Building the Capacity to Bounce Back

Title: Promoting stress resistance in war-exposed children [editorial]

Author:  Asarnow, Joan Rosenbaum

Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles CA, USA

Source:  Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 320-322, April 2011

Abstract:   
The question of how to best enhance stress resistance and resilience in war- and trauma-exposed communities urgently needs data to inform public health and clinical programs.

Although some individuals and communities appear resilient and recover rapidly after exposure to war/traumatic experiences, others develop multiple secondary adversities and persistent mental health and functioning problems.

A report by Wolmer and colleagues focuses on children's reactions after a 3-week armed conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip during which the civilian population was exposed to rocket and mortar attacks, extensive time in shelters, and continuing threats to safety and survival. The report describes the effects of a school-based stress-inoculation training (SIT) program designed to enhance stress resistance and resilience in fourth- and fifth-grade Israeli school children and implemented before the 3-week armed conflict. The preventive SIT intervention was integrated within the school curriculum and delivered by teachers.

Three months after the conflct, children from the six schools implementing the intervention compared with children from six other schools reported significantly lower levels of PTSD symptoms and lower scores on a scale assessing mood, anxiety, and stress problems.