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
Top Cited Papers
- 15 February 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Vol. 54 (4), 445-460
- https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12053
Abstract
Researchers focused on mental health of conflict-affected children are increasingly interested in the concept of resilience. Knowledge on resilience may assist in developing interventions aimed at improving positive outcomes or reducing negative outcomes, termed promotive or protective interventions. We performed a systematic review of peer-reviewed qualitative and quantitative studies focused on resilience and mental health in children and adolescents affected by armed conflict in low- and middle-income countries. Altogether 53 studies were identified: 15 qualitative and mixed methods studies and 38 quantitative, mostly cross-sectional studies focused on school-aged children and adolescents. Qualitative studies identified variation across socio-cultural settings of relevant resilience outcomes, and report contextually unique processes contributing to such outcomes. Quantitative studies focused on promotive and protective factors at different socio-ecological levels (individual, family-, peer-, school-, and community-levels). Generally, promotive and protective factors showed gender-, symptom-, and phase of conflict-specific effects on mental health outcomes. Although limited by its predominantly cross-sectional nature and focus on protective outcomes, this body of knowledge supports a perspective of resilience as a complex dynamic process driven by time- and context-dependent variables, rather than the balance between risk- and protective factors with known impacts on mental health. Given the complexity of findings in this population, we conclude that resilience-focused interventions will need to be highly tailored to specific contexts, rather than the application of a universal model that may be expected to have similar effects on mental health across contexts.Keywords
This publication has 70 references indexed in Scilit:
- Nothing can defeat combined hands (Abashize hamwe ntakibananira): Protective processes and resilience in Rwandan children and families affected by HIV/AIDSSocial Science & Medicine (1982), 2011
- Validation of cross-cultural child mental health and psychosocial research instruments: adapting the Depression Self-Rating Scale and Child PTSD Symptom Scale in NepalBMC Psychiatry, 2011
- Mental Health and Childhood Adversities: A Longitudinal Study in Kabul, AfghanistanJournal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2011
- Suffering, hope, and entrapment: Resilience and cultural values in AfghanistanSocial Science & Medicine (1982), 2010
- Military trauma and social development: The moderating and mediating roles of peer and sibling relations in mental healthInternational Journal of Behavioral Development, 2010
- Sierra Leone’s Former Child Soldiers: A Follow‐Up Study of Psychosocial Adjustment and Community ReintegrationChild Development, 2010
- Systematic Review of Evidence and Treatment Approaches: Psychosocial and Mental Health Care for Children in WarChild and Adolescent Mental Health, 2009
- Prevalence of mental disorders among children exposed to war: a systematic review of 7,920 childrenMedicine, Conflict and Survival, 2009
- The mental health of children affected by armed conflict: Protective processes and pathways to resilienceInternational Review of Psychiatry, 2008
- Coping with The Consequences of Living in Danger: The Case of Palestinian Children and YouthInternational Journal of Behavioral Development, 1994