| Title: |
Psychosocial Interventions for Displaced Populations (Distance Learning) |
| Keywords: |
Violence / war
Planning and programming (incl.. budgeting and evaluation)
Mental health problems
Health in emergencies
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| Country: |
United Kingdom
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| Institution: |
UK - Institute for Global Health and Development, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
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| Course coordinator: |
Rebecca Horn
Dr Carola Eyber
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| Date start: |
2021-03-11 |
| Date end: |
2021-04-09 |
| About duration and dates: |
Total number of weeks: 9 weeks: Pre-reading available 1 week in advance (does not count towards SIT) 6 weeks active learning programme |
| Classification: |
advanced optional
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| Mode of delivery: |
Distance-based
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Course location:
Delivered electronically from IGHD, Edinburgh |
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| ECTS credit points: |
5 ECTS credits
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SIT:
150 SIT:
• Self-directed individual study of web-based materials and readings: 80 hours
• Participation on moderated discussion boards: 20 hours
• Assignment (development, defence and presentation of a programme proposal): 50 hours |
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| Language: |
English
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Description:
On successful completion of the module the student will be able to:
• Demonstrate critical awareness of the nature of the threat to personal and social well-being posed by conflict and forced migration
• Conceptualise psychosocial needs - and interventions - with respect to relevant psychiatric, psychological, social and cultural frameworks and synthesise relevant insights
• Critique the roles of culture and identity in shaping the experience of conflict and forced migration
• Identify and critically appraise a variety of examples of psychosocial intervention with war-affected and forced migrant populations
• Effectively and coherently plan a psychosocial intervention sensitive to local circumstance
• Demonstrate critical awareness of relevant criteria and strategies for the effective evaluation of psychosocial programmes |
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Assessment Procedures:
Participants are required to present a 3,000 word programme proposal (in narrative form) for a psychosocial intervention which:
• summarises the objectives of the intervention (with respect to documented needs)
• outlines a conceptual framework for the proposed intervention
• provides a clear rationale for the chosen approach
• details key features of the proposed programme
• outlines a proposed strategy for monitoring and evaluation of the intervention
The assignment specification provided for students is attached at the end of this form. The assignment is the focus of a specific strand of discussion within the Discussion Board. Dialogue with students regarding the assignment provides a basis for interpreting the assignment within the context of the broad Assessment Regulations that are provided for all students. This provides guidance (consistent across alll QMU modules) on the structured feedback provided onlassignments as a basis for awarded grades and opportunties to resubmit an assignment that has achieved a failing grade. |
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Content:
The content of the module will include:
Unit 1: The Developing Field of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS)
This unit provides an introduction to the field of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), reviewing its development as a field of practice over the last two decades.
Unit 2: The MHPSS Guidelines
This unit addresses the role of the framework that has come to represent a shared approach to intervention across many agencies: the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guideline on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings
Unit 3: Current Policy and Practice Developments
This unit builds on earlier units to review contemporary policy and practice in the MHPSS field, identifying emerging agendas that are likely to shape future practice. It includes consideration of debates reflected at the 2015 UNICEF-sponsored meeting at The Hague and at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit.
Unit 4: Approaches to Psychosocial Support: Child Friendly Spaces
This unit considers one of the most widely-adopted strategies to provide psychosocial support to children in the context of humanitarian emergencies: child friendly spaces (or CFS).
Unit 5: Approaches to Psychosocial Support: Gender, Conflict and Displacement
This unit aims to draw attention to the gendered experiences of women and men affected by conflict and displacement.
Unit 6: Approaches to Psychosocial Support: Community-Based Approaches
In this unit, we will look at the community-based approach to psychosocial interventions. The aims of this approach are to assist affected people to attain stable life and integrated functioning; and to restore hope, dignity, mental and social wellbeing and a sense of normality.
Unit 7: Approaches to Psychosocial Support: Mainstreaming into Other Sectors
This unit focuses on mainstreaming (or integrating) psychosocial approaches into other sectors, such as WASH, education, food security, livelihoods and health.
Unit 8: Approaches to Psychosocial Support: Humanitarian Staff Care
This unit considers the application of the principals of mental health and psychosocial support to the issue of staff care of humanitarian workers.
Unit 9: Design, Monitoring and Evaluation of Psychosocial Programming
The aim of this unit is to consider the role of evaluation of psychosocial programming, and how to integrate monitoring and evaluation into programme design.
Unit 10: Capacity Building for Psychosocial Support
This unit introduces some of the approaches currently being adopted to build capacity in psychosocial support in displacement settings. |
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Methods:
Each unit comprises approximately 8 hours of guided study material, which includes activities ranging from specified readings, through narrated PowerPoints, to videos and podcasts, each accompanied by prompting questions.
Participants have the option to document personal learning privately or, through use of the journal function, in a manner that allows course tutors to review and comment upon notes.
