Conceptualizing and Researching the Everyday Experiences of War-Affected Populations: Implications for Social Work Research, Policy, and Practice

A large body of scholarship has highlighted the serious mental health consequences of political violence, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Of course, violent experiences within the context of war substantially affect wellbeing. But war also impacts the everyday realities of populations, as they endure ongoing hardships due to the daily risk of stressors like poverty, displacement, curfews, political motivated arrests, and interrupted access to food, education, sanitation, and healthcare. Furthermore, political violence typically occurs within locations that typically already have weak economies and infrastructure.

Despite these dynamics, much research with war-affected populations does not account for the everyday experiences within protracted conflict, like deprivation, hopelessness, humiliation, and fear. As well, we know relatively little about the varied ways that individuals, families, and communities define and build wellbeing within these contexts. International social work research is well placed help build a broader understanding of the multiple layers of vulnerability and resilience within political violence.

The purpose of this roundtable, therefore, it to engage in a process of methodological inquiry to explore how social work might use research to better understand the multiple factors that characterize political violence, apart from a myopic focus on trauma, while explaining its intersections with and effects on everyday wellbeing. During the roundtable, the authors will draw from lessons they have learned through international research projects in the war-affected contexts of Afghanistan, Burundi, Lebanon, Nepal, Palestine, and Uganda, as well as talk about how they are applying these understandings to domestic social work interventions with refugees. The authors will present innovative methodological approaches that are rigorous enough to add to the evidence base of international social work, yet sensitive enough to adequately capture the everyday experiences of vulnerable populations. In discussing the practicalities of conducting rigorous and sensitive research in volatile settings, this roundtable will explore the methodological challenges and ethical implications of attempting to engage in meaningful and impactful projects with those who are affected by war.

Throughout the roundtable, the authors will highlight methodological advantages of social work's unique orientation towards holistic views of wellness that honor structural issues and the importance of culture. The discussion will also focus on the potential of social work research methodologies that help displace the idea of outside, expert knowledge and instead work to uphold affected communities as the experts in their own lives and healing. In so doing, the roundtable will emphasize how, social work can examine the broader implications of political violence beyond individualized and highly medicalized approaches that typically use Western-based approaches to research mental health within war-affected populations. The roundtable will conclude with a discussion about how social workers can develop a future research agenda that aims to reduce inequities reduce inequalities and promote global social justice.