Objective: This article reports findings from a qualitative study that sought to identify and describe psychosocial and mental health consequences of conflict among internally displaced persons (IDPs) and military veterans in Ukraine. The study was the first phase of a clinical intervention trial and was designed to understand local experiences of mental health problems and function, inform the selection and adaptation of local measures, and guide the modification, and implementation of a psychotherapy intervention that could support conflict-affected persons. Method: Free-list interviews (FLs), key informant interviews (KIIs), and focus group discussions (FDGs) were conducted with IDPs, military veterans, and providers working with these two groups. A total of 227 respondents were interviewed from two study regions in eastern Ukraine—Zaporizhia and Kharkiv—including 136 IDPs and 91 military veterans. Results: Both IDPs and veterans were described as experiencing high levels of psychological stress symptoms, including depression, isolation, anxiety, and intrusive memories. Although IDPs and veterans were exposed to different traumas, they both identified struggles with social adaptation, including feeling isolated and misunderstood by their communities. Both groups also described relational conflict within and outside the family. Social support mechanisms were considered essential for recovery, and positive social interaction was described as a key example of healthy functioning. Conclusion: Findings suggest a need for community-based programming that facilitates social adaptation, supports social network building, and helps engage conflict-affected people into mental health services. Programs that promote greater awareness, interaction, and understanding among the general public, military veterans, and IDPs are also warranted.
Psychosocial support in education that is provided during emergencies frequently aims to support children's resilience, but strong, contextual measures of resilience are in short supply in Eastern Europe. In this article, our aim is to describe the development and psychometric properties of the first measure of resilience for war-affected adolescents in Eastern Ukraine. We used qualitative methods to identify the main cultural characteristics of resiliency and then used these constructs to develop the measure. We used exploratory structural equation modeling to extract five factors that showed high internal consistency: family support (ω=0.89), optimism (ω=0.87), persistence (ω=0.87), health (ω=0.86), and social networking (ω=0.87). Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that a concise model of resiliency fit the data almost as well as the exploratory structural equation modeling model. The measure demonstrated good test-retest reliability. In this article, we also discuss the importance of development, validation, and the use of culturally relevant measures of resilience for strengthening psychosocial support programs in schools, particularly in Ukraine.
Abstract. The use of social media is gradually becoming an integral part of the educational process in higher education institutions. In Ukraine, the most popular for this purpose are Facebook and Twitter, but Instagram is also being increasingly used. This enables not only to introduce the integration element into learning, but also the rapid distribution of teaching materials, almost instant communication with students and attract the maximum number of students to educational projects. Modern education requires the modernization and systematic introduction of new communication technologies in the educational process. It should be noted that the present time dictates its standards and rules not only in the market of media or Internet communications, but also directly applied to the educational process in higher education institutions. It should be noted that the dynamic development of social networks contributed to the development of the teaching and learning process: the development of distance learning in Ukraine, creation of on-line libraries and information repositories, free lessons at certain courses (registration on the university library website and the possibility of round-the-clock access to the course of lectures, student guidelines, textbooks, etc.), systematic on-line communication with the teacher, participation in conferences and webinars. Today, social networks are a server that holds the greatest attention of the consumer audience of different ages.
The article provides a brief overview of resilience research and presents the main issues and problems in this field of science. Particular attention is paid to the issues of determining resilience by various researcher and the analysis of debatable issues in understanding this phenomenon. A more detailed analysis is provided regarding the views of authors who interpret resilience in the context of socio-ecological approach. There is a large body of empirical research on the resilience of children and adults, as well as social groups, in the context of the impact of various risk factors, stress and trauma, which allowed researchers to form insights into protective factors and assets that are powerful adaptation resources in difficult situations. The formation of the field of psychology aimed at the development of resilience as a holistic direction requires the definition of common theoretical and methodological foundations for its determination and construction of empirical procedures for its study in the context of different challenges and different cultures. Systemic and socio-environmental approaches can be distinguished among modern approaches to the definition and understanding of resilience. In the context of these approaches, resilience appears as a phenomenon and the process of interaction of internal and external factors, which is carried out under the determining influence of environmental factors. The environment contains the resources needed by people and groups, forms an idea of the effects of positive development and coping through the discourses it creates, and also regulates people’s access to these resources. The resilience considered in this way is not so much the property and the result of individual’s efforts (although this factor is important) as a manifestation of the ability of the social environment and social support networks to provide resources whose importance is recognized by culture.
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