Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Humanitarian Emergencies in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for Engaging With the Faith Sector

Ager, Joey; Abebe, Behailu; Ager, Alastair

doi:10.1080/15570274.2013.876729

Cited by 21 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…A number of key actions are specified in the Action Sheet supporting this response, including "Learn about cultural, religious and spiritual supports and coping mechanisms" (p. 107) and "Facilitate conditions for appropriate healing practices" (p. 108), with a suggested indicator of achievement being "Steps have been taken to enable the use of practices that are valued by the affected people" (p. 108). As we have noted elsewhere, however, despite the prominence of this guidance and the rhetoric respecting local mechanisms of engagement, there are few strong examples of such appraisal deeply influencing intervention design and process (Ager, Abebe, & Ager, 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

Where there is no intervention: Insights into processes of resilience supporting war-affected children.

Ager

Metzler

2017

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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The last decade has been marked by increasing attention to rigor in the evaluation of interventions that seek to promote the mental health and psychosocial well-being of children in crisis contexts. One of the key markers of such rigor has been the increased adoption of strong quasi-experimental designs, where children receiving an intervention are compared to children not receiving the intervention. Although usually not randomly assigned to such conditions, children in the 'intervention' and 'comparison' groups are generally assumed to have had similar experiences other than in relation to exposure to the intervention. The use of such designs-when planned and implemented on a sound ethical basis-can significantly strengthen the capacity to make appropriate attribution of any changes observed by exploring the counterfactual case: what happens when there is no intervention? This question is usually supplementary to questions about the outcomes observed in children receiving the services being evaluated and crucial to inference regarding such outcomes. However, this paper argues that data from comparison groups has major value in its own right. Indeed, it represents a major untapped source of reflection on processes of resilience in humanitarian contexts. We use as a foundation for our analysis 3 studies completed over the last decade which examined the impact of protective and psychosocial interventions for war-affected children in Sierra Leone and Uganda. The interventions considered include programs fostering reintegration of formerly abducted children, prompting structured activities in schools, and establishing child-friendly spaces in refugee settlements. In each case, however, our focus is not on the group that received greatest attention in the original reports-the children receiving the intervention-but on those that did not. Analysis indicates the powerful forces which promote recovery in situations of conflict and the need for interventions to be more mindful that their core function is to bolster such engagement and not seek to drive recovery.

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confidence: 99%

Where there is no intervention: Insights into processes of resilience supporting war-affected children.

Ager

Metzler

2017

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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“…There is increasing recognition of the role of religious coping and other forms of support seeking among con ict-affected civilians in low and middle income countries. [16,32] Until recently there has been little attention paid to mechanisms of humanitarian engagement that respect and utilise these resources where appropriate. The recent articulation of principles for a 'faith-sensitive' approach to humanitarian assistance [33] recognising and building upon religious resources valued and exercised by affected populations -is clearly pertinent for developing humanitarian strategy in contexts such as that focused upon here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Help seeking, trust and intimate partner violence: social connections amongst displaced and non-displaced Yezidi women and men in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq

Strang

O’Brien

Sandilands³

et al. 2020

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Background: Conflict and displacement impact the social fabric of communities through the disruption of social connections and the erosion of trust. Effective humanitarian assistance requires understanding the social capital that shapes patterns of help seeking in these circumstances - especially with stigmatised issues such as violence against women (VAW) and intimate partner violence (IPV). Methods: A novel social mapping methodology was adopted amongst a Yezidi population displaced by ISIS occupation and a neighbouring settled Yezidi population in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq in late 2016. Six participatory workshops were conducted to identify available resources with respect to: meeting basic needs, dispute resolution and VAW. Subsequently, 51 individual interviews were conducted (segmented by gender and settlement status) to identify connectedness to, and trust in, the resources identified, with a focus on IPV against women. 90% of participants reported God as a key source of help in the previous six months, representing the most widely cited resource. Following God, the most accessed and trusted resources were family and community, with NGO (non-governmental organisation) provision being the least. Women drew more strongly upon familial resources than men (=5.73, df=1, p=0.017). There was reduced trust in resources in relation to seeking help with IPV. A distinction between trust to provide emotional support and trust to resolve issues was identified. Settled women were 1.6 times more likely to trust community members and government services and 3.7 times more likely to trust NGOs than displaced women. Conclusions: Mapping social connections and trust provides valuable insight into the social capital available to support help seeking in populations of humanitarian concern. For these Yezidi populations, family, religious and community resources were the most widely utilised and trusted. Trust was mostly reserved for family and their main religious leader regarding IPV against women. Lack of trust appeared to be a major barrier to stronger engagement with available NGO provision, particularly amongst displaced women. The role of faith and religious resources for this population is clearly significant, and warrants an explicitly faith-sensitive approach to humanitarian assistance.

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“…There is increasing recognition of the role of religious coping and other forms of support seeking among conflict-affected civilians in low and middle income countries. [12,20] Until recently there has been little attention paid to mechanisms of humanitarian engagement that respect and utilise these resources where appropriate. The recent articulation of principles for a 'faith-sensitive' approach to humanitarian assistance [21] -recognising and building upon religious resources valued and exercised by affected populations -is clearly pertinent for developing humanitarian strategy in contexts such as that focused upon here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Help seeking, trust and gender-based violence: social connections amongst displaced and non-displaced Yezidi women and men in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq

Strang

O’Brien

Sandilands³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background Conflict and displacement impact the social fabric of communities through both the disruption of social connections and the erosion of trust. Targeted humanitarian assistance requires understanding the continuing forms of social capital that shape patterns of help seeking in these circumstances. This is especially pertinent with issues such as gender-based violence (GBV) where trust and knowledge of support are major influences on accessing assistance. Methods A novel social mapping methodology was adopted amongst a Yezidi population displaced by ISIS 1 occupation and a neighbouring settled Yezidi population in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq in late 2016. Six participatory workshops were conducted to identify available resources. Subsequently, 51 individual interviews were conducted (segmented by gender and settlement status) to identify connectedness to, and trust in, the resources identified with respect to particular issues, including GBV. Results 90% of participants independently reported God as a key source of help in the previous six months, representing the most widely cited resource. Otherwise, familial and community resources were reported for all groups as the most accessed and trusted, with NGO (non-governmental organisation) provision being the least. Women drew more strongly upon familial resources than men ( Χ 2 =5.73, df=1, p=.017). There was an overall trend for reduced trust in resources in relation to the issue of gender-based violence. However, settled Yezidi women were 1.6 times more likely to trust community members and government services and 3.7 times more likely to trust NGOs on this issue than displaced women. Conclusions Mapping of social connections and trust provides valuable insight into the social capital available to support help seeking in populations of humanitarian concern. For these Yezidi populations, family, religious and community resources were the most widely utilised and trusted, although trust predominantly focused in the former two domains with respect to gender-based violence. Lack of trust appeared to be a major barrier to stronger engagement with available NGO provision, particularly amongst displaced women. The role of faith and religious resources for this population is clearly significant, and warrants an explicitly faith-sensitive approach to humanitarian assistance.

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Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Humanitarian Emergencies in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for Engaging With the Faith Sector

Cited by 21 publications

References 15 publications

Where there is no intervention: Insights into processes of resilience supporting war-affected children.

Where there is no intervention: Insights into processes of resilience supporting war-affected children.

Help seeking, trust and intimate partner violence: social connections amongst displaced and non-displaced Yezidi women and men in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq

Help seeking, trust and gender-based violence: social connections amongst displaced and non-displaced Yezidi women and men in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq

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