Resilience processes among Ukrainian youth preparing to build resilience with peers during the Ukraine-Russia war

The war in Ukraine significantly impacts the mental health and well-being of\r\nits youth. Like other communities affected by war, Ukraine’s youth are at risk of\r\ndeveloping psychopathological symptoms, and there is a shortage of mental\r\nhealth and psychosocial support services to address this. Resilience-building\r\ninitiatives present an alternative approach to supporting the well-being of\r\nyoung people by promoting protective processes to enhance the likelihood of\r\npositive development in the context of adversity. Emerging research findings\r\nsuggest that young people themselves can serve as powerful facilitators of such\r\ninitiatives with one another. Yet, evidence about culturally and contextually\r\nrelevant protective processes is needed to guide such interventions, especially\r\namong young people experiencing the war and working to boost resilience\r\nwithin their communities. In this study, we identified key protective processes\r\nUkrainian youth depend on as they adapt to the conflict while also preparing to\r\nimplement a resilience-building intervention as a facilitator. Through thematic\r\nanalysis of transcripts of three training sessions with Ukrainian youth (n = 15,\r\n100% female; aged 18–22), we identified the following themes: positive\r\nthinking, sense of control, emotion awareness and regulation, close personal\r\nrelationships, and community support. Findings also highlighted the cultural\r\nand contextual nuance of these protective processes, as well as individual\r\ndifferences in the ways they co-occurred and manifested within each youth.\r\nResults have implications for developing tailored yet flexible resilience-building\r\ninterventions that can be delivered by lay people, including youth with their\r\npeers, in Ukraine and other cultures and contexts.