Evaluating a Mental Health Program for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon.
Medecins sans Frontière, an international non-governmental organization, initiated a mental health program for Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon. To evaluate the impact of the program after its completion, focus groups were conducted with three target groups: (1) patients, (2) staff, and (3) local community stakeholders. Participants voiced overall satisfaction with the program. The program provided easy access, good quality care, decreased stigma, as perceived by participants, and revealed a sense of community contentedness. In addition, several short-term outcomes were achieved, such as increasing the numbers of patients visiting the center/ receiving mental health treatment. However, lack of planning for sustainability and proper procedures for hand-over of the program constituted a major downfall. Program discontinuation posed ethical dilemmas, common in provisional interventions in underprivileged refugee communities.
['Yassin|Nasser|N|', 'Taha|Asma A|AA|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1911-2753', 'Ghantous|Zeina|Z|', 'Atoui|Mia Malda|MM|', 'Forgione|Fabio|F|']
D000328:Adult D018912:Arabs D005260:Female D006297:Health Services Accessibility D006801:Humans D007861:Lebanon D008297:Male D008603:Mental Health D008605:Mental Health Services D008875:Middle Aged D017060:Patient Satisfaction D011787:Quality of Health Care D000073017:Refugee Camps D012036:Refugees D057545:Social Stigma
Mental health program Lebanon Sustainability Refugee community Medecins sans Frontières (MSF) Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Program evaluation