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25 - The Impact of Decades of Political Violence on Palestinian Children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank

from Part III - Regional and Country Case Studies on Social Justice for Youth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

By
Abdel Aziz Mousa Thabet
Edited by
Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers ,
Aradhana Bela Sood  and
Mark D. Weist
Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Aradhana Bela Sood
Affiliation:
Virginia Commonwealth University
Mark D. Weist
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina
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Summary

The aim of this chapter is to highlight the impact of trauma and intervention with Palestinian children. A reanalysis of secondary data of previous work in the field using the words trauma, Palestinians, intervention, PTSD, anxiety, depression, Gaza Strip, and West Bank was entered in web-based research databases including Medline, PsycINFO, and Scholar Portal. The severity of traumatic events is changing and the types of traumatic experiences now include seeing mutilated bodies on TV, hearing and seeing shelling, exposure to sonic bombs, and witnessing home bombardment and demolition. PTSD prevalence ranged in children from 10 percent to 71 percent while the rate of PTSD in the West Bank ranged from 35 percent to 36 percent. The rate of anxiety ranged from 28.5 percent to 33.9 percent, and depression ranged from 40 percent in children of Gaza and the West Bank to 50.6 percent. The general mental health of children rated by parents and teachers was 20.9 percent and 31.8 percent. Studies showed risk factors that interfered with well-being such as being a boy, living in a large family, low socioeconomic status of the family, exposure to domestic and political violence, and being an orphaned child. Other risk factors included children in the labor force, with physical problems, and living near the border areas. Intervention studies had equivocal results when using psychodrama, school mediation, writing for recovery, and teaching children recovery techniques. This review showed that Palestinian children’s exposure to war and conflict leads to negative outcomes including mental health problems that triggered the start of community intervention programs. These programs did not change the negative impact of trauma, which highlights the need to find other ways to protect children in Palestine and help them cope with their daily life adversities and war.

Keywords

Palestinian childrenpolitical and community violencetraumawell-beingPTSDanxietydepressionpsychosocial interventionGaza StripWest Bank
Type
Chapter
Information
Social Justice for Children and Young People
International Perspectives
 , pp. 388 - 401
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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