The loneliness of unaccompanied minors

Poor health, inclusion and ethical dilemmas at the refugee reception in two northern rural municipalities in Sweden

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to highlight the unaccompanied minors' own voices and their experiences of loneliness and exclusion. The article is based on qualitative interviews with 36 young people who came to two northern rural municipalities without guardians during the refugee wave in 2015. In addition, the authors have reflected on the actual interview situation and their own research role from an affective perspective. The study shows that various forms of loneliness are a recurring theme in the young people's stories, such as not feeling a sense of belonging, not being seen and having to receive the derogatory glances of the outside world. The loneliness often appears as situational and connected with the migration experience and the initial reception in the recipient country. The interviews also contain voices of great loss, but also concern, in relation to the family of origin. Sometimes a distrust of the interview situation could be discerned, where the young people's lives made a strong impression, and loneliness was embodied. The results open for the need for direct and concrete efforts for our fellow human beings that are about caring for these young people and their vast existential loneliness.