The impact of a choir intervention designed from a community music perspective on the social integration process of Syrian refugee children living in Turkey

This research evaluates the effects of a choir intervention aimed at supporting the social integration processes of Syrian refugee children in Turkey from a community music perspective. Community music stands out as a tool that brings together individuals from different cultural backgrounds and supports cultural integration, sense of belonging and social acceptance. In this context, the effect of the choir intervention implemented to contribute to the social integration process of Syrian refugee children in Turkey on the social acceptance and social contact levels of both refugee children and Turkish children was examined. The research was conducted using mixed methods, and the "embedded design" method was preferred. In order to comprehensively evaluate a multidimensional process such as social integration, a mixed method was chosen; quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques were used together. In the quantitative dimension of the research, a single-subject pretest-posttest design was applied, and in the qualitative dimension, a descriptive analysis method was used. This mixed approach provided an in-depth perspective to the research and provided the opportunity to evaluate the effects of choir intervention on social integration from multiple perspectives. The participant group of the study consisted of Syrian refugee and Turkish children studying at Ziya Gökalp Secondary School in Batman. A total of 50 Turkish and 50 Syrian children studying in the 5th and 6th grades were included in the study. Due to the high number of participants and the large size of the group, the children were divided into two different groups according to their age groups. This arrangement provided an effective management and monitoring opportunity during the choir intervention. The choir intervention was carried out within the framework of a program consisting of four stages: warm-up activities, vocal opening exercises, choir songs and the final part. The choir songs used in the program were selected in accordance with the cultural backgrounds of the participating children. Two Turkish, one Arabic and one Kurdish songs were chosen in order to strengthen social integration, the acculturation-acculturation process, multiculturalism and the sense of belonging. The songs were planned in a structure that supported the children to express their own cultural roots and respect each other's cultures with a selection that reflected cultural diversity. Each session was organized in a spiral structure to establish a connection to the next session, thus aiming for the children to feel closer to each other at each stage and to strengthen social ties. In the quantitative data collection process of the study, the Social Acceptance Scale and Social Contact Scale were applied to Turkish and Syrian refugee children before and after the choir intervention sessions. These scales were selected to measure the change in children's social acceptance levels and the increase in their social interactions. After the application, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the children's parents and teachers, and the findings obtained from these interviews were examined using the descriptive analysis method. The interviews are important in terms of evaluating the children's relationships with their social environment before and after the choir intervention and providing in-depth information about their social adaptation processes. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed with demographic questions prepared in line with expert opinions for parents and teachers, as well as five semi-structured interview questions. Observations made throughout the study were recorded in the researcher's diary and evaluated by making comparisons before, during and after the process. The researcher's diary provided a detailed perspective on the children's individual and group developments during the choir intervention process; the changes observed during this process were associated with an increase in social acceptance and contact levels. The diary notes provided important findings regarding the children's social interactions, group dynamics and social adaptation processes, thus providing the opportunity to evaluate the effects of the choir intervention in more detail. The research findings show that the choir intervention has a significant and positive effect on the social integration processes of refugee children. The results obtained from the social acceptance and social contact scales reveal a significant increase in the social acceptance and contact levels of Syrian refugee children after the choir intervention. Similarly, an increase in the social acceptance and contact levels of Turkish children towards Syrian refugee children was observed. These results show that the choir intervention has positive effects not only on refugee children but also on local children and increases social interaction between both groups. The qualitative findings of the study reveal that the choir intervention contributes to the social integration of children and strengthens their sense of belonging in a multicultural environment. Interviews with parents and teachers confirm the increase in children's social acceptance levels and show that the choir intervention positively affects children's relationships with their social environment. In addition, observations made during the study reveal that children develop their skills in singing together, empathizing and respecting cultural diversity. The choir intervention helped children overcome cultural boundaries, enabled them to cooperate towards a common goal and contributed to the reduction of prejudices. The study emphasizes that community music-based interventions can be an effective tool in social integration processes. This intervention method has contributed to the perception of cultural diversity as a richness by reinforcing children's social acceptance and sense of belonging. The findings show that community music is an effective method in the context of social adaptation, acculturation-acculturation and multiculturalism. It has been concluded that choral intervention plays an important role in the process of children expressing their cultural identities and strengthening their sense of belonging, and that this intervention program can be used as a model in future integration studies. In conclusion, this research reveals how community music can contribute to the social integration processes of Syrian refugee children in Turkey. It was observed that the choir intervention provided a significant increase in the children's social acceptance levels and cultural awareness. This research shows that music-based social interventions offer an innovative perspective on integration policies and can play an important role in the construction of a multicultural society.