Development and evaluation of psychoeducational resources for adult carers to emotionally support young people impacted by wars: A community case study

Abstract

Wars and armed conflicts have a devastating impact at the economic, social, and individual level. Millions of children and adolescents are forced to bear their disastrous consequences, also in terms of mental health. Their effects are even more complicated when intertwined with those of other disasters such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. To help them face such adverse events, lay adults can be supported by psychoeducational interventions involving simple tools to assist children and adolescents emotionally. Hence, we planned and implemented two public communication campaigns concerning wars to support adult carers such as parents, teachers, educators, psychologists, first responders, and others interested in young people’s wellbeing. We developed psychoeducational materials to help children and adolescents cope with negative emotions related to indirect and direct exposure to wars. This study had the objective to identify the content for two pamphlets, testing their comprehensibility, usability, and utility, and monitoring their dissemination. First, based on classifications of coping strategies and on a previous campaign about COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to include in the psychoeducational materials basic information on news about wars and common reactions to wars, respectively; on emotions that might be experienced; and on coping strategies for dealing with negative emotions. For the first pamphlet, we identified the strategies involving 141 adults. They completed an online survey with open-ended questions concerning ways to help children and adolescents cope with negative emotions associated with the Russia-Ukraine war. For the second pamphlet, we selected the contents based on Psychological First Aid manuals. Through content analyses, we chose 24 strategies. Second, data gathered with 108 adults who had consulted the psychoeducational materials supported their comprehensibility, usability, and utility. Third, we monitored the visibility of the campaigns after the release of the pamphlets, using Google Analytics™ data from the HEMOT® website through which we disseminated them. To conclude, our findings supported the comprehensibility, the usability, and the utility of the two pamphlets, to be disseminated as psychoeducational materials in the early phase of a disaster.

Preparing children to cope with earthquakes: Building emotional competence

“…The two maladaptive strategies were, for competence: helplessness and escape; for relatedness: delegation and social isolation; and for autonomy: submission and opposition. These strategies are typically activated in the face of perceived challenges or threats (for a more detailed description, see Zimmer‐Gembeck & Skinner, 2011; for applications, see Burro et al, 2021; Raccanello, Vicentini, Rocca, et al, 2020, Raccanello et al, 2021; Vicentini, Burro, et al, 2022). A meta‐analysis of data on natural disasters indicated that for children and adolescents, strategies such as problem solving and support seeking are positively associated with indicators of wellbeing, while strategies such as escape, delegation, social isolation, and opposition are positively associated with traumatic symptoms (Raccanello et al, 2023).…”

Big Five personality traits and coping strategies of Italian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic first wave

“…Nevertheless, it is worth anticipating that there is a wide variety of strategies that people can use and that a key factor associated with their efficacy is the ability to flexibly choose the most adequate strategy in relation to the characteristics of both individuals and specific contexts ( Ewert et al, 2021 ; Zimmer-Gembeck, 2021 ). Aiming to elaborate an extended taxonomy that could comprise most of the coping strategies studied within the psychological literature, Skinner and Zimmer-Gembeck ( Zimmer-Gembeck and Skinner, 2011 ; Skinner and Zimmer-Gembeck, 2016 ; Zimmer-Gembeck, 2021 —for adaptation of this categorization to natural disasters, see Raccanello et al, 2020 , 2021 , 2023 ; to the pandemic, see Burro et al, 2021 ; to wars, see Vicentini et al, 2022 ) proposed a classification based on the concept that an uncertain or stressful event can be perceived as a threat or as a challenge towards the three basic human needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy ( Deci and Ryan, 1985 ). These three needs are at the core of the Self-Determination Theory, according to which individuals’ wellbeing and psychological functioning is associated with the satisfaction (and the absence of frustration) of such needs ( Deci and Ryan, 1985 ).…”

Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Polish Population in the Context of the War in Ukraine: Analysis of Risk Factors and Practical Implications

“…Assessing the impact of a crisis situation on mental health provides a basis for developing disaster interventions [46]. It should be noted that research on the indirect consequences of the war in Ukraine is scarce, and thus, the experience of interventions for people affected by other disasters (COVID-19 pandemic, earthquakes) is valuable [47][48][49].…”