Programming to Address Suicidal Behaviour among Unaccompanied Refugee Minors in a Camp Setting: A Field Report from Ethiopia

In response to a perceived increase in suicidal ideation and behaviour among minors and especially unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) in camps for Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia, we developed a multilayered response programme. This programme included public awareness and stigma-reduction cam...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Intervention (Amstelveen, Netherlands) Netherlands), 2021-05, Vol.19 (2), p.233-241
Main Authors: Alem, Medhanye, Githaiga, Sandra, Kiflom, Esayas, Eloul, Liyam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attachment
camp setting
Campaigns
Camps
Capacity building approach
Caregivers
Counseling
eritrean
ethiopia
Grief
Guilt
humanitarian emergencies
Humanitarianism
Perceptions
Prevention programs
Psychoeducational treatment
Psychological trauma
Refugees
Risk factors
Stigma
Suicidal behavior
Suicidal ideation
Suicide
Suicide prevention
Trauma
Unaccompanied
unaccompanied and separated children
unaccompanied minors
Youth
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In response to a perceived increase in suicidal ideation and behaviour among minors and especially unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) in camps for Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia, we developed a multilayered response programme. This programme included public awareness and stigma-reduction campaigns, psychoeducation aimed at both UASC and their caregivers, capacity building for humanitarian and community partners, group and individual counselling for UASC and crisis response and postvention. We offer learnings from the development and implementation of this programme, highlighting the importance of working with relevant constructs such as grief, guilt, attachment and identity. It is our hope that our learnings will be informative and helpful to practitioners working with displaced UASC in other contexts. Recognising the heightened risk factors experienced by young people with trauma histories currently in camp settings, we recommend the coordinated development of a suicide prevention and response plan as a core component of any humanitarian response.
ISSN:1571-8883
1872-1001
DOI:10.4103/INTV.INTV_52_20