Special issue of Intervention: Call for Papers
Deadline for submission April 7th 2009

The Subject:
Combining qualitative and quantitative research methods to inform psychosocial and mental health programmes in complex humanitarian emergencies or other situations of extreme stress or adversity.

Background:
Current consensus in the humanitarian field on mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings encourages both psychosocial (i.e. care with a focus on the interplay between socio-cultural context and psychological functioning) and psychiatric interventions (i.e. care for those with mental disorders). Similarly, in the scientific debates on the consequences of adversity on human functioning there are trends towards integrating biological, psychological and social findings.

Objective:
This special issue is aimed at presenting practitioners an overview of state-of-the-art examples of applied research, preferably those in which qualitative and quantitative methods are combined, relevant to the field of mental health and psychosocial support in complex emergencies. We aim to assist practitioners in applying these examples in their own practice.

Call for papers:
We encourage applied researchers in this field to describe examples of the successful combination of qualitative and quantitative methods in:
- Needs Assessment; including affected populations' perspectives on prioritizing needs, qualitative methods in epidemiological surveys, assessment of existing ways of dealing with distress and help-seeking, etc., and
- Monitoring & Evaluation; including the definition and assessment of outcome indicators, process evaluation techniques, qualitative methods in quantitative efficacy and effectiveness research, etc.
We also encourage authors to submit papers describing an overarching framework to facilitate the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods. Papers describing a critique on mixed methods research are also welcome.

Submission guidelines:
For general submission guidelines: www.interventionjournal.com/papers.html.
Papers will be selected on their relevance to the field, applicability, methodological rigor, and level of innovation.

For more information contact the guest editors for this issue:
- Wietse A. Tol (wtol@healthnettpo.org)
- Paul Bolton (pbolton@jhsph.edu)
- Judith Bass (jbass@jhsph.edu)

or the editor of Intervention
Peter Ventevogel (editor@interventionjournal.com)