Tutor of Resilience: A Model for Psychosocial Care Following Experiences of Adversity

The Tutor of Resilience Program with Children Who Have Experienced Maltreatment: Mothers' Involvement Matters

Resilience is a dynamic process involving the presence and interaction of personal and environmental factors that modify the impact of adversity. Resilience-building interventions are therefore important for improving trauma-related outcomes in children and caregivers exposed to adversity. This study examines the impact of the Tutor of Resilience (TOR) program on beneficiaries' trauma-related symptoms and on mother-child interactions in a group of children exposed to maltreatment (N = 186; mean age = 11.95; SD = 2.50). Assessments were completed at baseline and post-intervention. RM-ANOVAs indicated significant improvements for most trauma symptoms (anxiety, anger, post-traumatic stress, and disassociation, but not depression) in the intervention group relative to a control group (N = 88; mean age = 10.76; SD = 2.57), and indicated further improvements to anxiety and dissociation for the intervention group when mothers were involved. Mother-child interactions also improved over time, as did their overall trauma symptoms and distress. Findings support the effectiveness of the ToR, especially when involving mothers.

Resilience processes among Ukrainian youth preparing to build resilience with peers during the Ukraine-Russia war

The war in Ukraine significantly impacts the mental health and well-being of its youth. Like other communities affected by war, Ukraine's youth are at risk of developing psychopathological symptoms, and there is a shortage of mental health and psychosocial support services to address this. Resilience-building initiatives present an alternative approach to supporting the well-being of young people by promoting protective processes to enhance the likelihood of positive development in the context of adversity. Emerging research findings suggest that young people themselves can serve as powerful facilitators of such initiatives with one another. Yet, evidence about culturally and contextually relevant protective processes is needed to guide such interventions, especially among young people experiencing the war and working to boost resilience within their communities. In this study, we identified key protective processes Ukrainian youth depend on as they adapt to the conflict while also preparing to implement a resilience-building intervention as a facilitator. Through thematic analysis of transcripts of three training sessions with Ukrainian youth (n = 15, 100% female; aged 18-22), we identified the following themes: positive thinking, sense of control, emotion awareness and regulation, close personal relationships, and community support. Findings also highlighted the cultural and contextual nuance of these protective processes, as well as individual differences in the ways they co-occurred and manifested within each youth. Results have implications for developing tailored yet flexible resilience-building interventions that can be delivered by lay people, including youth with their peers, in Ukraine and other cultures and contexts.

Family Resilience and Dyadic Coping during the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Their Protective Role in Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has dramatically worsened people's psychological well-being. Our aim was to examine for the first time the concurrent and longitudinal relations of family resilience with hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, and the moderating role of socio-demographics. For people having a romantic partner, we also explored whether family resilience and dyadic coping were uniquely related to well-being. One cross-sectional study (N = 325) and one 10-week follow-up study (N = 112) were carried out during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020) in Northern Italy. Adult participants completed an online questionnaire in both studies. Correlation, multivariate regression, and moderation analyses were carried out with IBM SPSS version 28 and its PROCESS macro. Significance of differences in correlation and regression coefficients was tested through Steiger's procedure, Wald test, and SUEST method. Family resilience was found to relate more strongly to eudaimonic (versus hedonic) well-being concurrently and to hedonic (versus eudaimonic) well-being longitudinally. The concurrent or longitudinal relations with hedonic well-being were generally stronger for females, part-time workers, and people undergoing multiple stressors. For people having a romantic partner, family resilience was concurrently associated with well-being independently of dyadic coping, whereas dyadic coping was longitudinally related to well-being independently of family resilience. Family resilience was found to protect, in the short term, the psychological well-being of people facing the pandemic outbreak. Its protective role mainly concerned hedonic well-being and was more pronounced for more vulnerable people. For persons having a romantic partner, however, dyadic coping seemed to have equal, if not greater, positive short-term effects.

