Doctoral Dissertation Research: Scientific Evidence concerning Humanitarian Interventions in Israeli Conflict Zones

近年来，冲突和灾区人民的心理健康问题越来越受到国际人道主义援助组织的关注。然而，与食物或医疗援助相比，心理健康干预具有独特的设计、协调和验证挑战。在关于什么属于精神健康领域的持续辩论中，援助组织正在采取各种干预措施，从个人治疗到职业培训，再到人权宣传。这种差异部分源于实地情况的变化，部分源于对适当目标和方法的分歧。为了改进监督和沟通，几个跨国人道主义财团和研究团体致力于开发技术，科学地评估冲突和灾区心理健康干预措施的效力。但是，鉴于不同人口的不同需求以及对成功的适当衡量标准缺乏共识，作出令人信服的评估构成重大挑战。本项目审查人道主义组织和研究人员在试图实施和评估心理健康干预措施时遇到的挑战。它审查了他们为克服这些挑战而采用的方法，以及他们评估评估方法有效性的方式。为了解决这些问题，研究人员将采访参与人道主义心理健康干预的心理健康从业人员、管理人员和研究人员，并在以色列和西岸开展活动的人道主义组织中进行参与性观察。该项目将记录在冲突地区设计、实施和评估心理健康和心理干预措施所面临的挑战，阐明人道主义领域知识转移的复杂性。更广泛的影响由于人道主义行动者每天都在使用功效和监督的概念来规划和实施精神卫生干预措施，并为这些干预措施提供资金，因此该分析可能会引起各种研究人员、非政府组织和政策分析人员的兴趣。

IntroductionIn recent years, the mental health of people in conflict and disaster zones has attracted increasing attention among international humanitarian aid organizations. However, as compared with food or medical aid, mental health interventions pose unique design, coordination, and validation challenges. Amid ongoing debate over what falls within the domain of mental health, aid organizations are employing diverse interventions, ranging from individual therapy, to vocational training, to human rights advocacy. This diversity stems in part from variation in conditions on the ground and in part from disagreement about appropriate goals and methods. To improve oversight and communication, several multinational humanitarian consortia and research groups have worked to develop techniques for scientifically assessing the efficacy of mental health interventions in conflict and disaster zones. But given the varying needs of different populations and a lack of consensus about appropriate measures of success, producing convincing assessments poses significant challenges.Intellectual MeritThis project examines the challenges that humanitarian organizations and researchers encounter when trying to implement and assess mental health interventions. It examines the methods that they employ to overcome these challenges, and the manner in which they evaluate the effectiveness of their assessment methods. To address these issues questions, the researcher will interview mental health practitioners, administrators, and researchers involved in humanitarian mental health interventions and conduct participant observation in humanitarian organizations that operate in Israel and the West Bank. The project will document the challenges of designing, delivering, and assessing mental health and psychological interventions in conflict zones, illuminating the complexities of knowledge transfer in the humanitarian sphere. Broader ImpactsBecause humanitarian actors use concepts of efficacy and oversight on a daily basis to plan and implement mental health interventions and justify funding for them, the analysis is likely to interest a variety of researchers, NGOs, and policy analysts.