The BASW Special Interest Group organised a visit to Palestine to foster stronger links between BASW and the Palestinian Union of Social Workers and Psychologists (PUSWP). The article looks at the challenges facing adults and children living there, the problems of living in occupied territory and how social workers are trying to improve some of the worst effects of life in a conflict zone
The BASW Special Interest Group organised a visit to Palestine to foster stronger links between BASW and the Palestinian Union of Social Workers and Psychologists (PUSWP). The article looks at the challenges facing adults and children living there, the problems of living in occupied territory and how social workers are trying to improve some of the worst effects of life in a conflict zone. The article focuses in particular on a school that is continuing to operate despite being cut off from its community after Israeli settlers have occupied the area.
Subject terms:
schools, social work, social workers, traumas, children;
In this article the authors reflect on the relatively recent emphasis on Palestinian children's mental health and well-being in the context of exposure to chronic warlike conditions, as they position this trend within the larger framework of the generations-long history of political turmoil and suffering. The authors describe how a process that started with no attention to psychosocial health...
(Edited publisher abstract)
In this article the authors reflect on the relatively recent emphasis on Palestinian children's mental health and well-being in the context of exposure to chronic warlike conditions, as they position this trend within the larger framework of the generations-long history of political turmoil and suffering. The authors describe how a process that started with no attention to psychosocial health of children in relation to exposure to dispossession, expulsion, occupation, repression and military attacks, proceeded with a focus on presumed mental disorders, and the more recent approach of designing context appropriate and community-based psychosocial interventions.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Subject terms:
children, mental health problems, traumas, wellbeing, war, violence;
Child Abuse and Neglect, 34(9), September 2010, pp.623-638.
Publisher:
Elsevier
This study examined the relationship between a newly developed scale (STACE) measuring levels of subjective perceptions of threat or fear due to exposure to armed conflict events and its predicting association with six psychosocial and behavioural outcomes covering poor mental health, positive well-being and risk behaviours, in children and adolescents from the Middle East. The role of parental...
This study examined the relationship between a newly developed scale (STACE) measuring levels of subjective perceptions of threat or fear due to exposure to armed conflict events and its predicting association with six psychosocial and behavioural outcomes covering poor mental health, positive well-being and risk behaviours, in children and adolescents from the Middle East. The role of parental support in mitigating such effects was also examined. The study was based on survey data from the 2004 Health Behavior in School Aged Children in the Middle East (HBSC-ME) cross-cultural study. A total of 24,935 Palestinian (7,430 West Bank and 7,217 Gaza) and Israeli (5,255 Jewish and 6,033 Arab) 11-, 13- and 15-year-old school children completed the self-administered questionnaire. STACE had significant and strong effects on all six dependent variables representing mental post trauma, diminished well-being and elevated risk behaviours. STACE strongly affected all four populations with the greatest impact among the Jewish Israeli population and the least impact shown for the Arab Israeli youth. Parental support (significant adult) had both a direct main effect on the outcomes of all six variables as well as a significant ‘buffering’ effect on the impact of STACE on posttraumatic symptoms, life satisfaction, positive life perceptions, and tobacco use. Implications for practice are discussed. It is commented that the findings show major implications for the development of community-based interventions focusing on enhancing parental and other adult support in the lives of children living in armed conflict regions of the world.
Subject terms:
Jewish people, mental health, parent-child relations, parents, post traumatic stress disorder, risk, traumas, violence, war, young people, children, coping behaviour;