Citation

Veronese G, Pepe A, Jaradah A, Murannak F, Hamdouna H. Child Abuse Negl. 2017; 70: 364-376.

Affiliation

Remedial Education Center, Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.06.027

PMID

28743067

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative study investigated self-perceived risk and protection factors that may reinforce the ability of children living in refugee camps on the Gaza Strip to adjust to a traumatic and risky life context characterized by loss and dispossession. The sample comprised 200 Palestinian children recruited at primary schools in four refugee camps in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli military operation "Pillar of Defence" in 2012. Thematic content analysis was applied to written materials and narratives produced by the children. Environment, friends, emotions, family, play, self, sociality, health, school, and spirituality were the dimensions that emerged from the narrative texts. Palestinian children's psychological adaptability and ability to reposition themselves along the continuum between ease and disease is underpinned by constant political agency and activism - a dimension that guides sense-making activities in a traumatizing environment marked by continuous uncertainty, loss and bereavement. We therefore recommend a politically-informed focus, both when assessing children and when designing intervention for them in contexts of chronic political violence and war.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Activism; Agency; Political violence; Protective factors; Risk; Subjective well-being; War trauma