Child development and family mental health in war and military violence: The Palestinian experience

Abstract

The article reviews developmental research among Palestinians living in Gaza. The aims are, first, to analyze how exposure to traumatic events associates with children's mental health and their cognitive, emotional and social development. Second, we aimed to model familial and symbolic processes that can either harm or protect the mental health of children. Third, we wanted to learn who the resilient children are in conditions of war and military violence. The reviewed research has been conducted in the context of a Palestinian non-governmental organization, the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, during the political upheavals involving hopes for peace and intensive war and violence: the First Intifada (1987—1993), the Palestinian Authority rule (1994— ) and the Second Al Aqsa Intifada (2001— ). The results show that life threat, violence and losses form a risk for increased psychological distress. There are, however, a myriad of child, family and society related factors and psycho-socio-physiological processes that protect child development and mental health. They include, e.g. loving and wisely guiding parenting, children's flexible and high cognitive capacity, flexible and multiple coping strategies and narrative and symbolic nocturnal dreaming, as well as social support and good peer relations. Different models explain psychological distress and positive resources, including child resilience. Exposure to trauma is crucial in predicting distress, while familial and developmental issues are important in building resilience. Children's conscious and unconscious cognitive-emotional processes are crucial for underlying mental health and knowledge about them is important in tailoring evidence-based preventive interventions among war victims.

Preventive interventions among children exposed to trauma of armed conflict: a literature review

“…Flexible, comprehensive and rich cognitive performance is known to enhance recovery from trauma, but severe trauma has been found to be associated with inflexible and narrowed attention and problemsolving strategies [Qouta et al, 2001]. Furthermore, planning, using multiple strategies, and inhibiting maladaptive and biased thoughts and emotions enhance recovery in life-endangering conditions, and again precisely these processes are disrupted by traumatic experiences, thus forming a vicious circle in child development [Qouta et al, 2008a].…”

Documenting the complex relationship between self-efficacy, resiliency, and workplace empowerment: a case study of humanitarian workers in Palestine

“…It should come as no surprise that levels of stress, anxiety, and trauma symptomology are elevated in Palestinian populations living in both West Bank and Gaza Strip communities who are exposed to armed conflict and violence (de Jong et al 2003;Giacaman et al 2007;Khamis 2008;Qouta et al 2008). First responders, volunteers, and development workers, particularly those recruited from the local Palestinian communities, not only assist survivors of conflict but may also themselves be survivors ("survivor-helpers") (Cronin et al 2007;Baum 2014).…”

Survivors of Political Violence: Conceptualizations, Empirical Findings, and Ecological Interventions

“…In regard to children and adolescents, in reviewing the developmental research conducted through the 'Gaza Community Mental Health Programme' from Palestine, researchers Qouta et al (2008) emphasized multiple individual levels at which children and adolescents can be affected. These involved mental health, cognitive and creative capacities, and symbolic processes.…”

“…Although not claiming an ecological orientation, some studies considered the mediating roles of various contextual factors (e.g., Haj-Yahia 2008;Kerestes 2006;Punamaki 1990;Qouta et al 2008;Sachs et al 2007) in models that seek to explain the effects of political violence on individuals.…”