|
March 2010: Recent changes by Adobe systems (Acrobat Reader 9) mean that the 'Acrobat' documents held here (in .pdf format) can no longer be used by Google Chrome and Safari browsers. Please use Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer (etc.) to view the documents. Now available: Volume 8: Number 1: January 2010 Psychosocial research and action with survivors of political violence in Latin America: methodological considerations and implications for practice. Martinez and Eiroa-Orosa describe a research project with survivors of political violence in Argentina. In their contribution, they connect the reader to an important body of Spanish language literature on ‘action research’ in Latin America. This Latin American tradition of psychosocial work, in which intervention and research go hand in hand, provides an interesting and perhaps refreshing outlook for us in the second decade of the twenty first century. Tortured exiles on the streets: a research agenda and methodological challenge Craig Higson-Smith & Flemming Bro describe the challenges they faced in conducting research with tortured exiles living in Johannesburg. It is often difficult to work with this group, because illegal refugees are often marginalised, as well as invisible to assistance groups. Including disabled children in psychosocial programmes in areas a¡ected by armed confict Nina von der Assen, Mathijs Euwema & Huib Cornielje provide an overview on the place of disabled children in psychosocial programmes in areas affected by armed confict.Too often, children with disabilities are not included in psychosocial interventions, or are ‘set apart’. The authors argue, convincingly, that it is important to develop ‘disability-friendly’ psychosocial programmes. Child and adolescent mental health in Iraq: current situation and scope for promotion of child and adolescent mental health policy AbdulKareem Al-Obaidi, Boris Budosan & Linda R. Jeffery provide an overview of the situation on child and adolescent mental health in Iraq. Their sobering review of the literature makes us realise how much work is still ahead in the (re)construction of a mental health care system in Iraq. Introducing the IASC Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Guidelines in Emergencies in Nepal: a process description Mark Jordans and his coauthors from the ‘Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergencies Working Group in Nepal’ describe how, in Nepal, a group of multiple stakeholders (local nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), international NGOs and UN organisations) have set up a process to use the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings. Two and a half years after the publication of the guidelines, and more than a year after the landmark special issue of Intervention on those guidelines, it is good to see that this document continues to be useful in the ¢eld. The Taskforce that drafted the guidelines has been transformed into the IASCReference Group Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings with dozens of NGOs and UN organisations taking part in a continuous process of knowledge exchange and development of good practices. I am happy that Intervention had, and will continue to have, a signi¢cant role in this process. Field Reports:The challenges of academic and community partnership under military occupation and the complexity of power relations Rabaia & Viet Nguyen Gillham describe the project that has been set up as a joint partnership between a Palestinian academic institution, a Palestinian NGO and a community. The paper illustrates how power relations cannot be ignored. |