The Child as Vulnerable Victim: Humanitarianism Constructs Its Object

Over the last one hundred years, humanitarian agencies have considered children primarily through the lens of vulnerability. Advocacy for attention to children's agency and for their participation has burgeoned since the 1980s without shifting the powerful hold that assumptions of vulnerability have had over the policy and practices of humanitarians. This article seeks to denaturalise the conceptualisation of children in contexts of emergency as primarily vulnerable (would-be) victims, placing it in historical and geopolitical contexts. It offers a critical analysis of both conventional humanitarian thinking about vulnerability per se and the reasons for its continued invocation in settings of displacement and political violence. Drawing upon examples from the Mau Mau rebellion against British colonial rule in 1950s Kenya, and current humanitarian response to the situation of Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation, this article relates the continued dominance of the vulnerability paradigm to the pursuit of self-interest by elites and the survival strategies of humanitarian agencies. It pays particular attention to the uses to which mental health thinking and programming is put in what may be called the 'politics of pathologisation'.

Managing Children's Fears during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Strategies Adopted by Italian Caregivers

BACKGROUND

Life-threatening events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may generate feelings of insecurity and fear in the affected population, particularly children. Parents' ability to help children cope with negative emotions is essential during challenging periods. The current study aims to analyse the coping strategies adopted by Italian caregivers concerning their children's fears about COVID-19.

METHOD

An online survey was administered during the Italian lockdown to 649 parents of at least one child aged 5 to 17 years old. Respondents completed the survey for themselves and their children. In addition, a qualitative content analysis of the data from the open-ended question was conducted (N = 569; 87.9% women; MAge = 45 years).

RESULTS

Several themes were identified. Firstly, families' primary approach was 'communication and meaning-making'. Secondly, another essential strategy was 'the importance of safe space', enabled by keeping routine in place and creating a loving and caring environment. Thirdly, other factors relevant to managing children's fears were 'adaptation', 'religion', 'a positive attitude', and 'humour and hope'. Finally, the last two strategies significant and valuable for Italian families were 'flexibility' and 'maintaining virtual contacts.

CONCLUSION

During the pandemic COVID-19, parents may have used various strategies to protect their children from stress. Future research could investigate single parents' coping strategies explicitly developed during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Building resilience for healthcare professionals working in an Italian red zone during the COVID-19 outbreak: A pilot study

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed considerable strain on healthcare workers showing high rates of stress and psychological health problems. Interventions are urgently needed to help healthcare workers perform under conditions of great risk and uncertainty. In particular, healthcare leadership is known to be critical to supporting healthcare workers to deal with an uncertain and distressing healthcare environment. This pilot study evaluated the impact of the R2 resilience program tailored for healthcare leaders working in a highly affected COVID-19 area in Italy. Through two group cohorts, 21 healthcare leaders completed the intervention, with 17 participants providing pre- and post-intervention assessment data. Sixty-two staff members who benefitted from their coordinators' resilience-focused leadership were also included in the study. Findings show that participation in R2 was associated with reduction in levels of perceived stress and burnout symptoms, and increases in rugged qualities, self-efficacy and in social-ecological resilience. Significant changes in rugged qualities, self-efficacy and perceived stress were also detected in staff members. High rates of participants' program satisfaction have been detected. R2 is a promising intervention for healthcare professionals working in emergency settings designed to enhance the rugged qualities and resources required to deal with heightened exposure to stress.

Mental health in Lebanon: Tomorrow's silent epidemic

Lebanon is a middle-income country that has been recently crippled by several tragedies including the economic collapse, COVID-19, and the fourth of August Beirut port explosion, the world’s most powerful non-nuclear explosion of the twenty-first century. Recent data on mental health from Lebanon is summarised, and other topics such as the psychological impact of cumulative adversities and the role of international support in Lebanon are examined. Data from Lebanon shows severe levels of distress among the people, in a country with minimal resources. Given current adversities in Lebanon, recent data in the country, and the literature on adversity and mental health outcomes of man-made disasters, Lebanon is most likely going to face an epidemic in poor mental health. A call is made for the wider scientific community and international organizations to support the mental health field in the country and help prevent further negative mental health outcomes. Understanding how to better navigate mental health in places with extreme adversity and emergencies can be beneficial to other communities which might face similar challenges.