Introduction - Strategies to Enhance Psychological Well-being in Displacement
The research proposal will illustrate the intervention of mental health and psychological support (MHPSS) in the displacement issue in the UK. Recently, the UK has experienced displacement due to conflict and disaster. In this proposal, the proposed intervention of MHPSS in the UK will be addressed. The summary of the objectives of the proposed intervention will explain the direction of the research proposal. An outline for the conceptual framework will be portrayed which will help to understand the proposed intervention. Further, a brief rationale for this proposal will be delivered which can help to understand the reason behind the intervention of MHPSS. In this proposal, the detailed key features of the proposed intervention will be described which will clear the understanding of the importance of the MHPSS intervention. The strategy for monitoring and evaluating the MHPSS intervention will be provided according to the context which will be followed by the implementation methods. These implementation methods will guide the application of MHPSS intervention successfully.
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There are multiple objectives of the MHPSS intervention in the UK.
To secure and facilitate displaced people's psychological well-being and mental health
To mention a particular mental problem
To address the MHPSS intervention regarding the mental problem
To propose a theoretical framework for the proposed intervention
To specify the key features of MHPSS intervention
To implement the specific strategy for the program monitoring and evaluation
To reduce the addressed psychosocial problem
Outline of the conceptual framework for the proposed intervention
Figure 1: Conceptual framework for the proposed intervention
The UK is experiencing a huge number of internal displacements due to various reasons. This increases the number of internally displaced people. Currently, the country is facing natural disasters due to adverse climatic changes that affect people’s habitats. Heavy rainfall, rising sea levels, increasing drought, and large storm waves affect people in multiple ways. These conditions cause floods in the riverbanks and coastal areas and heat waves that push the people displaced from their habitats. This internal displacement increases various mental issues for the displaced people among which the major issue suffered by them is mental depression. MHPSS will intervene in the UK to help people recover from depression (unhcr.org). MHPSS can provide various psychological support which can be helpful to recover from depression. MHPSS with the local health-care services can provide various support to the displaced people.
Rationale
The UK has faced multiple displacements in the past years. These displacements mostly occur due to the violation of human rights, armed conflicts, climatic changes, and violence. These factors increase the displacement of people in large numbers. High displacement causes various psychosocial issues among refugees. One of the major psychosocial issues is depression which is affecting most refugees. The major reasons behind depression are the pain of losing habitat, victim of sexual harassment, adaptation to the latest environments, forced migration, and the traumatic events they have faced. According to the estimation of Breaking Barriers, a total of 1,35,000 displaced people were present in the UK in 2021 (Breaking-barriers.co.uk, 2023). In 2022, the crises in Ukraine and Afghanistan added displaced people in the UK of over 70,000 out of which only 17,000 obtain permission to stay.
The MHPSS of the UNHCR focuses on the security of the mental health of the displaced people and it is involved in various activities to fulfill this purpose. Currently, the MHPSS will intervene in the current and actual situation of the displacement issue in the UK (Te Brake et al. 2022). For this purpose, the UNHCR will set up various proposals for the successful development of the intervention program. The psychosocial intervention of the MHPSS will aim at increasing the coping ability of displaced people and strengthening their integration within the community. The psychosocial activities may include the treatment of psychological problems, various entertaining activities for mental development, organizing physical fitness activities, education support, and some other facilities.
Significance of MHPSS intervention in the UK
Displaced people in the UK often have space problems as the number of displaced people is gradually increasing. Currently, they are more affected by depression for various reasons which damage their psychological condition of these people. MHPSS will intervene in the UK with the help of implementing “social and emotional learning (SEL)”. MHPSS will enhance the knowledge and skills of displaced people along with emotional well-being and social well-being. These improvements can lead displaced people to enhance their competencies in decision-making skills, self-management, social awareness, self-awareness, and relationship skills. The self-awareness program will help the displaced people about being depressed. It can only be performed by identifying self-emotions which further reflects on their behavior and level of confidence. The decision-making skill can help people to decide in a logical manner without the influence of depression (Im et al. 2021). Depression mainly regulates emotion; hence self-management activities can help the displaced people to control their emotions which will further reduce their depression level. Social-awareness-related activities can be helpful in comprehending various ethical as well as social criteria of behavior. This can regulate the way of behavioral activities of depressed people. Depression often prevents people from creating connections with others. The MHSS activities will increase the relationship skills of the displaced people which push them to create healthy relationships with others and that will result in the reduction of depression [referred to Appendix 1].
