PROVIDING SOCIAL SERVICES FOR TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN DURING THE WAR: EXPERIENCE OF UKRAINE AND SWEDEN

Abstract

The problem of children’s mental health is of special interest to scientists in view of its importance for the formation of a future healthy society. This issue becomes especially relevant in emergency situations, such as war, when the number of stressors and their impact is difficult to predict. This article has examined the experience as well as approaches of social services in Ukraine and Sweden in providing support to traumatized children during wartime. There have been outlined three phases in terms of working with traumatized children, i.e. identification, treatment, and prevention. The study has investigated and compared the practices of social workers in contrasted countries within these phases defined. The study presented is a collaborative effort between Sweden and Ukraine, investigating the support provided to war-traumatized children by social services. The research has been based on an inductive approach. The interviews conducted with social workers, psychologists, school counselors, and representatives of relevant organizations are at the core of this paper. The experts’ opinions on the topic mentioned have been reviewed. Moreover, the similarities and differences in providing social support in compared countries have been highlighted. The main factors influencing the approaches to the work of social workers with traumatized children of the compared countries have been determined. The approaches to working with parents in terms of supporting war-traumatized children in contrasted countries have been considered. Various problems related to providing social and psychological support to traumatized children such as resources and the capacity of the social support system have been reviewed. The impact of other factors on the occurrence of psychological trauma in children, which experts emphasized, has been examined. In particular, special attention has been paid to social media’s impact. The role of social workers at the stage of trauma prevention has been also considered, as well as the problems of the social support system that have arisen. The urgency of addressing the mental health of children and the importance of collaboration between authorities to provide effective support and treatment have been mentioned.