BRAC Humanitarian Play Lab Model: Promoting Healing, Learning and Development for Displaced Rohingya Children

In August 2017, almost a million Rohingya people fled to Bangladesh to escape violence and persecution in Myanmar; 55 percent of them were children. BRAC, one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the world, operates an initiative called the Humanitarian Play Lab model for children ages 0-6 in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. The intervention combines play-based learning with psychosocial support from para-counselors to promote positive developmental outcomes for children in crisis settings. Designed using a community-based participatory approach that promotes a sense of pride and belonging among those living in a displaced community, the play model strongly emphasizes the importance indigenous cultural practices play in healing and learning. This field note, which describes the key features of the play model, covers the period of implementation from its start in October 2017 up to December 2019. Our intended audience includes policymakers, practitioners, and other advocates for early childhood development and play who are working to promote child development and well-being in humanitarian settings. We offer this description as a case study of how providing play-based learning to children in emergency situations may help mitigate the detrimental long-term effects of displacement and trauma

Health-Related Quality of Life among Patients with Coronary Artery Disease: A Post-Treatment Follow-Up Study in Iran

Objective. To examine the changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) in terms of age, gender, and treatment strategy in Iran. Methods and Materials. Forty-nine patients responded to the Iranian version of the 36-item short form (SF-36) questionnaire to evaluate the HRQoL at first and third year after treatment. The paired and independent Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used for within and between comparisons, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis was used to analyze the predictors of changes at HRQoL. Results. In general, during followup, the mental component summary scale improved, and the physical component summary scale declined. The results of multiple regression showed that the score at the first year post-treatment was the main predictor of HRQoL at follow up. Moreover, after adjusting for other covariates, receiving PTCA and being at older age were related to lower scores at followup, but these were not statistically significant in most cases. Conclusion. The HRQoL significantly changed from one to three years after treatment in patients with CAD. While, the physical health deteriorated during two-year follow up, mental health improved at the same time period. Generally, there were no significant differences at changes of HRQoL in terms of treatment, age, and gender