Healthy Ageing Futures for Older Women Asylum Seekers: Advancing Oral Histories and Futures Methods

Introduction

This paper examines methodological innovations and challenges in researching ageing futures for older women who seek asylum or are refugees in England. Whilst there are discrepancies over the actual number of displaced persons across the world, the figures are nonetheless staggering. In 2018, Fish and Fakoussa maintained that there were 59.9 million forcibly displaced persons around the globe. The UK were host to 117,161 refugees and 36,383 asylum seekers. Global displacement figures highlight the scale of forced migration, with the UN estimating 108.4 million forcibly displaced persons worldwide in 2022 (Coumans & Wark, 2024). Migration, particularly asylum seeking, is rarely a straightforward transition to safety (Kushner, 1988); it often entails prolonged journeys, further traumas, and ongoing instability in host countries (Hunner-Kreisel & Bohne, 2016; McDowell, 2018). Older women who seek asylum or are refugees face unique challenges due to cultural norms, isolation, language barriers, and expectations around caregiving (Motia, 2023). These factors exacerbate mental health risks and limit their access to external services and support. Tomkow (2020: 1) refers to “pain stories” and the need therefore to consider the social, economic and political world into which asylum seekers are flung when they journey from their home countries to a place of refuge. Migrants’ journeys and their arrival in high-income countries are fraught with difficulties. As Dubus (2018) argues, these challenges include issues of marginalisation, separatism and suspicion.

The project draws on findings from four focus groups that explored how communities can support healthy ageing for older women who seek asylum or are refugees using a place-based, interdisciplinary approach. Working with local asylum and refugee charities, the project team, which included members from the University of Manchester and the national charity, Age UK, engaged with the innovative methodology (Hall, 2023) “Oral Histories and Futures.” This method integrates traditional oral history techniques with future-oriented prompts and participatory activities, enabling participants to reflect on past experiences while imagining future possibilities.

The purpose of this paper is to offer insights into the design and implementation of a novel application of the methodology and how its use supported innovative findings with these women. Specifically, we explore how to deploy and develop oral history approaches that meaningfully and sensitively account for these women’s experiences and their potential futures of ageing healthily. Whilst the methodological reflections are central to this article, the key findings which arose from them are critical to the insights of how Oral Histories and Futures framed the study. We have therefore structured the findings around three critical learning points, which encompass both aspects of the project: learning point one: planning data collection (“From the personal to the universal”), learning point two: conducting focus groups (“Participatory oral history”), and learning point three: fostering outcomes (“Oral history for future change”). These findings advance understanding of the women’s experiences and demonstrate how innovative methodologies can uncover nuanced perspectives and foster network building among participants.

Background Literature: Healthy Ageing, Forced Migration and Gender Difference

There is a substantial amount of literature which considers the experiences of older migrants across the globe, particularly in the United States of America (USA), Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) (Baarnhielm, 2016; Baarnhielm et al., 2017; Bernardes et al., 2010; Ceneda, 2003; Georgeou et al., 2023; Kang et al., 2019; Lai & Surood, 2013; Markides et al., 2008/9; Markides & Rote, 2018; Nguyen, 2011; Tomkow, 2020; Tomkow et al., 2020; Trang, 2008/9; Vojvoda et al., 2008; Zhou, 2012). However, these studies fail to delineate the need for a gendered analysis of the experiences of older women who apply for asylum (Bernardes et al., 2010; Ceneda, 2003). Much of the research explores the experiences of both sexes, with limited differentiation (Baarnheilm 2016; Kang et al., 2019; Lai 2013; Nguyen, 2011; Tomkow, 2020; Tomkow et al., 2020; Trang, 2008/9; Vojvoda et al., 2008). Given that older women asylum seekers and refugees often experience the adverse effects of ageing earlier than their male counterparts and live in poorer health, such a lack of gender and age specific research seems an oversight (Krobisch et al., 2021).

There are occasional exceptions to this, which have provided critical foregrounding to our work. Shemarani and O’Connor (2006) study specifically outlines the dangers to women in Iran post Islamic Revolution in 1978. However, of the five women who were interviewed regarding their migration to Canada, only two stated they had left because of fear. Vega’s (2017) study in the USA did focus on older women specifically, using the America Time Use Survey, however, the focus was on those who had arrived in the USA to care for their grandchildren, rather than to seek asylum. There was no information on the reason for their family’s initial migration. Only Dubus’s (2018) qualitative study on Syrian women refugees in Iceland, specifically targeted women who were forced migrants. Having recruited eight women who were willing to be interviewed one-to-one, the focus was very much on the services they received on arrival and the first year of their resettlement process.