The MHPSS can introduce various activities such as exercise, and fitness programs, building a club, the introduction of paintings, musical performances, etc. for the displaced people that will improve the displaced people from every angle. All these activities for the well-being of these people can be segregated by MHPSS into two broad categories i.e., for children and for adults. In the case of children, MHPSS will focus on building a bridge to fill the gap between them with their families. The children can be more involved in different sports, arts, and craftworks, singing and dancing along with psychological first aid (unicef.org, 2022). In addition, MHPSS will provide an education facility to these children which can reduce the cause of depression because active involvement in a task can reduce the depression level effectively.
In the case of adults, MHPSS can provide various counseling sessions to those people who are significantly affected by depression. Furthermore, various entertaining events, group works, asylum facilities, healthcare facilities, and exercise activities can assist people in their recovery from depression. The MHPSS will focus on providing all these types of services to the displaced people in the UK without violating their equity and rights, without any harmful activities, and focusing on integrated as well as multilayered support systems.
There are various key features for the proposed MHPSS intervention program. These key features can broadly be categorized into emotional, social, and psychological well-being.
Emotional well-being will be the utmost priority of the MHPSS program as it is directly related to psychosocial problems (Raslan et al. 2021). Several activities will help to boost the emotions of the displaced people. The improved emotional value drives people toward a healthy life. Counseling services can be helpful for these people to express their emotions to psychologists who will further help them to recover. Exposure to different activities, especially art-related activities will enhance the expression process of these people’s emotional status. This program will allow displaced people to express their feelings and emotions through paintings, singing, dancing, etc. The outcome of these activities will also help to assess the current mental condition of these displaced people.
Social well-being will be improved through the activities of this MHPSS intervention program. To remove various psychosocial issues, especially depression, improvement in social well-being is highly important. This program will provide several activities that can help these people to connect with more people (Orrnert, 2019). Group meetings, group exercises, club facilities, and some other facilities will have the capability to increase the connection or relationship between the displaced people. Furthermore, competitive activities like playing, singing, painting, or any assigned group task will improve the social connection of these displaced people in the UK. In addition to the improvement of social connection, these activities will also remove communication barriers, anger, self-isolation, aggression, and refusal to get an education. Both adults and children will benefit from these activities (Hamber, 2021). The increased social connection will eventually reduce the depression of these people as they can engage themselves in various tasks.
Psychological well-being is also a crucial part of this program as emotional and mental health is related to the psychological factors of the human. MHPSS program will allow the displaced people in the UK to develop their psychological state by introducing several activities. The art and craftwork activity will improve the concentration power of these people which will allow them to execute any work with great concentration. Various memory games can improve their memory. In addition to memory games, several fitness activities such as regular exercise and yoga can reduce memory problems in an effective manner in these people. MHPSS intervention program will provide a specific diet chart to reduce memory-related problems with the assistance of professional nutritionists to decrease memory issues. The counseling activity will help to fight the bad experiences that often come into their mind. This can effectively reduce the level of depression significantly. A few activities related to improving the decision-making skills of these people will help to enhance their self-decision-taking skills and eventually decrease their confusion (Hendrickx et al. 2020). All these activities will help these people to improve their psychological well-being which will be further enhanced by the assistance of psychiatrists and healthcare organizations.
All the activities that enhance the displaced people’s emotional, social, and psychological well-being are similar which reflects that these key features of the proposed program are interlinked for the overall improvement of these people. Physical activity improves blood circulation which is necessary for the improvement of mental health. Furthermore, education is an essential factor for a healthy mental condition and will also be provided by the program to the children. This education will increase awareness about a healthy mental state in order to fight mental depression. The support system of this program will provide help to helpless people in overcoming fear and anxiety-related issues. This program also provides security to these people which will reduce their insecurity.
