Family crisis intervention in war contexts: a case study of a traumatised Palestinian family

Survival and Resilience Among Palestinian Women: A Qualitative Analysis Using Individual and Collective Life Events Calendars

Responding to the need for more information concerning the mental health and psychological well-being of women living amid political oppression and war, this study aimed to explore specific factors that contribute to women's individual and collective perceptions about war and the associated traumatic life events that occurred during their lives. Moving from a socioecological and culture-informed perspective, we used narrative timelines elicited from 21 Palestinian women in Gaza, both individually and collectively, as a tool for both data collection and intervention. A deductive, top-down, thematic content analysis procedure was used to categorize data. The main events outlined by the women in their historical accounts, both individual and collective, were linked to political events in and surrounding Palestine. The life events' calendars reflect a constant attempt in balancing and compensating traumatic events with sources of well-being related to social support and family. Individual and collective narrative activities contributed to generate a significant reframing in the attribution of meaning and emotional perceptions of the participants. Women articulated how they build resilience through transgenerational and daily practices of resistance that encompass indigenous strategies of coping and skills of survival.

Healing stories: An expressive-narrative intervention for strengthening resilience and survival skills in school-aged child victims of war and political violence in the Gaza Strip

Within a preventive framework, we outline a school-based intervention aimed at strengthening skills of survival and psychological functioning in children who have experienced war and political violence in the Gaza Strip. In accordance with a socio-ecological perspective on wellbeing and resilience, the pilot study aimed at evaluating the outcomes of a psychosocial narrative school-based intervention with a group of school-aged children in the aftermath of war. The intervention was oriented at empowering positive emotions, life satisfaction, and optimism in children as protective factors in preventing posttraumatic reactions after war. Findings showed the efficacy of the intervention in favoring life satisfaction in different ecological domains. Children in the intervention group showed greater appreciation for friends, school, family, themselves, and their living environment. At the end of the activity, children were increased the level of positive emotions, but negative feelings were stronger than before the narrative intervention. Clinical implications and future direction or community work are, then, discussed.