Insecurity, distress and mental health: experimental and randomized controlled trials of a psychosocial intervention for youth affected by the Syrian crisis

Youth focused interventions in humanitarian crises have never measured stress alleviation such as changes in ‘stress under the skin’ or ‘toxic stress’ in the brain. This project is the first to evaluate the progress of the No Lost Generation programme with a mixed-methods study combining screening instruments, cognitive evaluations and biological markers of stress.

The study tested the impacts of an 8-week programme of structured activities informed by a profound stress attunement (PSA) framework (Advancing Adolescents), delivered in group-format to 12–18 year olds in communities heavily affected by the Syrian crisis. This included both Syrian refugee and Jordanian youth.