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Panter-Brick C, Eggerman JJ, Jefferies P, Qtaishat L, Dajani R, Kumar P. Does volunteering impact refugee women's life satisfaction, empowerment, and wellbeing? Experimental evidence, local knowledge, and causal reasoning. Soc Sci Med 2024; 347:116735. [PMID: 38552338 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2023] [Revised: 01/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND There are gaps in the evidence base addressing whether volunteering programs enhance the wellbeing, empowerment, and life satisfaction of individual volunteers. Program impacts are seldom rigorously evaluated, whilst construct meanings remain largely unspecified, especially in the Middle East. This study tested the impacts of We Love Reading, a program training volunteers to read aloud in their local communities. It also mapped local knowledge representation. METHODS We conducted a mixed-method program evaluation based on a randomized cluster trial with 105 Syrian refugee women from poor households in Amman, Jordan. At three time points (baseline, 5-month and 12-month-follow-up), we implemented a survey to measure levels of life satisfaction (Cantril), psychological empowerment (PE), and psychological wellbeing (PWB). We used regression models on panel data to estimate individual-level impacts, adjusting for women's characteristics and the moderating effects of their social networks. We also conducted net-mapping sessions to clarify local concepts and their causal connections, generating thematic analyses and fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) to represent local knowledge and causal influences. RESULTS Life satisfaction was the only outcome variable showing a significant impact for We Love Reading (Cantril, β = 3.00, p = 0.002). Thematic analyses and FCMs made explicit the multi-dimensional aspects of lived experiences: emphasis was placed on reaching goals, having "the full right to act," the freedom to take decisions, willingness and determination. Women explained that building their empowerment and agency was a main driver of life satisfaction, and that volunteering boosted the resolve of "not giving up" on life goals. CONCLUSION This program evaluation integrates scientifically-rigorous and culturally-relevant methodologies to identify impacts, local knowledge systems, and causal pathways of influence. This helps clarify how and why volunteering works in real-life situations across cultural contexts, calling attention to what programs seek to achieve, how they avoid volunteer burden, and why they generate social change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Panter-Brick
- Jackson School of Global Affairs, Yale University, Horchow Hall, 55 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA; Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 10 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA; Conflict, Resilience, and Health Program, Yale University, USA.
| | | | - Philip Jefferies
- Resilience Research Centre, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
| | - Lina Qtaishat
- Conflict, Resilience, and Health Program, Yale University, USA; Taghyeer Organization, Amman, Jordan
| | - Rana Dajani
- Faculty of Science, The Hashemite University, Jordan
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Michalek JE, Qtaishat L, von Stumm S, El Kharouf A, Dajani R, Hadfield K, Mareschal I. Maternal Trauma and Psychopathology Symptoms Affect Refugee Children's Mental Health But Not Their Emotion Processing. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol 2024:10.1007/s10802-024-01182-0. [PMID: 38430294 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-024-01182-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024]
Abstract
Refugee children's development may be affected by their parents' war-related trauma exposure and psychopathology symptoms across a range of cognitive and affective domains, but the processes involved in this transmission are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the impact of refugee mothers' trauma exposure and mental health on their children's mental health and attention biases to emotional expressions. In our sample of 324 Syrian refugee mother-child dyads living in Jordan (children's Mage=6.32, SD = 1.18; 50% female), mothers reported on their symptoms of anxiety and depression, and on their children's internalising, externalising, and attention problems. A subset of mothers reported their trauma exposure (n = 133) and PTSD symptoms (n = 124). We examined emotion processing in the dyads using a standard dot-probe task measuring their attention allocation to facial expressions of anger and sadness. Maternal trauma and PTSD symptoms were linked to child internalising and attention problems, while maternal anxiety and depression symptoms were associated with child internalising, externalising, and attention problems. Mothers and children were hypervigilant towards expressions of anger, but surprisingly, mother and child biases were not correlated with each other. The attentional biases to emotional faces were also not linked to psychopathology risk in the dyads. Our findings highlight the importance of refugee mothers' trauma exposure and psychopathology on their children's wellbeing. The results also suggest a dissociation between the mechanisms underlying mental health and those involved in attention to emotional faces, and that intergenerational transmission of mental health problems might involve mechanisms other than attentional processes relating to emotional expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia E Michalek
- Youth Resilience Unit, Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
| | | | | | - Amal El Kharouf
- Centre for Women Studies, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
| | - Rana Dajani
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan
| | - Kristin Hadfield
- Trinity Centre for Global Health, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Isabelle Mareschal
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Department of Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
