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Evaluating a Mental Health Program for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

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Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Medecins sans Frontière, an international non-governmental organization, initiated a mental health program for Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon. To evaluate the impact of the program after its completion, focus groups were conducted with three target groups: (1) patients, (2) staff, and (3) local community stakeholders. Participants voiced overall satisfaction with the program. The program provided easy access, good quality care, decreased stigma, as perceived by participants, and revealed a sense of community contentedness. In addition, several short-term outcomes were achieved, such as increasing the numbers of patients visiting the center/ receiving mental health treatment. However, lack of planning for sustainability and proper procedures for hand-over of the program constituted a major downfall. Program discontinuation posed ethical dilemmas, common in provisional interventions in underprivileged refugee communities.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the participants who shared their experiences with us. Their stories of struggle and resilience are well validated.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Management and Policy Department, American University of Beirut, Bierut, Lebanon

    Nasser Yassin

  2. California State University - Fullerton, Fullerton, CA, USA

    Asma A. Taha

  3. Médecins Sans Frontières – Lebanon, Clemenceau Street, Bierut, Lebanon

    Zeina Ghantous

  4. Department of Psychiatry, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Bierut, Lebanon

    Mia Malda Atoui

  5. Médecins Sans Frontières, Geneva, Switzerland

    Fabio Forgione

  6. School of Nursing, Oregon Health & Science University, 3455 SW US Veterans Hospital Rd., Portland, OR, 97239, USA

    Asma A. Taha

Authors
  1. Nasser Yassin
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  2. Asma A. Taha
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  3. Zeina Ghantous
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  4. Mia Malda Atoui
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  5. Fabio Forgione
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Contributions

Study design: NY, AT, MA, ZG, FF, Data collection: NY, MA, ZG, FF, Data analysis: NY, AT, ZG, Study supervision: NY, MA, ZG, FF, Manuscript writing: NY, AT, ZG, Critical revisions for important intellectual content: NY, AT, ZG.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Asma A. Taha.

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Conflict of interest

No conflict of interest has been declared by the authors.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Yassin, N., Taha, A.A., Ghantous, Z. et al. Evaluating a Mental Health Program for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon. J Immigrant Minority Health 20, 388–398 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0657-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0657-6

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