Much of the current research considers the intersection between the asylum-seeking process and present selves. We are yet to find examples where research created a space in which the participants considered their future selves and therefore the process of ageing in place. Nonetheless, there are a number of studies in which the trajectory of the migrants’ health experiences is considered. Kearns et al.’s (2016) quantitative research, for instance, was based on an interview survey of communities in Glasgow and focused on the decline in health whilst asylum seekers waited for their refugee status. They noted that although migrants often arrive in better health than the indigenous population, as they experience the health inequalities prevalent in the UK, especially if they live in poor urban environments, their health and health behaviours deteriorate rapidly. Such health inequalities are exacerbated in the challenges that asylum seekers face seeking health services (Tomkow et al., 2020). It is acknowledged that no asylum seekers are entitled to work and that this often leads to destitution (Mayblin, 2014). However, whereas younger asylum seekers may have the opportunity to work once they have refugee status, it is unlikely that older women refugees will have any expectation of engaging in the public world of work. The fear of future and continued destitution may therefore have a profound effect on their ability to age well. Thus, Bernardes’s et al. (2010) and Fish and Fakoussa’s (2018) research, which explored the myriad of mental health issues faced by asylum seekers and refugees, offer valuable insights to the psychological obstacles to ageing well. This was particularly the case in Fish and Fakoussa (2018) who highlighted the problems which asylum seekers face trying to navigate what they refer to as the “System”, by which they mean the asylum-seeking system, through which they face ongoing discrimination. When the threat of possible deportation is present, fears about one’s future are increased further (Liebling et al., 2014).

By exploring the intersection between past, present and future, our research sought to build directly on this foundational literature. Specifically, our objective was to consider the impact of ageing on older women who seek asylum or are refugees and understand ways they can be enabled to develop future methods for happy and healthy ageing in the UK, with a focus on Northern England (where the research team are based). Additionally, our study explored the use of Oral Histories and Futures methodology within the project and how a novel manner of applying this methodology created a way in which this specific group’s experiences could be engaged and understood. In the following section we situate the role of oral history methods in research with vulnerable people, before discussing our research design and innovative methodological approach.

Oral History Methods in Research with Vulnerable People

The present study applied a novel usage of oral history methodology to explore the perceptions of older women who seek asylum or are refugees, on ageing in England. The purpose of oral history is to enable the participant to speak of their past and the past in which they lived. Typically, oral history interviews are carried out with those whose life experiences have otherwise been marginalised, minoritised or silenced. Oral history narration brings meaning, value and attention to the life of the interviewee (Sarker, 2012), which can be an empowering experience. In 1965, historian Saul Benison, who had been an integral member of the Oral History Office at Columbia University, New York, reflected on the value and purpose of oral history: “Gathering the autobiographies of contemporaries in effect makes a historical laboratory of the recent past and brings living memory in contact with both primary and secondary materials” (Benison, 1965, p. 71). From the 1980s when historians in the UK started to develop an interest in the lives of ordinary people and communities, oral history became a critical vehicle to capture otherwise unheard life stories (Kushner, 2011). In the late 1990s, the eminent oral historians, Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson (1998) reflected on the power of oral history over the previous half a century in the opening salvo of The Oral History Reader. They argued that the most distinctive contribution of the method was the recording of the experiences of “groups of people who might otherwise have been ‘hidden from history’”(p.ix).

Oral history offers a unique perspective for projects which work with vulnerable people and which may have a social justice impact on their lives (Janesick, 2014). As our current project conducted research with older women we hoped that the methodology could develop our understanding of how best to support these women to age well. However, oral history has a number of potential pitfalls, which need to be acknowledged. At the centre of oral history is memory (Jordanova, 2000, p. 1), but this poses multiple problems for both the historian and the participant. Oral history has been beset with criticisms of the vulnerability of memory since its inception (Hobsbawm, 1997, p. 273). In the early post-war period oral historians endeavoured to combat their critics by placing the nature of memory and the validity of oral testimony alongside positivist historians of the day. According to Thomson (1999), by the 1970s, oral historians were becoming far more confident in projecting the value of oral history’s “peculiarities” (p. 33). Feminist oral historians in particular started to focus on the inter-subjectivity of their work. Such shared perception enables the relationship and formation of the participant-interviewer dyad in order to develop narrative and meaning. In the contemporary period, oral historians are concerned with both the power of truth when working with marginalised groups and working with the participant to interrogate their understanding of their past (Sheftel & Zembrzycki, 2010). Penny Summerfield’s analysis of “composure” is particularly salient. As Summerfield (2004) argues, in the oral history interview, the participant not only composes their life story, but finds composure in its telling, they “make sense of the subject matter they recall by interpreting it” (p.67); a point worth remembering if the impulse to ‘lead’ the participant arises (Tydor Baumel, 2000). Empathy is critical therefore in order to mitigate against objectifying personal stories (LaCapra, 2001), and criticising when the narrative does not correspond with ‘known’ events.