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McEwen FS, El Khatib H, Hadfield K, Pluess K, Chehade N, Bosqui T, Skavenski S, Murray L, Weierstall-Pust R, Karam E, Pluess M. Feasibility and acceptability of phone-delivered psychological therapy for refugee children and adolescents in a humanitarian setting. Confl Health 2024; 18:7. [PMID: 38218936 PMCID: PMC10787498 DOI: 10.1186/s13031-023-00565-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Refugee children are at high risk of mental health problems but face barriers to accessing mental health services, a problem exacerbated by a shortage of mental health professionals. Having trained lay counsellors deliver therapy via telephone could overcome these barriers. This is the first study to explore feasibility and acceptability of telephone-delivered therapy with refugee children in a humanitarian setting. METHODS An evidence-based intervention, Common Elements Treatment Approach, was adapted for telephone-delivery (t-CETA) and delivered by lay counsellors to Syrian refugee children in informal tented settlements in the Beqaa region of Lebanon. Following delivery of t-CETA, semi-structured interviews were conducted with counsellors (N = 3) and with children who received t-CETA (N = 11, 45% female, age 8-17 years) and their caregivers (N = 11, 100% female, age 29-56 years) (N = 25 interviews). Thematic content analysis was conducted separately for interviews with counsellors and interviews with families and results were synthesized. RESULTS Three themes emerged from interviews with counsellors and four themes from interviews with families, with substantial overlap between them. Synthesized themes were: counselling over the phone both solves and creates practical and logistical challenges; t-CETA is adapted to potential cultural blocks; the relationship between the counsellor and the child and caregiver is extremely important; the family's attitude to mental health influences their understanding of and engagement with counselling; and t-CETA works and is needed. Counselling over the phone overcame logistical barriers, such as poor transportation, and cultural barriers, such as stigma associated with attending mental health services. It provided a more flexible and accessible service and resulted in reductions in symptoms for many children. Challenges included access to phones and poor network coverage, finding an appropriate space, and communication challenges over the phone. CONCLUSIONS Despite some challenges, telephone-delivered therapy for children shows promising evidence of feasibility and acceptability in a humanitarian context and has the potential to increase access to mental health services by hard-to-reach populations. Approaches to addressing challenges of telephone-delivered therapy are discussed. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03887312; registered 22nd March 2019.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fiona S McEwen
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Science, G.E. Fogg Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, UK
- Department of War Studies, King's College London, Strand, London, UK
| | - Hania El Khatib
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Science, G.E. Fogg Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, UK
| | - Kristin Hadfield
- Trinity Centre for Global Health, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Karen Pluess
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Science, G.E. Fogg Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, UK
| | | | - Tania Bosqui
- Trinity Centre for Global Health, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Department of Psychology, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
| | | | - Laura Murray
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Elie Karam
- Institute for Development, Research, Advocacy and Applied Care, Achrafieh, St. George Hospital Street, Beirut, Lebanon
- Saint Georges Hospital University Medical Center, Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon
- Saint Georges University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Michael Pluess
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Science, G.E. Fogg Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, UK.
- School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
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Panter-Brick C. Pathways to resilience and pathways to flourishing: Examining the added-value of multisystem research and intervention in contexts of war and forced displacement. Dev Psychopathol 2023; 35:2214-2225. [PMID: 37766475 DOI: 10.1017/s095457942300113x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/29/2023]
Abstract
This paper examines the added-value that multisystem approaches bring to research and intervention in contexts of war and forced displacement. I highlight what is useful and truly innovative about systems-level work, aware that providing data-related evidence is only part of the story when connecting research to policy and practice. I discuss four types of added-value: these are conceptual, instrumental, capacity-building, and connectivity impacts that, respectively, aim to change current knowledge, improve implementation, build research skills, and strengthen network connectivity. Specifically, systems-based research can help transform the key frames of humanitarian work, fostering the more integrated and distributive models of professional assistance known as resilience and network humanitarianism. I argue that systems-level approaches on resilience and flourishing in war-affected and refugee populations help to articulate new mindsets, methodologies, partnerships, and ways of working relevant for humanitarian research, policy and practice. I focus attention on interdisciplinary, interventionist, prospective, transgenerational, and network-building initiatives. My specific examples cover the family context of mental health and trauma memory in Afghanistan, as well as program evaluation with Syrian refugees in Jordan, connecting stress biology to human experience, and social networks to psychological empowerment. The paper suggests future directions to support more effective and impactful systems-level work in protracted humanitarian crises.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Panter-Brick
- Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
- Jackson School of Global Affairs, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
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