoms of depression (according to the general health questionnaire PHQ-9), in one form or another: 24% – mild, 11% – moderate, 4% – medium 1 % – heavy. Depression is most pronounced among IDPs from 2022 (44% experienced depression here, compared to 38% of residents of host communities and 36% of IDPs from 2014). Also, it is among IDPs displaced in 2022 that the highest proportion of those suffering from severe forms of depression. It has been established that the elderly (aged 60 and older) cope with psychological health problems worse, which is reflected more in their psycho-emotional state.
Based on the results of in-depth interviews, the integration of IDPs from 2014 can generally be characterized as successful in all 11 researched communities. The key factors of successful integration are personal capital of IDPs (intellectual, educational, financial, working age), active inclusion in the labor market, independent and conscious choice of community for permanent residence. An important factor was the small number of IDPs who arrived in the communities.
The integration of IDPs who moved after February 24, 2022, is still at the initial stage, so it is too early to talk about its effectiveness. However, it was found to occur unevenly in most communities and is slower in smaller ones.
The recording of the research presentation can be viewed at the link.