Aims 

This scoping study provides an overview of the available literature on cultural and faith-based factors in the provision of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in Syria and Syrian refugee communities. It is based on a collaborative review of existing academic, policy and practice-focused publications. The study is primarily meant to provide MHPSS professionals and researchers with an insight of existing evidence for the cultural adaptation of MHPSS programmes for Syrians, by identifying key themes, defining gaps and providing recommendations for future work. It therefore is in line with previous calls for the consideration of local cultures when designing, implementing and evaluating MHPSS programmes (IASC, 2007).

Methodology 

The scoping study was produced as part of a collaborative process involving the SBF and JLI teams. The process was initiated by the SBF team who contacted JLI about setting up a Syrian research group focusing on MHPSS, with a focus on the adaptability of global MHPSS frameworks to the context in Syria and Syrian refugee communities in the region, in December 2021. A new shared learning hub, jointly led by SBF and JLI was set up in March 2022, in line with JLI’s Fair and Equitable Approach, which is aimed at centering the voices and experiences of local faith actors in development, humanitarian action and peacebuilding and strengthening local capacities and leadership in knowledge production on religions and development, and SBF’s long-standing experience in the area of MHPSS in Syrian communities. Following a research capacity-sharing approach, the SBF team was then trained in research methods to help strengthen their literature review and writing skills, after which the literature review and scoping study were produced in a collaborative process involving the SBF and JLI teams.

Findings and recommendations

As part of the work on this scoping study, the team reviewed over 530 publications and focused its in-depth analysis on just short of 50 articles on the topic of MHPSS in the Syrian context, with a lens towards locating the place of religion and culture therein. From the research, the team pulled out several themes broadly divided into five categories: Syrian cultural views about themselves and the world (p. 9), Syrian explanatory models of mental illness and psychosocial problems (p. 10), responses to MHPSS issues in Syrian communities (p. 12), mental health and psychosocial wellbeing assessment and assessment tools in Syrian communities (p. 17), and recommendations in the literature (p. 19).

Recommendations for future practice-focused research and dissemination, based on the research, include the following:

Support paradigm-building

• Develop a new paradigm that allows for the consideration of culture and faith in MHPSS aimed at Syrians
• Challenge functional and depoliticised approaches to the study of MHPSS, culture and faith in the Syrian context
• Encourage self-criticism approach to the culture by Syrian practitioners and researchers that allows for the definition of harmful cultural practices and the development of more suitable approaches 

Invest in Syrian-led research and knowledge production

• Train Syrian practitioners and researchers in how to conduct quality research
• Support Syrian-led research agendas and priorities
• Work with/as Syrian MHPSS practitioners to develop critical stances that allow Syrians to go beyond simple data collection and analysis, encouraging them instead to engage in research design, the development of research agendas and theory-building
• Explore the wider literature that includes the work of scientists working on Islamic psychology, Muslim cultures and Arab histories in the context of (mental) health, spanning over 1000 years

Focus on dissemination between research and practice

• Support the dissemination of research findings by building culturally adapted MHPSS curricula

• Establish a mechanism to allow for evidence on MHPSS and culture in the Syrian context to be collated and disseminated
• Develop suitable forms of dissemination aimed at the wider population