Background

According to UNICEF, 61 million children in the Middle East – or one out of every three – are affected by violence and conflict in the region. The current violence escalation and human devastation in Gaza, where thousands of children have been killed or injured, illustrates the dramatic magnitude of the trauma. To create more responsive health systems and mental health interventions for children in the region, cross-contextual, global collaboration is essential.

Project Description

This project team will bring together experts in international geopolitics, family-based mental health interventions and global mental health in the Middle East to lay the groundwork for a pilot initiative to provide mental health coping support for children in the Palestinian Territories. 

Team members will tackle this goal in three, interlinked phases:

1. Landscape mapping: Team members will assess child and family mental health intervention efforts in Gaza and the West Bank to identify the most impactful opportunities for support.
2. Identification of effective trauma-based mental health interventions: The team will examine mental health intervention and implementation strategies for families and children in conflict/war zones to begin the development of a psychosocial intervention adapted to the Palestinian and Middle East contexts.
3. Internal network development: Team members will foster collaboration among Duke faculty working to address adverse mental health outcomes of families in conflict settings with the goal of establishing a network of leading global mental health experts aligned with the new Duke Center for Global Mental Health.

Ultimately, the goal is for the team’s pilot initiative to be replicated in other regions of the Middle East, such as Yemen and Syria. 

Anticipated Outputs

Development of a sustainable global mental health network at Duke; innovative model for mental health group treatment for children in the Middle East; grant applications

Student Opportunities

Ideally, this team will include 2 graduate/professional students and 6-8 undergraduate students with interests in global mental health, psychology, disaster relief, trauma, culture and politics of the Middle East, and health systems.

Team members will work together in subteams and all students will gain skills in landscape mapping, including identifying gaps in psychological or psychiatric resources and care provision; literature reviews; assessing appropriate and feasible mental health interventions and implementation strategies for children in conflict areas; program design; and identification of grants to support implementation or adaptation of the intervention to additional cultural contexts.

In Fall 2024, this team will meet weekly on Mondays from 10:00-11:00 and on Tuesdays from 2:00 to 3:00. 

Timing

Fall 2024 – Summer 2025

• Fall 2024: Conduct landscape mapping; produce preliminary summary report
• Spring 2025: Conduct literature review; assess innovative mental health intervention strategies
• Summer 2025 (optional): Develop intervention and implementation strategy; prepare IRB; begin external grant applications; begin setting up platform to train volunteers; enroll children and families for counseling 

Crediting

Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters; summer funding available