Abstract

The town of Kilis in Kilis province, south-central Turkey is harboring about 100.000 urban Syrian refugees from the three-year-old Syrian conflict alongside its 82,000 Turkish residents. Malteser International and International Blue Crescent implemented mental health/psychosocial support intervention with the objective to improve well-being and resilience of urban Syrian refugee population. In this study, the authors presented and evaluated the effectiveness of this intervention. It was delivered to Syrian refugees in the field hospital, outpatient health centre and community skills centre in the town of Kilis. Data collection methods included HESPER survey and quantitative surveys using well-being and resilience scale. The results showed improvement of resilience and well-being of the targeted population. The intervention was effective in an urban context. Further evaluation of this intervention is needed, preferably in a form of prospective longitudinal cohort study with a control group of Syrian refugees that receives no intervention.

Key words: Turkey, community-based MHPSS intervention, urban Syrian refugees, project description, project evaluation, well-being, resilience.