Traditional oral history interviewing relies on memory-telling by participants who act as narrators of their own lives. Memories are framed within what Abrams (2010: 83) refers to as episodic memories – those memories that enable the participant to recall not only an event but also their place in that event. For asylum seekers and refugees, the trauma of their escape from a place of danger, a perilous journey and arrival in a place of safety, will have a profound effect on how they remember each stage. Nevertheless, this should not be a reason to doubt the memories or their importance for the people themselves. Within their “composed” narratives this community have significant “flash-bulb” memories of individual incidences, both positive and challenging (Summerfield, 2004), suggesting a deeper recollection of details and providing valuable data about the experiences and understandings they had of their migration. Where the memories are distressing, as migrants’ memories often are, these flash-bulb memories are even more acute and sometimes visceral. As Baird (2012) maintains, memories are much more likely to be remembered if they are significant, especially if they are accompanied with a physical or emotional experience. For the asylum seeker and refugee, the traumas associated with torture, forced exile, leaving families and escape, harnesses the memories of these events.

Despite the traumas of the past, for many vulnerable people, telling one’s story is cathartic (Reynolds, 2012). As the narrator, a person can construct their history and self through the oral history encounter with another individual (Abrams, 2014). Marshall Clark (2011) argues that the value of oral history for the participant lies in part with its ability to restore, “a sense of order in the telling of their life narrative” (p. 263). The participant orders and re-orders their past, mediating events through their experiences, beliefs and language (Boschma et al., 2008). Nevertheless, close enquiries of challenging pasts can be dangerous and it is essential that the researcher does not confuse catharsis and therapy. As Dickson-Swift et al. (2006) argue, qualitative researchers often engage with participants on sensitive topics, which can feel very similar to a therapeutic interview. While participants often value the telling of their story to someone interested in it, the qualitative researcher is not trained in therapeutic counselling. It is therefore critical that the researcher be mindful of the boundaries of safety and sensitive to issues which could raise the spectre of past traumas (Brooks, 2024). This might include meeting with participants in advance to gauge any topics they would prefer not to discuss; reminding participants throughout the research process that they only share details that feel comfortable to them; and liaising with gatekeepers to identify potential trigger points. Alongside the need for care, oral history is “built around people” (Thompson, 2000, p. 23) and is thus critical to community-based history (Thomson, 2008). It is a valuable tool when researching the unheard – the working class, ordinary women and marginalised groups, communities about whom little has been written or said (Thomson, 1999).

Our Study: Design and Methods

This research study considers the lives of older women who seek asylum or are refugees. With our interests in healthy ageing futures, our research needed be designed to understand the women’s pasts, present and future lives. By listening to and amplifying these experiences, our project was designed with the intention to enable the rediscovery of self by the women who spoke; women whose lives have traditionally been neglected by their own communities, the communities into which they migrate and the research community (Etter-Lewis, 1991, p. 43). By using an oral history methodology, our empirical approach was guided by the principle that such women were able to “validate their past lives and reconcile them to their current situation” (Baird, 2012, p. 66). In her article on intergenerational migration stories, Buccitelli (2016) argues that those who have undergone migration, need to not only mediate between their cultural experiences and environments in their narrations, but also between their past and futures to create a world for the younger generation. We wanted participants to consider themselves in the future.

To engage with the women’s pasts and futures, including their “imaginaries – thoughts, hopes, dreams, desires possibilities”, we decided to innovate with the methodological approached called Oral Histories and Futures (Hall, 2023). This approach explicitly seeks to develop an understanding of “how the person we are today is shaped by the person we might want to become at some other point in the future” (Hall & Barron, 2021). Oral Histories and Futures thus enabled us to think about the women’s worlds as bound within both space – where they were – and time – when they were there. It encapsulates five innovations with oral history methods, two of which were of particular interest to our project. This includes the inclusion of future-facing prompts which are both speculative (How do you imagine the future?) and retrospective (How did you think the future would be?), and creative participatory techniques to accompany a future-facing discussion, such as writing a postcard to your future self (see Hall & Barron, 2021). The value of the methodology is that it enables researchers to uncover the life crises as a continuum, from past to present and into participants’ future lives (Hall, 2023). The method thus helped to map the movement and experiences of the women’s pre-migrant existence, to the time when they fled their home countries and their methods of escape, to their coming to England. It provided a framework in which the project team could work with the women to understand their time as an asylum seeker – in limbo – to the moment where for some they gained the right to remain. Finally, it helped the women and the team to map the women’s future lives in the UK, their health and their family life, together.