Proposed strategy for monitoring and evaluation
The monitoring and evaluation of the proposed intervention are crucial for the assessment of the achievements of desired outcomes from the program. Monitoring and evaluation will help to determine direct, indirect, positive, and negative changes in order to reach the objectives (Ager, 2021). For the successful monitoring and evaluation of the proposed program specific strategies need to be set. The proposed strategies in this context are as follows:
Cost-effectiveness
To increase the funding of MHPSS for implementation purposes, different funding from outsources will be necessary for the successful intervention. The funding for MHPSS can be increased through the partnership of various government and non-government organizations. This partnership will allow sufficient funding for the program.
Partnerships with non-governmental organizations
This program includes treatment facilities for mental health issues. These issues can be treated through specific healthcare supports such as help from psychiatrists, nutritionists, asylum, and rehabilitation centers. This support can be obtained from various private organizations which will be helpful to implement the program effectively.
Conduction of various entertainment factors
Another important strategy that is necessary for the monitoring of the proposed program is the conduction of various entertaining activities that can increase interest among the displaced people (Rajovic et al. 2021). With the help of the government, several workshops or activities can be conducted through which these people can improve their skills and overcome their mental health issues.
Focus on the objectives
The most important strategy is to focus on the program objectives which can be helpful in reducing the failure of the program. The whole program should be segmented into multiple parts which will successfully assist in the completion of the program. The steps should be organized according to their importance.
Introduction of reward system
The reward is an attractive technique that can influence most people. For the fulfillment of physical activities, exercises, and other activities for their well-being, a specific reward strategy can increase interest among the people. This reward policy will attract numerous displaced people in the UK for their self-betterment.
Introduction of governmental facilities
Displaced people are usually deprived of numerous governmental facilities for being unaware of (Tay et al. 2019). The provision of the facilities to these people through the implementation of MHPSS will increase the chance of their involvement in this program which not only provides them with different governmental facilities but also improves their psychological health condition.
Provide educational support
MHPSS intervention program can provide educational support to the relevant displaced people which will improve their personality, perception, and decision-making ability. This educational support must be free of cost along with several facilities that can influence people to accept this facility.
Conduction of survey
A survey can be helpful for the assessment of the program outcomes successfully. Conducting a survey among these displaced people regarding their mental health conditions, desires, activities, and some other factors can successfully evaluate the level of success of this program (Fuhr and Stevenson, 2021). In addition, several tests can be taken in the form of competition which will also be helpful for the successful evaluation.
Providing security from external factors
People’s security will be one of the most important parts of this program. Most people in various displacement centers are facing various harassment which further affects their mental health. Providing security will be one of the most important criteria of this program to make people safe from every angle. More security for the women and children will be provided through this system which prevents them from experiencing further mental trauma.
Method of Implementations
This program will be made cost-effective with the help of the country’s governmental support along with some support from outsources. The fundraising campaign can be helpful to increase the funds for this intervention program. As the MHPSS is a program of the UN, it will be easier to accumulate funds for this program. Various non-governmental organizations will be invited to associate with this program by contributing necessary factors such as psychiatrists, nutritionists, healthcare centers, asylums, and rehabilitation centers. The assistance from these organizations will be completed with a commitment to helping back to those organizations during their emergency.
For the successful completion of this program, the attachment to the specific objectives of this program is necessary. For this purpose, the whole program will be segmented into multiple small parts having specific small goals (Satinsky et al. 2019). The accomplishment of these small goals will help to achieve the objective of this program in the long run. Further, these small objectives will help to focus on the program as the huge pressure of the program may have the chance of deviation from the actual goal. During this program, the involvement of the displaced people will also be necessary as the achievement of the program objective is directly related to them. For their involvement, several strategies can be applied. The basic strategy for attracting these people will be the introduction of numerous entertaining activities. Organizing various art, games, sports, and cultural events will help to increase the involvement of these people. These events will be created in a manner that provides entertainment to people belonging to different age groups.
Apart from the entertainment activities, the program can collaborate with the UK government to give numerous governmental facilities to the people who participate in this program (Weissbecker et al. 2019). The governmental facilities can be in the form of jobs, a permanent place for each family, free education for their children, free food and healthcare services, etc. These governmental facilities can be useful to attract more displaced people toward the program which will further relieve their mental stress and improve their mental health conditions. Further, free education services will be one of the important strategies that can allow free education to the displaced children for their improvement in decision-making skills, self-awareness, self-management, etc. For the fulfillment of this strategy, support from the government and NGOs will be necessary. Their support can attract more children to the educational facilities. In addition to this, several reward systems will also be effective in implementing this program. As the MHPSS program will include several activities, specific rewards for each activity will increase the engagement of the displaced people. The reward can be various facilities that are usually out of the reach of these people.
