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Mental and social health during and after acute emergencies : emerging consensus?

VAN OMMEREN, Mark
SAXNA, Shekhar
SARACENO, Benedetto
January 2005

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This article deals with the controversy of mental health programme during and after acute emergencies. There is no agreement on the public health value of the post-traumatic stress disorder concept or on the appropriateness of separate trauma-focused services. The paper discusses the consensus which is emerging of a broad range of social and mental health strategies, as exemplified by the inclusion of a 'mental and social aspects of health' standard in minimum standards in disaster response

Psychosocial support training manual

WALKER, Lynn
2005

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This document recognises that psychosocial support for children affected by HIV and AIDS is as important as responding to their material needs. It explores children's experience of loss and grief, and suggests ways to deal with aggressive behaviour and to overcome stigma and discrimination. Some of the topics discussed are accompanied by useful handouts. It is designed as a training tool for professionals working directly with children or in community building projects

The memory work trainer's manual : supporting families affected by HIV and AIDS

HEALTHLINK WORLDWIDE
NATIONAL COMMUNITY OF WOMEN LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS IN UGANDA (NACWOLA)
2005

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This manual guides trainers through a course to support parents, guardians and carers affected by HIV and AIDS, by helping them to share information, hopes and fears with their children; strengthen each child's sense of identity and belonging; plan for the future care of their children. The course is designed to be delivered to: parents and other family members living with HIV and AIDS; future guardians of children affected by HIV and AIDS; community workers and volunteers working with children and families affected by HIV and AIDS. The manual draws significantly on the experiences and ideas of NACWOLA trainers and trainees, as well as those of Healthlink Worldwide and others. The course consists of 12 modules, covering child development, parenting, communication between parents, carers, guardians and children, HIV status disclosure, coping with separation, loss and grief, planning for children's future, involving children in planning, preparation for new care arrangements, making a memory book, and related legal aspects

Psychosocial support for families of children with autism

GUPTA, Ashum
SINGHAL, Nidhi
2005

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[Author's abstract]: This paper draws attention to the stress levels and coping strategies used, in the families of children with autism. Differences in the stressors perceived and coping strategies adopted by the father, mother and siblings of a child with autism have been discussed. Given that pre-intervention parental stress levels predict the success of early intervention programmes and determine the prognosis, the paper highlights the importance as well as the lack of providing psychosocial support to the families of children with autism. The authors have illustrated various ways of delivering effective support services for parents. The article progresses from child-centred, professional dependence for service delivery to developing strategies that are family centred and encourage active participation of parents of children with autism themselves. The paper also draws attention to the prevailing scenario of autism in India.

Prehospital trauma care systems

SASSER, Scott
et al
2005

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This manual provides guidance for policymakers on the issue of prehospital trauma care systems. The main areas covered include the organisation of the prehospital trauma care system, capacity development, data collection, transportation and communication, as well as ethical and legal considerations

Integrating mental health and psychosocial interventions into World Bank lending for conflict-affected populations : a toolkit

BAINGANA, Florence
BANNON, Ian
September 2004

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"The toolkit begins with a general introduction that sets the stage for mental health and psychosocial interventions in the context of conflict affected populations. A discussion of programming issues then follows which is then followed by two sections that outline the steps to take to operationalise mental health and psychosocial interventions"

The journey of life : a community workshop to support children

REGIONAL PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT INITIATIVE (REPSSI)
June 2004

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'The Journey of Life' is a community workshop curriculum to support children. This workshop seeks to address the increasing psychological and social needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS, war, and displacement. Its objective is to raise community awareness of the problems that children face growing up in a time of HIV/AIDS, war, and family disintegration. 'The Journey of Life' assists the community to identify children in need of social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical support. Through dialogue and reflection the community better understands how to use available resources in solving the problems that children encounter and to strengthen the resilience of their children. The workshop covers the areas of meeting children's needs; understanding children's problems; identifying children who need help; building children's strengths; and community mobilisation. The workshop manual can be used without additional training, though further training has been found to be helpful. A Facilitator's Guide accompanies the workshop

VCT toolkit : HIV voluntary counselling and testing. A reference guide for counsellors and trainers

SANGIWA, Gloria
et al
January 2004

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This reference guide was developed for trainers, counselors in training, and working counselors, to highlight the links between VCT and HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and support. It provides teaching methodologies, including demonstrations, role-playing, supervised practice, desensitization, and negotiating skills. It also contains worksheets and checklists for practical sessions, and texts for demonstrations and exercises to be conducted during the training courses. Chapters focus on counselling strategies, physical and psychological care, counselling for specific groups, grief and bereavement, counsellor stress and burnout, monitoring and quality assurance, and ethics. The guide outlines key activities related to training in (and provision of) VCT services