Oral Histories and Futures was, at its inception a tool to uncover the experiences of austerity and how it impacted on young families’ choices of reproduction, whether to have any or more children. Set in the North East of England, Oral Histories and Futures enabled Hall (2023) to explore crises across the lifespan of young people as simultaneously the lifespan of austerity. The original project used one to one Oral Histories and Futures interviews, six via the telephone and six using the digital platform Zoom. We decided to innovate the principle of Oral Histories and Futures, as built on oral history methods with new future-facing elements and instead of one-to-one interviews, use in-person focus groups. Because the focus groups built on traditional oral history method in which the team were to explore the women’s pasts, present and futures, we refer to term the groups as ‘Forward Facing Focus Groups (FFFGs)’.

The decision to use focus groups was made for several practical and ethical reasons. First, and primarily, following Public and Participant Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) discussions with refugee organisations and experts-by-experience undertaken before the project started, we were aware that the women would feel more comfortable in a group where they had the support of other older women. The FFFGs were therefore a co-created safe space in which the women could share their stories, develop networks of familiarity and community environment. Second, there were time constraints because of the allotted length of the project – one year only – and the existence of Ramadan in the middle of the allotted period for data collection. Third, all the interviews would require an interpreter and as is often the case, our budget could not extend to multiple interpreters for individual interviews. Bagnall and Yarker (2022) acknowledge that individual interviews elicit more information, however, meeting with others who are familiar can aid recruitment. As will be discussed below, the women talked about the project between themselves and all were very keen to take part together. We were fascinated to find that the decision to use FFFGs was born out in the data, as the key finding was the importance of family, social engagement and networks to supporting healthy and happy ageing. Finally, using group interviews meant that following the “postcards to future selves” activity, the women could share their ideas, again supporting their experiences and desires for the future.

Following ethical approval from the University of Manchester Ethics Committee, ref: 2023-13419-32180, the refugee organisations who had agreed to act as gatekeepers for the study were contacted to begin recruitment. We collaborated with two organisations, one urban and one rural. The decision to work within both a metropolitan and a rural community was informed by the understanding that experiences of migrants are very different, depending on the environment they are located. Those who are located in ‘new’ rural destinations, face additional challenges because of poor infrastructure, the local, often homogenous population and the greater area over which they can be located (McAreavey, 2012).

Purposeful sampling, a method which seeks to select participants with particular characteristics (Bowling, 2009) was applied and we recruited for four focus groups with a planned total of up to thirty-two older women. In the UK (as in other Western countries), older age is often determined by the end of one’s working life and retirement, typically sixty-five. Nevertheless, social determinants affect the ability to age well, leaving those in deprived areas with lower ages of mortality and poorer health in older age. Age UK, the leading charity for older people in the UK has therefore set the point of older age at fifty. In the Global South, with limited retirement funds and poorer access to a lifetime of healthcare, older age is likely to start even earlier. Furthermore, countries may delineate older age through different mechanisms, for example, in Cambodia, by birth of first grandchild (Dubus, 2014). Nevertheless, in previous studies with older women migrants, fifty years old has been taken as the age for recruitment (Vega, 2017). The decision was therefore made to include women from the age of fifty. However, through the urban organisation we found that several participants were under fifty years of age, with the youngest being only forty-six. Friendly discussions between the older women who use the charity’s space, meant that word-of-mouth created a much wider pool of women who wished to participate. It is possible that given the cultural differences between Western and African and Middle Eastern countries, these women considered themselves to belong to an older age group even though they were only in their 40s. We therefore accepted their self-identification as older. As they had arrived at the organisation’s centre having read the participant information sheet and ready to sign the consent form. The project team felt that it would be neither ethical nor fair to turn them away.

A total of 29 women participated in one of four focus groups. Focus groups were stratified by language to facilitate support from translators, with one focus group undertaken in Amharic and Tigrinya (Group 1: N = 10), two focus groups undertaken in Arabic (Group 2: N = 11; Group 4: N = 5), and one group in Spanish and English (Group 3: N = 3). Participant ages ranged between 46 – 77 years, ( X ¯ = 55). Countries of origin included Dubai (N = 1), Pakistan (N = 1), Eritrea (N = 7), Ethiopia (N = 1), Zimbabwe (N = 1), Ghana (N = 1), Yemen (N = 1), Syria (N = 7), Iraq (N = 2), Spain (N = 1), El Salvador (N = 2), Sri Lanka (N = 1), Sudan (N = 2), and Somali (N = 1). Participants described their immigration status as refugee (N = 12), asylum seeker (N = 2), migrant (N = 1), or did not disclose (N = 12). Time spent living in the UK ranged between several months to 30 years. Although only 14 of the 29 participants identified as actually an asylum seeker or refugee the project team decided it was appropriate to categorize them as asylum seekers or refugees for the purpose of the study. This decision was taken for two key reasons. First, all the women were part of an asylum-seeking and refugee charitable organisation, therefore identifying as someone who either was or had sought asylum. Second, it was clear from the discussions in the focus groups that whatever the reason for their migration, all the women felt they needed to leave their countries of origin. We had given them the choice as to whether they wished to provide information of their status for our demographic data and it appeared that several simply did not wish to give us this information individually.

