Assessment of the psychosocial health status of adolescents 12-18 years old in the occupied Palestinian territory

Abstract

Adolescents and young people are usually considered a physically healthy group which does not require much of the attention of policymakers and service providers. However, this group may suffer from ill being and low levels of psychosocial health. In the context of the oPt, where young people and the population at large continue to experience chronic and protracted exposure to political violence, and endure the social suffering related to war, an interest in the psychosocial and mental health of adolescents and young people has emerged in recent years. Palestinian adolescents have, over their life course, chronically experienced direct political violence. They have also been living in poverty and isolation, the consequences of Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land. Such a predicament is a main rationale for attempting to understand and measure the psychosocial health of Palestinian adolescents, in the hope of working to address some of the determinants of their ill health and ill being which can realistically be addressed while simultaneously calling for justice to Palestinians. Thus the aim of this study is to provide baseline data assessing the psychosocial health of Palestinian adolescents and associated factors (determinants). The ultimate aim is to identify high risk groups and the factors associated with their ill being in order to inform interventions. The study employs instruments which solicit responses from adolescents themselves (as opposed to clinical assessments) in rating their own psychosocial health status, which brings the voice of Palestinian adolescents into discussions of interventions, which we believe is an essential component informing interventions.