Teachers as Agents of Clinical Practice During Armed Conflict

This chapter advocates for conceptualization of the classroom teacher as a frontline responder for the emotional needs of children affected by war and armed conflict. An efficacy study of a teacher-delivered intervention to strengthen coping and resilience among exposed children is presented. The Feeling Safe program trained enrolled educational staff to administer in the classroom activities aimed to enhance three resilience factors of mobilization of social support, self-efficacy, and self-esteem among children. Program efficacy was assessed among Israeli children aged 15 to 17 exposed to political conflict in a repeated-measures design with intervention (n = 248) versus waiting-list control (n = 246) groups who responded to questionnaires measuring social support, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and psychological symptoms. Findings showed increases among the children in perceptions of school support, self-efficacy, and self-esteem and reductions in distress and depression in the intervention but not in the control group. Findings provide support for the efficacy of post-crisis school-based interventions in which teachers assume the role of frontline responders by serving as agents of clinical practice.