Having gender parity for interviews has been seen as supporting participation (Sah et al., 2018). Williams (2004) also points to the challenges women asylum seekers have when faced with male interpreter. During the discussions at the original PPIE meeting, which were conducted via Zoom, one of the experts-by-experience revealed stories of sexual violence. The decision was therefore taken to only use female members of the project team and female interpreters to support the focus groups with both organisations. All the FFFGs also had female member of staff from the refugee organisations present throughout. The latter decision was valuable, as all the staff knew the participants and could therefore direct questions to individuals and support if any distress was observed. All the women consented to the focus groups being audio recorded. The English translations of the recorded focus groups were then transcribed by a professional service. Each FFFG took about 2 hours, including discussion, lunch and the postcards to future self.

Reflecting on Key Learning Points

This project was challenging for many reasons. First, we were working with predominantly non-English speakers who are vulnerable and largely hidden from the general population. Second, we used a methodology, which while having been applied in other research studies, had not been tested in focus groups. Third, we were working through gatekeepers of charitable organisations who have not been used to working directly with academic researchers. The project team worked closely together to mitigate some of these challenges. We conducted the focus groups in pairs where possible and used experienced interpreters. The originator of the methodology was part of the project team, so she supported the learning of the other team members in its use. Finally, we held meetings with both gatekeepers before we started data collection to develop relationships and strategies for collaborative working.

All transcripts analysed by all members of the project team, broadly using Braun and Clark’s methods for thematic analysis (2020). This included, familiarising ourselves with the data, generating initial codes and then from generating to confirming themes (Byrne, 2022). As we generated the themes, we considered both how using the Oral Histories and Futures methodology acted to support our research, what learning could be taken from them for future research and also what the women themselves were telling us. We therefore decided to refer to the themed reflections as “Reflections on learning points”. In this reflection section, the key methodological lessons are discussed in relation to the two key aspects of the research. First, the project’s use of Oral Histories and Futures methodology and its value to the project aims. Second, the exploration of the research aims, to understand ways the women can be enabled to age happily and healthily in the UK. The first learning point was delineated “From the Personal to the Universal”. This reflection considers how the team planned for the conduct of the FFFGs in line with the concerns of the gatekeepers over possible distress for the participants as they recalled their lives, past, present and future. We have called the second learning point “Participatory Oral History”, within it we explore what actually happened in the moment, during the FFFGs. The final learning point is that of “Oral History for Future Change”. This reflection examines the quality of the data we generated – which was encouraging for researchers and the positive impact that the approach had on the women involved.

Learning Point 1: From the Personal to the Universal

Brown (2006) argues that the diversity of migrant women’s backgrounds means that researchers need to pay attention to heterogeneity. Nevertheless, as argued above, there are universal challenges. This project started in 2022 with a PPIE meeting between a local refugee organisation and four experts-by-experience, all of whom spoke Lingala. All four women were over sixty years old and at least one was over seventy. They had all been in the UK for at least six years and had their asylum applications rejected. The purpose of the meeting was to develop the semi-structured interview schedule for the focus groups. All four women said they were struggling with life in the UK. Their challenges have been highlighted by multiple studies worldwide. The major topic they raised was the problem of living accommodation. As the British Red Cross (2024) report maintains, many of those who seek asylum are in insecure housing, “The frequent relocation of people seeking asylum poses a real risk that they may fall through the gaps in the health system” (p.59). The second key challenge was accessing health services. As they were not entitled to bus passes or basic English tuition, they faced financial and language barriers in arranging and attending GP or hospital appointments. The other two critical aspects to their migration experiences were hazardous journeys to England and financial destitution once here. These four issues began the framing of the interview schedule for the FFFGs, which it was anticipated would include women from the organisation which supported the PPIE meeting.

The FFFGs were intended to begin with personally directed questions about the women’s experiences before they arrived in the UK and now. Beginning with traditional oral history questions about their previous life: “What was your life like before you came to England?” We then planned to move into the Oral Histories and Futures methodology by exploring present and future selves: “What is your life like now?”; “Is your life now as you imagined it would be?”; “How did you imagine your life to be in the future?” All these questions would be supplemented with prompts such as, “How did that feel?” and “How has this shaped you now?”. Unfortunately, when we were ready to start the formal research, the original refugee collaborating organisation was unable to continue to help. The project team therefore approached an urban charity and a rural area of Sanctuary, who agreed to take part.

