Tel-Hai Magazine 2023-2024

Coping with prolonged evacuation from home due to war: a preliminary study

ability to cope with the prolonged dis placement. The evacuation experience was examined through several parame ters: the physical, emotional, and social aspects of the evacuation, levels of stress and anxiety, as well as social support. Below is an overview of this study, which examines the evacuation experi ence as mediated through stress, anxiety, and social support. Method The study population consisted of 278 evacuated civilian residents from north ern and southern Israel (159 from the south, 119 from the north), while still displaced, around three months after their evacuation. The participants were asked to complete self-report question naires including demographic data and information on their evacuation experi ence, regarding their emotional, physical and social state. They were asked ques tions such as: was there an evacuation plan and were they familiar with it? Did they decide to evacuate independently, or did they wait for an official evacuation order? When did they decide to evacu ate? Who did they evacuate with? Where did they evacuate to, and who received them upon arrival at the evacuated loca tion? Moreover, they were asked to rate the difficulty-level of their overall evacu ation experience. To measure levels of stress and anxiety,

due to war is a very complex experience with personal, economic, and social re percussions. Depending on the duration of displacement, the accompanying physical and mental difficulties may con tinue long after the evacuees return to their homes 1 . A literature review yielded studies showing that the circumstances surrounding evacuation due to a security threat, and the evacuation experience itself, greatly influence how evacuees cope with the threat 2 and with the diffi culties of adapting to their displacement and relocation 3 . The purpose of this pre liminary study was to explore the cir cumstances and overall experience of those evacuated due to the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, and to examine whether this experience predicted their Dr. Yifat Linder Head of the Unit for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching Lecturer, Department of Education and Teaching

On October 7th, 2023, the Hamas at tack on Israel led to the evacuation of over 300,000 civilian residents. As of to day, most of these individuals remain displaced from their homes more than a year after the evacuation. This unique study, led by Prof. Meirav Hen, a clinical Psychologist and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Tel Hai College, and Dr. Yifat Linder, a lec turer and Head of the Unit for Excel lence and Innovation in Teaching at Tel-Hai, aims to delve into the evacua tion experience of these civilians and examine whether it could predict their ability to cope with the prolonged dis placement. Prolonged displacement from home Prof. Meirav Hen Clinical Psychologist Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

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