Live Presentation
Speak with Tim D'Aoust about his practicum on January 31st from 4:00-4:30pm via this .
Video Presentation
View Tim D'Aoust's poster presentation in this video recording:听
Abstract
The overall project seeks to develop a system dynamics (SD) model to understand and simulate the intersection of climate change, violent conflict, and mental health in Mali. The project鈥檚 end goal is for the novel system dynamics model to assist with the coordination, and integration of humanitarian programming, and for our model development process to provide a template that can be used in other humanitarian settings. As an essential preliminary component of the model development, a scoping review was conducted to describe the relationships and identify central factors across and within the domains of interest in the Sahel region of Africa. Our comprehensive peer-reviewed and grey literature search yielded 3,336 publications of which 113 were selected for extraction after abstract screening and full-text review. The review is now in the extraction phase, and the final number of publications is not yet known. Preliminary findings reveal key exposure factors related to climate change and violent conflict and their subsequent detrimental consequences on mental health and well-being in vulnerable populations such as refugees and internally displaced. Meanwhile, poor mental health has not been identified as a contributing factor to violent conflict or climate change. Further, we are beginning to understand the directionality of important relationships through central factors such as migration and displacement. Our findings indicate that climate change generates violent conflicts or exacerbates existing ones, while indirectly impacting mental health through resource scarcity and loss of livelihoods. The impact of violent conflict on mental health is directly expressed through perceived loss of hope and mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD). Protective factors and coping strategies were elicited in relation to these domains. The scoping review, once completed, will provide essential context and supplement other research activities aiming to investigate and identify factors at the intersection of climate change, violent conflict, and mental health in Mali. It is our hope that our SD model will capture the scope of contextual factors, direct and indirect relationships between domains, and points of resilience reflected in the literature.听
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