The change of collaborating organisations meant we needed to engage once more with gatekeepers and the organisations’ own experts-by-experience. This PPIE meeting took place in October 2023, with the two gatekeepers and an expert-by-experience from the charities. This expert-by-experience originally arrived in the UK seeking asylum, spoke English and was able to follow the conversation and provide valuable input. The view from the two organisations’ gatekeepers was that we could not ask such personal questions. Instead, they asked that we couch the interviews in more general terms. For example, instead of asking, “What was your life like before you came to England?” we needed to ask, “What sort of lives do older women have where you came from?”. It is not clear why the Lingala speakers and the organisation that supported their participation were happy with the more personal questioning, but the gatekeepers from the two charities who ultimately supported the work, were concerned about the impact such questioning may have on the participants from their organisations. Such an issue reminded us, as researchers, to be mindful of difference. Heterogeneity creates both for a breadth of narrative but also provides the researcher with clear challenges. How do you engage with multiple experiences when that means multiple voices with very different attitudes towards recounting those experiences? The shift from the personal to the universal necessarily meant a move away from traditional oral history method or even the Oral Histories and Futures methodology, which focus on personal experience, to a set of broadly perceived cultural expectations. Nevertheless, even though the project team couched their questions in the universal, most participants discussed their personal experiences.

The eventual FFFGs reflected both the heterogeneous nature of the asylum-seeking population, even amongst this very small cohort of older women and also some universal concerns. Whilst some of their worries mirrored the thoughts of the original experts-by-experience, the key messages afforded some marked differences. Housing, which was so important for the original experts-by-experience, was only mentioned by one participant in the FFFGs. However, this participant’s concerns about their living arrangements reflected the challenge of housing in cities: “because housing is a big shortage in [city] at the moment and obviously people are sent outside the city, so obviously here I’m far from my community.” What is particularly significant about this quote is that it raises the critical issue from all the FFFGs: the importance of community and family. One woman from Sub-Saharan Africa said that life in her country for an older woman was, “with the children, with the family together. Never separate out from the family” (FFFG 1). Another articulated, “When an older woman fell sick, the others - her daughters, her sons looked after her… So very much part of the - embedded in the family” (FFFG 2). The Spanish-speaking participants also mentioned family, though it was more about their caring than being cared for, “So, she needs to carry on in order to sustain and help her family, her kids, her grandkids” (FFFG 3). One of the challenges therefore for the project team was to generate meaningful themes from the FFFGs without either falling into the trap of seeing older women who seek asylum or are refugees, as a homogenous cohort or denying universal concerns. The focus taken therefore was on the importance of reflecting on those participating in the research. This means project teams need to rethink and adjust the modes of questions and ideas depending on the women’s experiences and their own words.

Learning Point 2: Participatory Oral History

Despite the need to consider the women as heterogeneous, the decision to hold focus group interviews rather than individual ones, can lend itself to an analysis that is more homogenous. We decided to use groups to enhance a sense of community and offer support networks to those who may be increasingly isolated because of language and accommodation. Previous studies have emphasised the challenges for older women asylum seeker and refugees because they are less likely to work, more likely to come from countries where women’s existence is within the domestic environment and less likely therefore to have the language skills of their new country (Kearns et al., 2016; Motia, 2023). The decision to have groups rather than individual interviews raised numerous challenges for the project team, but importantly for the project, the focus group environment emulated the key reflection, which was generated from them, the need for community.

The optimum number of participants for a focus group is usually considered to be between four to ten (Conradson, 2013). The project team anticipated up to eight women in a group but felt it would be better to have fewer, as there would need to be interpretation throughout. Two FFFGs however comprised ten and eleven women respectively. All the women spoke at once, despite being asked to speak individually. As there were at least two languages in each FFFG (Amharic, Tigrinya and English in one and Arabic and English in the other), interpretation had to occur between those who did not speak English and the researcher and also between participants who did not share a common language. There was a substantial level of movement around the room, into the kitchen area and discussion with other members of the community. As several of the women were younger than originally anticipated, they needed to leave early to collect children from school, creating an additional challenge to the integrity of the group. The FFFGs therefore felt chaotic to the researchers. Yet, feedback from the gatekeeper was that the women had all thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and found participating in the FFFGs a valuable way to connect with other older women asylum seekers and refugees and talk about their experiences.

