HARTFORD, Conn. — University researchers have unveiled a survey aimed at helping humanitarian groups better serve scores of children who have been displaced by the civil war in Syria.
The questionnaire was designed to measure and track the resiliency, or strengths, of Arabic-speaking children as part of a larger survey that assesses weaknesses, including mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Researchers say resiliency is needed to cope with displacement and resettlement, and the idea behind the survey is to gauge how much resiliency young refugees have and to bolster those strengths.
Displaced Syrian children, for example, drew strength from positive relationships in their community, feeling resettled, being able to maintain ambition and believing that education is still important, the survey study found.
“Humanitarian organizations strive to alleviate suffering and also nurture the resilience of refugees — their ability to overcome adversity,” said Catherine Panter-Brick, a Yale University anthropology and global affairs professor and lead author of the study.
“If you only focus on the negative — people’s trauma — then you’re missing the full picture,” she said. “We have developed a tool for accurately measuring resilience in Arabic-speaking young people. This survey will help researchers and service providers to craft effective interventions that bolster people’s strengths.”
Researchers said they developed the questionnaire because most other measures of resilience were designed for adults.
More than 5 million people have been forced to leave Syria during the six-year civil war.
More than 650,000 Syrians have gone to Jordan, and half of them are under 18 years old.