IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v14y2025i2p95-d1586738.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Barriers to Social Service Access for Ukrainian Refugees with Disabilities in Georgia: Outreach and Communication

Author

Listed:
  • Kateryna Ihnatenko

    (Department of Social Work, Lugansk Taras Shevchenko National University, 03680 Kyiv, Ukraine)

  • Shorena Sadzaglishvili

    (School of Arts and Sciences, Ilia State University, 0162 Tbilisi, Georgia)

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the barriers to accessing social services for persons with disabilities among Ukrainian refugees and to examine how stakeholders can reach them through communication channels. The article analyzes the challenges faced by disabled Ukrainian refugees in Georgia. We employed a mixed methods approach to address this objective, combining quantitative and qualitative research methods. We surveyed 114 Ukrainian refugees with disabilities, aged 18 to 60+ ( n = 114), residing in Georgia, and conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 experts from civil society organizations assisting Ukrainian refugees, as well as 6 caregivers with diverse roles (e.g., mother, daughter, husband). The findings reveal significant difficulties faced by Ukrainian refugees with disabilities in accessing essential services such as healthcare, employment, psychological counseling, rehabilitation, early intervention services, legal aid, and information. The primary strategies employed by stakeholders providing humanitarian aid include individualized approaches and communication. However, while many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) assist Ukrainian refugees, there are currently no NGOs specifically focused on supporting children and adults with disabilities in this population.

Suggested Citation

  • Kateryna Ihnatenko & Shorena Sadzaglishvili, 2025. "Barriers to Social Service Access for Ukrainian Refugees with Disabilities in Georgia: Outreach and Communication," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-21, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:2:p:95-:d:1586738
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/2/95/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/2/95/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lluis Oviedo & Berenika Seryczyńska & Josefa Torralba & Piotr Roszak & Javier Del Angel & Olena Vyshynska & Iryna Muzychuk & Slava Churpita, 2022. "Coping and Resilience Strategies among Ukraine War Refugees," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-14, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martina Olcese & Paola Cardinali & Andrew P. Camilleri & Laura Migliorini, 2024. "Feeling Community During War: Community Resilience of Ukrainian Women Refugees in Italy," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1857-1875, December.
    2. Olena Khailenko & Alison M Bacon, 2024. "Resilience, avoidant coping and post-traumatic stress symptoms among female Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 70(6), pages 1164-1174, September.
    3. Magdalena Nowicka & Ewa Jarczewska-Gerc & Magdalena Marszal-Wisniewska, 2022. "Response of Polish Psychiatric Patients to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in February 2022―Predictive Role of Risk Perception and Temperamental Traits," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-11, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:2:p:95-:d:1586738. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.