The research team developed two conclusions from the session. First, the very different ways in which women from different cultures interact. Expectations therefore need to be amended by Western project teams when working with participants from other cultures in research studies. Learning points include the necessity for teams to anticipate multiple discussions existing concurrently in a focus group environment, which can affect the data generated. In order to mitigate this, research teams should consider using an interpreter with particular expertise as part of a research project, rather than interpreters whose usual work is with professional services, such as those employed for legal or medical purposes. The second and key learning point, was how important community is to these women and the focus groups provided personal contact and engagement for those who had hitherto been isolated. As the women looked to their older, future selves, they wanted more contact with women from similar backgrounds: “So, if we could have some community, some place where over 50s and 60s can get together and get their own hobbies like a school type, they will go together, they will mingle up, they will… They will do what they want and at that time they won’t be lonely at home any more” (FFFG 1). The need for community support was clear, “She wants to be involved and very important is the community… She feels alone” (FFFG 4). The desire for a community space for older women to engage with each other and share traditional skills, despite it seems that many women spoke different languages to each other, was raised again at the end of study dissemination events. The request has been for weekly or fortnightly meetings during which the women could look to the future, not dwell in the past. They wanted group activities, where they could cook, craft and have English language support. Therefore, although the focus groups were difficult to manage for the researchers, we recommend that there is an ethical imperative for researchers to allow for some flexibility of participant inclusion criteria and to be prepared to include some participants on the day who may be just outside some of parameters of the research team’s criteria. Given the importance of involvement to the participants, the ethical cost from adhering rigidly to predefined study criteria would be greater than any perceived threat to methodological fidelity from assuming a more flexible approach.

While family and community were equally as important to the Spanish-speaking women, the idea of developing communities of women for the Spanish speakers went beyond support for themselves and was quite different in focus to those women from the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. As with their consideration of the importance of family, it was very much what they could give to the community which had given them refuge, which was seen as critical to their healthy and happy ageing: “like do some social volunteering in maybe helping with GPs and with all these more daily activities to other people in our community from our countries” (FFFG 3). Another Spanish speaker reflected on the challenges of living in a more rural environment for accessing community events: “yesterday they started with a session for painting, weekly sessions, but I cannot participate. I cannot go. It’s far away” (FFFG 3). The importance for the project was the mirroring of the desire for community and networks with the group meetings and interviews. Thus, while the FFFGs were challenging spaces in which to uncover the experiences and motivations of the women, Oral Histories and Futures enabled the project team to develop a sense of the women’s movement from isolation to a future life of engagement, friendship and thus a happier older age.

Learning Point 3: Oral History for Future Change

Using a developed method of oral history proved highly effective for this project. The literature suggests that the women’s past experiences were critical in the way they navigated their lives post-migration. It was clear that the differences in the life expectations for women in their original countries engendered different methods of managing their lives in their new country. Bagnall and Yarker (2022) argue that migrants’ social capital, social environment and access to networks are critical to resilience in crisis, such as migrating to a new country where nothing is familiar. As Choudhry (2001) maintains, resettlement is not just about adapting to a new culture – it means challenges to long-held beliefs and practices that are at odds with the new country and learning new ways to live to ensure “a harmonious life” (p.376). These challenges, coupled with what might be a higher level of ethnic attachment in those from predominantly Muslim cultures and lower educational attainment makes settlement more difficult, especially regarding the acquisition of English language (Kim, 1999). The final key learning point for future research may be the need to engage as far as possible with positive social norms of the participants. By this we mean, supporting the expectations of older women, such as being integrated with their family and their role as grandmothers to support child care, particularly when asking them to think about their hopes and expectations for the future.

Most of the women from the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, whose lives before migration had centred around the domestic, struggled to make connections in the UK. Those in the Spanish and English-speaking FFFG also spoke of the domestic space as a woman’s environment but had additional expectations of life and work in the public world: “Women in their country are very hard workers. Even if they are not professionals, they are doing activities like selling products, business and I also mention about the importance of physical exercise and [being] very active” (FFFG 3). Oral Histories and Futures enabled the project team to uncover the positive changes for one participant as she negotiated her life in the UK. This English-speaking refugee had worked as a translator and had even translated documents for the Government of her country of origin (FFFG 3). This participant has now set up her own business making pickles and chutneys, ensuring her economic independence for the future.

Despite these differences, the women had some clear common ground, which promoted their engagement with each other and the project. In the reflections on their past lives, they all stated that in their original cultures, there was an expectation of a woman’s place in the domestic, so food and sharing food was critical to their lives. In her discussion of her interviews with Iraqi women migrants, Jones-Gailani (2017) argues that the serving of coffee marked the shift from the formal aspect of the interview to the informal, where the women were more likely to share intimate stories. We served food at all four FFFGs and the dissemination events. At the urban charity space, as there is a kitchen on the premises, the women themselves prepared the food, adding to a sense of self-worth and cultural capital. According to Onerati (2021/2), “food agency… is a major source of well-being for forced migrants.” Vandevoordt (2017) argues that the offering of food by refugees is critical to their sense of self-worth. Most asylum seekers are beholden to their new country to supply food, but when they can supply for others, it increases their autonomy and gives them a sense of purpose as the host, rather than the hosted. For older women, whose whole lives had been embedded in the domestic, being able to provide food for other women, as well as the project team, therefore supported their social position. At each FFFG the food was eaten during the “postcards to future self” element of the focus group.

