Identifying research priorities for psychosocial support programs in humanitarian settings.

Area of Science:

• Mental Health Research
• Humanitarian Aid
• Psychosocial Support Interventions

Background:

• Evaluating psychosocial support (PSS) interventions in humanitarian settings is critical due to their wide reach.
• Identifying stakeholder priorities for rigorous evaluation of PSS interventions with unknown effectiveness is essential for research agenda setting.
• This project aimed to achieve consensus on high-priority PSS interventions for future research, integrating existing evidence and stakeholder perspectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To facilitate stakeholder consensus on PSS interventions requiring rigorous evaluation.
• To establish research priorities for PSS programming in humanitarian contexts.
• To inform the development of a research strategy for strengthening the evidence base of PSS interventions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized interviews with 109 stakeholders in PSS humanitarian programming.
• Conducted two regional meetings and four webinars, employing Nominal Group Technique (NGT) for priority setting.
• A global online survey of 87 participants finalized the research priorities.

Main Results:

• Community-based PSS emerged as the highest research priority.
• Other top priorities included PSS integrated into basic services, caregiver support for child wellbeing, PSS for gender-based violence, and classroom-based PSS.
• Seventy participants contributed to the prioritization across six meetings.

Conclusions:

• Nominal Group Technique (NGT) and online surveys effectively engaged stakeholders in priority setting for PSS research.
• The findings will inform a research strategy to strengthen the evidence base for prioritized PSS interventions.
• This study provides a foundation for future research to enhance mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings.