Plenary 3b - Evaluating a Family-Focused Intervention to Support Palestinian Parents and Adolescents

With global conflict at its highest level since the end of World War II, the need for evidence-based psychosocial support in conflict-affected settings is rising. Yet, there are significant challenges in developing, evaluating and disseminating programs in such contexts, including challenges related to the availability of service providers, culturally relevant evidence-based interventions, and coordination of clinical care in the context of ongoing violence and war. Although both individual and group based interventions are common approaches in psychological and psychosocial care, globally, there is relatively less research on family-based approaches to psychosocial support in conflict-affected settings.
This plenary will examine the development and evaluation of a family-based intervention program, the Promoting Positive Family Futures Program (PPFF), for Palestinian parents and adolescents. Drawing from extensive translational and theoretical work, this intervention integrates cognitive behavioral theories, emotional security theory, and contemporary and local perspectives on resilience to provide an evidence-based framework for supporting parents and adolescents living in the midst of ongoing chronic direct, structural, and cultural violence. This presentation will trace the trajectory of program development, implementation, and evaluation over the past decade, with a focus on how multi-method and iterative data collection and feedback processes have been used to refine and enhance implementation quality and ecological validity. We will discuss therapist perspectives and experiences with implementation as well as participant feedback and emerging data on effectiveness. We will also consider practical recommendations for maintaining scientific rigor in the context of acute crises that require flexible study design. Finally, we will consider the implications of this research for continued support of Palestinian families as well as the broader global relevance for families living in conflict-affected settings around the world.