The postcard to future self was a part of the original creation of the Oral Histories and Futures methodology (Hall, 2023). In their recommendations for using the methodology, Hall and Barron (2021), suggest introducing the task later in the interview. We found that by engaging with the task during lunch and after the main part of the FFFG, when the women were used to being together, facilitated better discussion and allowed the project team to end on a positive note for the future. All the women were asked to either write or draw some advice to themselves in the future. For those who could not write in English, the interpreter wrote their postcards for them or translated from their first language for the project team. Most initially found this exercise a challenge, until the project team suggested what they might write to their own future selves. For example, one of the team members said that she would tell her future self to stay as active as possible, for the sake of both her physical and mental health. The women then engaged and were happy to pass around their postcards and discuss what they had written or drawn. As Hall (2023) argues, she found that this exercise enabled discussions on more abstract concepts like one’s future. Despite the heterogeneity of the women who took part, most raised the importance of family and particularly their children and grandchildren to their futures and the need to maintain good health to support the development of their younger families: “please look after your health because your children needs [sic] you and if you are healthy your children will be happy”, “I like to be next to my family”, “love the life because of your children”. These findings validate both Buccitelli’s (2016) ideas about the importance of intergenerational stories and Thomson’s assertion that women’s life stories emphasise “the significance of relationships rather than the sense of autonomous agency apparent in men’s stories” (Thomson, 1999, p. 29).

The final events were the meetings to showcase the animated video of the project findings. The film is available in all five languages of the participants in YouTube (Brooks et al., 2024). As with the FFFGs, the meetings were held over lunchtime, with the women again preparing food to share. Because the meetings were mixed languages, we relied on community members to translate and used Google translate, which we found valuable for informal conversation. Although the sharing of familiar food and multiple points of interpretation meant the event was noisy and chaotic, the laughter and engagement in culturally appropriate activities whilst watching the video were a vital way to facilitate conversation about the next phase of the project. All the women were keen to continue to participate and many had ideas as to what should follow.

Conclusion

Through the recruitment of participants in both a major city and a rural environment in Northern England, the research team were able to uncover the challenges faced in the two types of communities, particularly the added isolation faced by asylum seekers and refugees in rural areas. The two sites of study are not universal and do not reflect the lives of asylum seekers and refugees in and around London or coastal regions, which may have garnered a broader range of countries of origin and ethnicity. Several women also felt that had they been interviewed individually, they would have been able to provide greater detail of their experiences. Nevertheless, this is the first study to specifically explore the lives of older women who seek asylum or are refugees in the UK and the first to use Oral Histories and Futures in focus groups. For those who wish to use this methodology in future research projects, we recommend that asylum seekers and refugees are not homogenous and each group will require specific and tailored considerations about how research questions are framed during data collection. Aligned with this is the need for greater thought to the size of the focus groups. However, although smaller groups may facilitate more coherent discussions, it is important to acknowledge that sometimes unaccounted for potential participants may simply arrive, expecting to be part of the study. Therefore, we feel that future researchers need to expect the unexpected to ensure the ethical imperative for inclusivity on the day. Aligned with this and a likely implication from learning point three is the need to appreciate the social norms of any participants and the value in harnessing those norms, even if they are not entirely in keeping with formal research studies. So encouraging a noisy and social environment, while a challenge to researchers, benefits the participants and therefore their engagement. Finally, research teams could consider engaging as far as possible with positive social norms of the participants, such as their cultural and gendered expectations, particularly when conducting research that is likely to be sensitive and emotive.

According to Thomson (1999: 35) migrant testimonies are “an exemplar of the processes and difficulties of identity construction”. The narratives of the older women asylum seekers and refugees identify the challenges they continue to face as they navigate the asylum system in the UK and their place in this, their new country. The strength of this study was in its adaptation of the Oral Histories and Futures methodology, which through forward facing focus groups, enabled us to collaborate with the women to explore the intersection between their past, present and future lives as they consider their ability to age healthily and happily. Amongst older people who may more normally be asked to reflect on their past, the women felt that the focus on their futures was a positive way to view their lives. Working in a group enabled them to feel a sense of community.

Despite the heterogeneity of the women, some common reflections on their lives were uncovered. First, family and community are essential to their identities as older women and their ageing process. Second, in the absence of their families, being together and forging new networks are vital for their wellbeing. Third, their inability to communicate in English is a significant and ongoing challenge to daily life. However, because of cultural and age-related considerations, accessing English classes is more difficult for them than younger migrants. The overwhelming narrative of family and community as the key to a happy and healthy ageing is also a new finding and will be developed by the research team.