Apart from providing facilities, providing protection, especially to women and children with the help of government influence can increase the reliability of this program. For this reason, a dedicated team should be employed to ensure their protection. This can further reduce their mental issues significantly.
The evaluating strategy will be set as a method of survey or competition among these people. With the help of a reward policy, the program will conduct surveys among these people which will reflect their current situation along with their mental health condition (Fuhr et al. 2021). Furthermore, several conductions of competitions in different activities among these people will improve their mental health along with psychological assessment.
Conclusion
This research proposal has delivered various activities of the MHPSS programs that can help the displaced people of the UK. With the objective of improving and securing their mental health, the MHPSS intervention program will deliver multiple facilities to these people so that they can improve their mental health. The research rationale has revealed the importance of this program in the UK. Several key features have been introduced that will be reflected after the implementation of this program. For the successful conduction of this program, several strategies have been proposed that will make this program more effective. Further, various activities have been proposed that should be included in this program in order to improve the mental health of the people of displaced people and to provide emotional strength to fight depression and other mental issues.
Reference lists
Journals
Ager, A., 2021. Creative tensions in the framing of MHPSS. Forced Migration Review, (66).
Fuhr, D. and Stevenson, K., 2021. New evidence on the prevalence and risk of peripartum mental illness amongst migrant women: A global review of the literature. European Journal of Public Health, 31(Supplement_3), pp.ckab164-465.
Fuhr, D., Fuhr, D. and Stevenson, K., 2021. 6. O. Workshop: Immigrant mothers’ perinatal mental health: social determinants and psychosocial supports.
Hamber, B., 2021. The importance of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) to Peacebuilding: Address to the UN Peacebuilding Commission on MHPSS and Peacebuilding.
Hendrickx, M., Woodward, A., Fuhr, D.C., Sondorp, E. and Roberts, B., 2020. The burden of mental disorders and access to mental health and psychosocial support services in Syria and among Syrian refugees in neighboring countries: a systematic review. Journal of Public Health, 42(3), pp.e299-e310.
Im, H., Rodriguez, C. and Grumbine, J.M., 2021. A multitier model of refugee mental health and psychosocial support in resettlement: Toward trauma-informed and culture-informed systems of care. Psychological Services, 18(3), p.345.
Corner, A., 2019. Implications of not addressing mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) needs in conflict situations.
Rajovic, T., Todorovic, N., Vracevic, M., Rajovic, N., Pavlovic, A., Pavlovic, V., Grbic, I., Sapic, R., Krsmanovic, S., Vukmirovic, M. and Stanisavljevic, T., 2021. From burden to depressive symptoms in informal caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A path analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(18), p.9577.
Raslan, N., Hamlet, A. and Kumari, V., 2021. Mental health and psychosocial support in conflict: children’s protection concerns and intervention outcomes in Syria. Conflict and health, 15(1), pp.1-16.
Satinsky, E., Fuhr, D.C., Woodward, A., Sondorp, E. and Roberts, B., 2019. Mental health care utilization and access among refugees and asylum seekers in Europe: a systematic review. Health Policy, 123(9), pp.851-863.
Tay, A.K., Riley, A., Islam, R., Welton-Mitchell, C., Duchesne, B., Waters, V., Varner, A., Moussa, B., Alam, A.M., Elshazly, M.A. and Silove, D., 2019. The culture, mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of Rohingya refugees: a systematic review. Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 28(5), pp.489-494.
Te Brake, H., Willems, A., Steen, C. and Dückers, M., 2022. Appraising Evidence-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Guidelines—PART I: A Systematic Review on Methodological Quality Using AGREE-HS. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(5), p.3107.
Weissbecker, I., Hanna, F., El Shazly, M., Gao, J. and Ventevogel, P., 2019. Integrative mental health and psychosocial support interventions for refugees in humanitarian crisis settings. An uncertain safety: Integrative health care for the 21st-century refugees, pp.117-153.
