Running Away from the War in Ukraine: The Impact on Mental Health of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Refugees in Transit in Poland

Damiano Rizzi (), Giulia Ciuffo, Giulia Sandoli, Matteo Mangiagalli, Pietro de Angelis, Gioele Scavuzzo, Mariana Nych, Marta Landoni and Chiara Ionio
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Damiano Rizzi: Fondazione Soleterre Strategie di Pace Onlus, 20123 Milan, Italy
Giulia Ciuffo: CRIdee, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica, 20123 Milan, Italy
Giulia Sandoli: Fondazione Soleterre Strategie di Pace Onlus, 20123 Milan, Italy
Matteo Mangiagalli: Fondazione Soleterre Strategie di Pace Onlus, 20123 Milan, Italy
Pietro de Angelis: Fondazione Soleterre Strategie di Pace Onlus, 20123 Milan, Italy
Gioele Scavuzzo: Fondazione Soleterre Strategie di Pace Onlus, 20123 Milan, Italy
Mariana Nych: Fondazione Zaporuka, 03022 Kiev, Ukraine
Marta Landoni: CRIdee, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica, 20123 Milan, Italy
Chiara Ionio: CRIdee, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università Cattolica, 20123 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-12

Abstract: A growing body of research highlights how communities traumatized by conflict and displacement suffer from long-term mental and psychosocial illnesses. The Russian army’s attack on Ukraine has resulted in an estimated 10 million people being internally or externally displaced from Ukraine, of whom more than 3.8 million have left Ukraine to seek refuge elsewhere in Europe. Soleterre has decided to launch an intervention to provide psychological support to Ukrainian refugees and IDPs, aimed at containing war trauma, assessing the severity of symptoms, and enabling those affected to receive psychological support. The intervention model envisioned the administration of an intake form to provide a rapid collection of qualitative and quantitative information for those arriving in Poland or Lviv from Ukraine. Our results showed how most of the samples reported high or very high levels of anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances. Moreover, results highlighted how being close to families or being able to keep in touch with them work as a protective factor in enhancing resilience, as well as a support network. These findings underscored the importance of re-thinking our perception of “family” in a broader sense, considering the new facets it can take on in post-conflict situations.

Keywords: psychological support; post-traumatic stress disorder; Ukraine; war trauma; mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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