Recognizing Relational Interactions with Social Institutions in Refugee Children's Experiences of Intertwining Vulnerability and Agency

In this paper, we examine relational interactions between refugee children and social institutions, building the case for the recognition of the co-occurrence and intertwining of vulnerability and agency in children's experiences in diverse refugee situations. This developmental relational approach offers refinement of a general relational worldview by specifying how vulnerable and agentic experiences are co-constructed by children and adult individuals and institutions. We analyze the conceptual roots of vulnerable and agentic experiences, and use the concept of co-construction to specify the processes and outcomes of interactive relational experiences. Evidence from example studies of the intertwining of vulnerability and agency in specific refugee situations demonstrates how refugee children contribute to power-oriented experiences. Due recognition of the relational co-construction of intertwining vulnerable and agentic experiences provides a basis for refining generalized relational observations, and a fine-grained basis for developing policies and procedures to dispel ambivalence to refugee children and to change inequitable policies and practices.

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.