Annual Research Review: Resilience and mental health in children and adolescents living in areas of armed conflict – a systematic review of findings in low‐ and middle‐income countries

Tol, Wietse A.; Song, Suzan J.; Jordans, Mark J. D.

doi:10.1111/jcpp.12053

Cited by 371 publications

(318 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…For example, political affiliation appeared protective among Nepali former child soldiers (Kohrt et al, 2010), but the reverse was observed in Bosnian adolescents (Jones, 2002). Such complexity warns against pre-packaged resilience promotion approaches in conflict-affected populations, but rather suggests the need for careful assessment of risk -and protective factors in new settings to inform development of mental health prevention and promotion interventions that are tailored to context (Tol et al, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadening the scope of epidemiology in conflict-affected settings: opportunities for mental health prevention and promotion

Tol

Rees

Silove

2013

Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci

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This editorial proposes a shift in emphasis in the field of mental health epidemiology in conflict-affected settings. After a brief summary of the nature of contemporary armed conflicts, we consider the current and potential roles that epidemiology can play with regard to: (1) establishing the burden of mental disorders; (2) identifying risk and protective factors; and (3) intervention research. We advocate for improved methodological rigor; more attention to mixed methods approaches and multi-level longitudinal research; inclusion of the determinants of mental health beyond conflict-related violence; and consideration of a wider array of mental health outcomes. We particularly highlight the importance of expanding interest to epidemiological research that advances prevention and promotion interventions (e.g., in the early childhood period), in order to fill the gap between epidemiology and mental health practice in conflict-affected settings.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadening the scope of epidemiology in conflict-affected settings: opportunities for mental health prevention and promotion

Tol

Rees

Silove

2013

Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci

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“…Interventions developed to suit this population would benefit from attuning to this attitude to mental health and design interventions adapted to this context. Cultural adaptation and keeping contextual factors at the heart of an intervention align with much of resilience research (Masten, 2014; Ungar et al, 2013), including helping children to build resilience in conflict and complex emergency settings (Jordans et al, 2016; Tol, Song, & Jordans, 2013). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children in the 2015 South Indian floods: community members’ views

Krishna

Ronan

Alisic

2018

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Little is known about children’s experiences and involvement in disaster preparation and recovery, in particular in low- and middle-income countries. Eliciting community members’ perspectives on the 2015 floods in Tamil Nadu, India, may generate useful insights for improving services in low-resource settings. This qualitative study aimed to understand how children in Chennai experienced the floods, as reported by the adults in their community, and to explore children’s involvement in disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts as reported from the adults’ perspective. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews (N = 48) with family members (n = 36), and with staff of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (n = 12) who actively participated in relief and recovery efforts. We also conducted two focus group discussions (n = 14) with NGO staff about a year after the 2015 South Indian floods in Chennai, India. Six broad themes regarding children’s experiences and behaviours during and after the floods emerged: (1) unexpectedness of the floods; (2) children’s safety – barriers and facilitators; (3) parents’ reactions – helplessness, fear and pride; (4) children’s reactions – helping hands, fun and fear; (5) barriers to a return to ‘normal’; and (6) a determination to be prepared for next time. Children and families were deeply impacted by the floods, in part owing to a lack of preparation, as perceived by the study participants. It was also clear from the data analysis that caste and socioeconomic status played an important role in the families’ ability to evacuate safely. Helplessness on the part of the parents was apparent, as was children’s concern over recurrence of the flood. Similarly, gender appeared to affect child safety, recovery and other outcomes such as continued education. Priorities for future efforts involve the development and evaluation of child-centred education about flood awareness, child participation and safety.

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“…Another approach would be to build on the highly educated young male workforce and increase their political participation, which has been linked with better resilience, which in turn has been shown to moderating the link between war exposure and poor mental health [33].…”

Section: Decades Of Political Violence Coupled With a Broken Economy mentioning

confidence: 99%

Staying Behind and Looking Forward: Characteristics of Urban Afghan Youth with No Intent to Seek Asylum

Alemi¹,

Smith²,

Montgomery³

2017

Preprint

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Insecurity, corruption, and rising unemployment have resulted in a mass exodus of young adult Afghans seeking asylum in western nations. This has depleted Afghanistan of generations of young people which are critical to rebuild the country. This study aimed to examine the characteristics of young adult Afghans with no immediate intentions of seeking international asylum; that is, individuals who intend to stay in Afghanistan. In a cross-sectional study conducted in Kabul, we surveyed 232 young adults between 18 and 35 years of age. Surveys included measures assessing standard socio-demographic and -economic factors, as well as health and psychological factors. Univariate logistic regression analyses suggest that participants with an intent to stay in Afghanistan are more likely to be financially stable, possess higher health-related quality of life, lower psychological distress, and higher levels of hope and optimism, as well as higher resilience. When controlling for all other variables in the model, only hope, optimism, and higher resilience remained as significant correlates of intending to stay. Our findings suggest that young people who intend to stay in their country look forward to a better future, which provides strong evidence for the need to strengthen the social contract by fostering resilience, hope and optimism in war-affected communities, in order to prevent a generation of talented young people from seeking asylum in western nations.

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Annual Research Review: Resilience and mental health in children and adolescents living in areas of armed conflict – a systematic review of findings in low‐ and middle‐income countries

Cited by 371 publications

References 75 publications

Broadening the scope of epidemiology in conflict-affected settings: opportunities for mental health prevention and promotion

Broadening the scope of epidemiology in conflict-affected settings: opportunities for mental health prevention and promotion

Children in the 2015 South Indian floods: community members’ views

Staying Behind and Looking Forward: Characteristics of Urban Afghan Youth with No Intent to Seek Asylum

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