(P1-77) Helping Children Cope with Ongoing Stress

Abstract

Stress is a major health risk factor. The origin of the stress or stressful situations might come from internal and/or external causes. In this presentation, two groups of Israeli children who are living under stressful conditions that are affecting their health, their daily functioning, and their learning abilities will be presented. The first group is a group of children living in a town that has experienced terrorist activities for many years. The other group is children from families that have to leave their permanent home due to the Israeli Parliamentary and governmental decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. This plan included forced relocation of approximately 8,000 civilians from their communities to temporary sites elsewhere in Israel, and the dismantling of their homes. Using the classical epidemiological triad model of host-agent-environment, the hazard dynamic and its outcomes will be presented. Activities to help the children cope with the stressful situations also will be presented. The objective of this presentation is to describe exposure to risk factors and responses from public health nurses that are aimed at ameliorating the associated negative heath effects.