Additionally, participants spend approximately 2 hours per unit on reviewing and posting material on the Discussion Board, which is accessible to tutors and all participants. This varies from general reflection on the content of the unit; through specified reflection exercises on specific topics; to guided sharing of analyses with other participants for peer review and feedback.
Additionally, a range of optional readings and other forms of activity are made available within each unit for participants who want to pursue deeper or wider learning on the topic, whether related to their chosen assignment focus or otherwise. |
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Prerequisites:
• General admission requirements for entry onto MSc courses run at IGHD include IELTS of 6.0 OR TOEFL 580 in paper test and 237 in computer based test.
• Regular access to a computer and the internet (broadband) for the duration of the module.
• Basic computer skills, including using the world-wide web. |
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Attendance:
Typically 20-28 students enrolled; no cap for TropEd participants |
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Major changes since initial accreditation:
Alastair Ager and Rebecca Horn have succeeded Carola Eyber as module tutors. They have taken the opportunity to refresh material, particularly with regard to policy development and enhancement of the evidence base in the field in the last five years. Material thus features recent publications of the two tutors, alongside broader readings and other contemporary documentation. Objectives have been modestly revised to reflect developing practice in the field and the need for robust evaluation approaches. Learning methods have incorporated a broader range of materials including short video interviews with leading MHPSS practitioners, programme evaluations and documents and video presentations of humanitarian contexts and specific interventions. The assessment process has been simplified, with the Discussion Board fora within each unit serving as a formative basis for the single summative assessment which integrates module learning from across the units. |
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Student evaluation:
The module has been very positive evaluated by students. In 2016 the module was the top-ranked IGHD/QMU module with with100% of students satisfied with the achievement of learning organization of the module, 100% of students satisfied with the organization of the module (76% rating it excellent) and 90% of the class rating their interest in course material as excellent. |
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Lessons learned:
Our offering of the module suggests that – suitably structured and with good use made of vivid learning materials – an online class of this nature can create a learning experience beyond what can be achieved in the regular classroom. With participants from across the world engaging in theoretical and practice reflection, we have been able to bring experienced psychosocial practitioners into dialogue with those just beginning to explore this area of specialism. In the most recent offering of the course, we were able to connect physicians engaged in response to the zika virus in Brazil, with nurses working on GBV prevent programmes in South Sudan, with psychologists working with migrants in Lampadusa. This diversity of experience provides rich material for class discussion of even greater benefit to those with limited exposure to psychosocial programming in humanitarian contexts to date. |
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tropEd accreditation:
Accredited in September 2006 and re-accredited in May 2012 and February, 2017. This accreditation is valid until February 2022. |
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Remarks:
Each unit has set readings assigned (both required and optional). The following core reading is illustrative of the range of sources used:
Ager, A. Ager, A, Ager, W, Stavrou, V. & Boothby, N. (2011) Inter-Agency Guide to the Evaluation of Psychosocial Programming in Emergencies. New York: UNICEF.
Ager, A., Akesson, B., Stark, L., Flouri, E., Okot, B., McCollister, F & Boothby, N. “The impact of the school-based Psychosocial Structured Activities (PSSA) program on conflict-affected children in northern Uganda”. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2011, 52 (11), 1124–1133.
Eggerman, M., & Panter-Brick, C. (2010). Suffering, hope, and entrapment: Resilience and cultural values in Afghanistan. Social Science & Medicine, 71(1), 71-83.
Horn, R., Puffer, E. S., Roesch, E., & Lehmann, H. Women's perceptions of effects of war on intimate partner violence and gender roles in two post-conflict West African Countries: Consequences and unexpected opportunities. Conflict and Health, 2014, 8, 12. DOI: 10.1186/1752-1505-8-12.
Kohrt, B. A., Jordans, M. J., Tol, W. A., Perera, E., Karki, R., Koirala, S., & Upadhaya, N. (2010). Social ecology of child soldiers: Child, family, and community determinants of mental health, psychosocial well-being, and reintegration in Nepal. Transcultural Psychiatry, 47(5), 727-753.
Miller, K. E., & Rasmussen, A. (2010). War exposure, daily stressors, and mental health in conflict and post-conflict settings: bridging the divide between trauma-focused and psychosocial frameworks. Social Science & Medicine, 70(1), 7-16.
Tol, W. A., Barbui, C., Galappatti, A., Silove, D., Betancourt, T. S., Souza, R. & Van Ommeren, M. (2011). Mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings: linking practice and research. The Lancet, 378(9802), 1581-1591.
Please see here the flyer of this course. |
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| Email Address: |
ceyber@qmu.ac.uk |
| Date Of Record Creation: |
2012-01-14 02:12:26 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Of Record Release: |
2012-01-14 08:23:37 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Record Checked: |
2018-06-21 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Last Modified: |
2020-12-15 14:04:47 (W3C-DTF) |
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