Abstract
The BIOPATH cohort was established to explore the interplay of psychosocial and biological factors in the development of resilience and mental health problems in Syrian refugee children. Based in Lebanon, a middle-income country significantly impacted by the refugee crisis, it is the first such cohort of refugees in the Middle East. Families were recruited from informal tented settlements in the Beqaa region using purposive cluster sampling. At baseline (October 2017–January 2018), N = 3188 individuals participated [n = 1594 child–caregiver dyads; child gender, 52.6% female; mean (SD) age = 11.44 (2.44) years, range = 6–19]. Re-participation rate at 1-year follow-up was 62.8%. Individual interviews were conducted with children and primary caregivers and biological samples collected from children. Measures include: (1) children’s well-being and mental health problems (using tools validated against clinical interviews in a subsample of the cohort); (2) psychosocial risk and protective factors at the level of the individual (e.g. coping strategies), family (e.g. parent–child relationship), community (e.g. collective efficacy), and wider context (e.g. services); (3) saliva samples for genetic and epigenetic (methylation) analyses; (4) hair samples to measure cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and testosterone. This cohort profile provides details about sampling and recruitment, data collection and measures, demographic data, attrition and potential bias, key findings on resilience and mental health problems in children and strengths and limitations of the cohort. Researchers interested in accessing data should contact Professor Michael Pluess at Queen Mary University of London, UK (e-mail: m.pluess@qmul.ac.uk).
Highlights
The crisis in Syria precipitated by the civil war has led to the displacement of more than 5 million Syrians into surrounding countries, almost half of whom are children and adolescents [1]
Children exposed to war and adversity are at increased risk of developing mental health problems [3, 4], but there is substantial variation in how children respond and some show remarkable resilience [4, 5]
This cohort study has the overall aim of exploring the interplay between psychosocial factors and biological factors in the development of risk and resilience in Syrian refugee children
Summary
Recruitment and baseline data collection were completed between October 2017 and January 2018. Of families who re-participated, children were slightly younger than those who did not participate, more likely to participate with their mother, to have left Syria more than 3 years before recruitment, to be registered with UNHCR, and to have access to education They were less likely to be from the most vulnerable localities and caregivers were less likely to be working or have very low literacy levels. The procedure for the MINI Kid interview used in the subsample differed, as this interview is designed to be administered to children ≤ 12 years with their parent or caregiver In this case, questions about symptoms of mental health problems were directed to children but the caregiver asked for further information if necessary.
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