Dr Sevasti Foka

Dr Foka’s research focuses on how resilience and wellbeing can best be promoted among war-affected children and youth within humanitarian settings. This work includes identifying specific protective factors that enhance refugee children’s psychological resources (i.e. self-esteem, hope, mindfulness, optimism) to make them cope well under adversity.

In a controlled trial study conducted in Greek refugee camps, Dr Foka has trained local educators and volunteers to deliver the Strengths for the Journey (SFJ), a resilience-building skills intervention among war-affected children from Syria and Afghanistan. She found that the SFJ intervention leads to improvements in wellbeing, self-esteem, optimism, a sense of connectedness and depressive symptoms. Her current research, funded by the Queen Mary Impact Fund Award, is based in Lebanon and includes Syrian and Palestinian refugee children, local Lebanese children living in poverty, their parents and local teachers.

This current research project includes two streams:

1. Evaluating the impact of the Strengths for the Journey intervention, which is implemented in formal and informal schools, among war-affected children (Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese) who live in a conflict zone.
2. Building the capacity of local teachers, field workers and host community in resilience skills development and empowering them through the provision of training on the SFJ programme on how to best support children's mental health.

Psychology research having positive impact by building resilence in children made refugees by war.