a link has been suggested between elevated levels of preterm birth among refugee women and refugee stress, based on theories of stress-induced hormonal changes. potential stressors are likely to be found before, during and after migration in up-rooted life situations, violence exposure, separation or acculturation processes increased risks of adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes have been reported, particularly among somali migrant women, but levels of preterm births in these women do not seem to comply with the same high risk pattern. in a recent qualitative study, swedish midwives did not describe somali-born women specidically as victims of violence or post-traumaitc stress, despite their background of war, migration and adverse birth out-comes. these findings raise questions about how somali-born women perceive past and present violence, what strategies they apply to cope with these issue and in what ways the midwife might be a resource in these processes.