Guidelines for essential trauma care

MOCK, C
et al
2004

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These guidelines provide a series of resource tables for essential trauma care that detail the human and physical resources that should be in place to assure optimal care of the injured patient at a range of health facilities throughout the world. The health facilities range from rural health posts, to small hospitals staffed by general practitioners, to hospitals staffed by specialists, to tertiary care centres. They also offer a series of recommendations on methods to promote such standards including training, performance improvement, trauma team organisation and hospital inspection.
The guidelines are a collaboration between the World Health Organization, the International Society of Surgery and the International Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Surgical Intensive Care

Rehabilitation for persons with traumatic brain injuries

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
et al
2004

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This manual is intended for mid-level rehabilitation workers and primary health care personnel as an educational and instructional tool to use for their work with persons who have sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI), their families and members of their communities including teachers and their potential employers. Drawings are provided to help clarify safety guides, training instructions and the steps involved in making specific adaptive devices

Sierra Leone and civil war : neglected trauma and forgotten children

HEEREN, Nicolas
2004

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This article describes the work of Handicap International in working with children and young people in Sierra Leone. It emphasises how the particular nature of different forms of torture created links between the children’s physical trauma and the psychological suffering. This article is useful for practitioners who are working with children and young people who have been the victims and perpetrators of violence
Humanitaire, No 9

Africa : memory boxes help to say goodbye

INTEGRATED REGIONAL INFORMATION NETWORKS (IRIN)
October 2003

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The article emphasises the principal use of memory boxes as a means for parents living with HIV to leave personal mementos, advice and small tokens for their children as a means of helping them overcome their loss and foster a sense of resilience, so they may approach the future more confidently. Memory boxes are shown to be a generic, replicable, low cost tool for community participation which help to create family/community psychosocial networks, effectively providing counselling on a large scale. This community approach gives participants a sense of ownership of the project and allows it to be adapted to local needs, which is important to its overall success

Young people we care! : a book of ideas for young people supporting each other in their communities

SHERMAN, Judith
September 2003

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This book is designed to help groups of young people support either younger children or their peers who are living in communities and households affected by AIDS. It can also be used by home-based care organisations that want to involve young people in their home-based care activities. Written for a facilitator or young person with a good knowledge of HIV/AIDS and facilitation experience, it aims to prepare a group of young people to implement the community activities. It includes participatory activities to help young people think through a number of topics. The community activities section is written for young people and suggests ways to help support other young people and children in the community

Guidelines for the socio-economic reintegration of landmine survivors

VICTOR, Jack
ESTEY, Steven
KNIERIM, Heather Burns
August 2003

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This resource provides informative guidelines about the socio-economic reintegration of mine victims. The guidelines have been divided into two major categories; the first category - pre-conditions for socio-economic reintegration - covers the topics of medical, psychological and rehabilitation services. The second category - target areas for socio-economic reintegration - includes psychosocial support, vocational rehabilitation, economic development, education and community integration and support. These guidelines are useful for policy makers and service providers interested in the socio-economic reintegration of landmine survivors

Counselling guidelines on stress management

SOUTHERN AFRICAN AIDS TRAINING PROGRAMME (SAT)
May 2003

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This booklet advises counsellors on how to help their clients manage their personal and work-related stress. It describes the causes and symptoms of stress, and discusses coping strategies and support systems

Small arms in the pacific

ALPERS, Philip
TWYFORD, Conor
March 2003

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This study investigates a range of small arms-related issues in 20 nations of the southern Pacific. It also examines the status of existing firearm legislation and the degree of legal stockpiles and illicit trade, and the socio-economic impacts of armed conflict on Pacific communities. This resource would be useful for anyone with an interest in conflict situations, socio-economic impacts and development

Where there is no psychiatrist : a mental health care manual

PATEL, Vikram
2003

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This is a practical manual about mental health care, aimed at community health workers, primary care nurses, social workers and primary care doctors. It describes more than 30 clinical problems associated with mental illness, using a problem-solving approach to guide the reader through their assessment and management. It addresses the lack of understanding of mental health among many health workers

Building resilience in children affected by HIV/AIDS

MALLMAN, Sr Silke-Andrea
2003

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This is a practical guide for caregivers and teachers consisting of a collection of ideas, theories, tasks and exercises that help understand the behaviour and feelings of children affected by HIV/AIDS. The handbook provides practical advice on how to support children who have experienced loss and death in order to help them to cope

Memory boxes and the psycho-social needs of children : trainer's manual

SINOMLANDO
2003

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This manual describes a training curriculum designed to give community workers and volunteers a basic understanding of the psychosocial needs of vulnerable children, and basic skills in 'memory box' methodology. It is based on a four-day, twelve-session workshop and covers child development, bereavement, loss, stigma, counselling skills and making memory boxes

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