Feeling Community During War: Community Resilience of Ukrainian Women Refugees in Italy

Community resilience contributes to coping with the trauma of war and the difficulties associated with forced migration, promoting refugees’ well-being, and integration into the host context. After the Russian-Ukrainian conflict began, approximately 180 thousand Ukrainian refugees, most of whom were women and children, arrived in Italy. This study aimed to explore the community resilience factors perceived by Ukrainian refugees in the Italian host context since the outbreak of war. The data for this study were gathered through 20 semistructured interviews that were conducted between February and December 2022 in Italy with Ukrainian women refugees and were analyzed using a grounded methodology. The themes that emerged were the definitions of community, faith and spirituality, communication and information, leadership, and social support as community resilience factors perceived by refugees. Practical implications for the host context promoting integration and wellbeing utilizing an ecological and multilevel perspective are discussed.