Psychotraumatology of the war in Ukraine: The question of the psychological care of victims who are refugees or who remain in Ukraine

Geographies of Care: The Catholic Church in Poland's Assistance to Refugees from Ukraine During Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

The purpose of the article was to analyze the collected empirical material in the form of in-depth interviews, observations, statistical data, and numerous accounts of the assistance of the Catholic Church in Poland in the first 8 months of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The results of the survey revealed that the Catholic Church's activities and support to Ukrainians were carried out on many levels: charitable-mainly material, financial and social housing assistance, psychological, educational, and medical. All Catholic parishes and almost all women's and men's convents and monasteries in Poland, Caritas Poland, as well as dozens of church institutions, joined in helping refugees from Ukraine.

Coping and Resilience Strategies among Ukraine War Refugees

(1) Background: The war in Ukraine has triggered a huge humanitarian crisis: millions of refugees have escaped from their homes looking for shelter beyond Ukraine's borders. This emergency offers a unique opportunity to investigate and to document those characteristics of the human condition that emerge in exceptional circumstances provoked by war. Based on considerations derived from recent studies on resilience, the research at the base of this paper was conducted to better understand the circumstances, states of mind, and coping mechanisms of the refugees leaving their homes looking for security. (2) Methods: A qualitative approach was applied, resorting to semi-structured interviews (n = 94) to closely explore the traumatic experiences lived by refugees and to identify their coping strategies. (3) Results: The data obtained pointed to a plurality of coping and resilience strategies. Maintaining communication with separated loved ones as well as experiencing accompaniment by helpers and hosts emerged as principal elements for coping and resilience. It was found that a prior development of interior life or practice of prayer served as psychological "capital" that increased their resilience. (4) Conclusion: The results point to the need to care for social networking, attention by hosts, and cultivating interior life as keys for resilience.

Socio-Psychological Online Survey of Ukrainian Forced Migrants in the First Months of the War in 2022: General Characteristics of the Study and Methodological Aspects of Data Collection on Facebook

The unprecedented scale of Ukrainian military migration in 2022 raises the issue of creating effective programs of social and psychological assistance and facilitating the integration of forced migrants into host communities. This is impossible without knowledge of the specifics of modern Ukrainian migration and its features. Therefore, the author presents the organization of a multi-stage program of social and psychological research of Ukrainian refugees. The article presents the results of the first stage of this program. Its purpose was to describe the procedure of social and psychological online survey and to present a portrait of a Ukrainian refugee in the first months of the struggle against Russian aggression. The features of the socio-psychological online survey as a research method of data collection, as well as the advantages and limitations of its application in modern research are considered. The methodology and organization of the online survey in the social network Facebook are described. The process of development and content of the online questionnaire for the survey of Ukrainian refugees in the social network Facebook is presented. Based on the results of the analysis of the answers of 2049 respondents (women - 95.8%), the socio-demographic characteristics of the sample, the geographical distribution of Ukrainians by country of residence, their gender and social status, as well as the age and professional structure of respondents are determined. It was found that in the first months of the war, typical Ukrainian refugees were women of working age with higher education who went abroad with minor children. Most of the respondents went abroad from Kyiv and eastern regions of Ukraine to Germany, Poland, France. A problematic analysis of the peculiarities of Ukrainian migration in comparison with other military migration movements of recent years (its feminization, a significant proportion of children and able-bodied people with high career potential) is provided. The possible socio-psychological consequences for Ukraine and host countries and the related needs for the creation of socio-psychological support programs are also analyzed. The findings will be useful for organizations and professionals who provide assistance to Ukrainian refugees, as well as state institutions that develop short-term and long-term policy programs for Ukrainian refugees.