Developing culturally relevant psychosocial training for Afghan teachers

Afghanistan has been in a constant state of war for over 30years, with no end in sight. Few Afghans today remember life before the war. This has implications for programmes designed to reduce war trauma and rebuild community connections, in order to foster peace and reconciliation. This paper describes efforts, rooted in local culture, to impact community mental health through promoting positive coping strategies for the prevention of, and care for, psychosocial problems.

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Letter to the editor: a request to support the mental health needs of Syrian refugees

This letter has been written by two mental health professionals who are refugees from Syria, currently living in Jordan. For reasons of safety, and to avoid any retribution to our families, the editors have requested that we are known only through our professional titles; a psychologist and a psychiatrist.

Dear Sir,

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Mapping of mental health and psychosocial support in post conflict Libya

The violent conflict that erupted in Libya and toppled the Gaddafi regime in 2011 has significantly impacted social services and the health infrastructure in the country. The influx of international humanitarian organisations has led to many initiatives to strengthen mental health care and psychosocial support services for the Libyan population. However, with a new and fragile government and many different international actors, in addition to emerging national initiatives, it was difficult to determine who was doing what. Asa result, the situation was somewhat unclear.

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The development of a comprehensive mapping service for mental health and psychosocial support in Jordan

Jordan received a significant influx of Iraqi refugees as a result of war, ongoing conflict, political instability, and limited economic opportunities in Iraq. The multiple needs of Iraqi refugees are primarily met through international donors and non-profit organisations that implement comprehensive programmes, including the provision of mental health care and psychosocial support. With significant human and monetary resources being allocated towards these short term needs, strong coordination is essential among participating organisations in order to optimise outcomes.

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When you need to know quickly: the efficiency and versatility of focus groups for NGOs in conflict and post conflict settings

Focus groups (specially structured small group interviews) have gained widespread popularity among researchers and nongovernmental organisation (NGO) staff concerned with developing contextually grounded assessment tools. Focus groups are easy to design and implement, and are extremely efficient in their capacity to gather useful information quickly and inexpensively.

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Using focus group methodology to adapt measurement scales and explore questions of wellbeing and mental health: the case of Sri Lanka

Context affects research validity. Therefore, in order to reduce any uncertainty about their findings, cross-cultural researchers should use appropriate methodological techniques. Using focus groups to evaluate the quality of standard measures is one such technique. This paper highlights a study composed of six focus groups that was conducted at the Medical Faculty of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, with the purpose of assessinge quivalence of measures of wellbeing and mental health. Each focus group consisted of three males and three females (age range 35-62).

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Mental health among opiate users in Kabul: a pilot study from the Medecins du Monde Harm Reduction Programme

The number of injecting opiate users in Afghanistan has recently risen dramatically. Through this crosssectional pilot study, the authors have aimed to assess psychiatric comorbidity and drug use patterns among Afghan opiate users, which might have implications for harm reduction and treatment interventions. The authors conducted semi-structured psychiatric interviews, with a convenience sample of 30 clients of the Médecins du Monde drop-in centre in Kabul. Symptoms were classified according to the WHO International Classification of Diseases, Revision 10.

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Community Systems Strengthening in Afghanistan: a way to reduce domestic violence and to reinforce women’s agency

In Afghanistan, a burden of poor mental health exists within the contexts of ongoing poverty, social inequality, and persistent violence. Although women in Afghanistan share the same problems as most women in developing countries, many elements of the inequalities that Afghan women experience are extreme, and the context in which these women live is exceptional. Addressing these contextual factors, in order to discover culturally acceptable and feasible solutions to these problems, poses major challenges and asks for a multi-sectoral approach.

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Engaging war affected youth through photography: Photovoice with former child soldiers in Sierra Leone

Photovoice is a community based participatory research method that combines photography, community awareness building, group discussions, and social action. Photovoice seeks to enable both individuals and groups, particularly those facing marginalisation and disempowerment, to record and re£ect on community strengths and challenges, through photography. This paper presents a Photo voice project, conducted with a group of former child soldiers living in urban Sierra Leone, exploring their post war lives and reintegration experiences.

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Developing a responsive model of staff care beyond individual stress management: a case study

This field report offers some examples of donor related, and management induced, stress among local humanitarian staff in northern Sri Lanka. These examples were identified during staff care interventions held with a dozen nongovernmental organisations in the region. In this report, the authors discuss approaches to staff care. They conclude that individual, stress management focussed training does not adequately answer the needs of staff members (partially) burdened by unnecessary, work related stress.

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