In recent years, many humanitarian agencies have come to address psychological and social factors in their programmatic responses to conflict, natural disasters, and displacement. These programs have been termed “psychosocial” programs. At the same time, there has been very little consensus as to how the term should be defined and what elements are essential in a psychosocial program.

The evolution of psychosocial programs reflects trends in psychology toward acknowledging the social aspects of experiences and the movement away from such terms as “mental health.” In essence, the term “psychosocial” implies a very close relationship between psychological and social factors. Psychological factors include emotions and cognitive development— the capacity to learn, perceive, and remember. Social factors are concerned with the capacity to form relationships with other people and to learn and follow culturally appropriate social codes. Human development hinges on social relationships. Forming relationships is a human capacity and is also a need. This becomes especially relevant in humanitarian work, in which the natural social structures that support child development have been torn and disrupted.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term pertains to “the influence of social factors on an individual's mind or behaviour, and to the interrelation of behavioural and social factors; also, more widely, pertaining to the interrelation of mind and society in human development.” Clearly in this definition the emphasis is on the influence that social factors have on human thoughts and behavior and, in turn, the influence of thoughts and behaviors on people's social world. The interrelationship of the two sets of factors is central in the definition.

Psychosocial interventions seek to positively influence human development by addressing the negative impact of social factors on people's thoughts and behavior. They also seek to ameliorate the effects of negative thoughts and behavior on the social environment through facilitating activities that encourage positive interaction among thought, behavior, and the social world.

In humanitarian assistance, there has been little consensus with regard to what constitutes psychosocial work. This lack of consensus has arisen because of the disagreements around the psychological consequences of conflict and displacement. These consequences are frequently conceptualized as trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, stress, and mental illness and are based on the assumption that conflict and displacement have negative effects on the mental health of refugees. The diverse expressions of psychosocial work among humanitarian workers and their agencies have resulted in the term's eliciting diverse interpretations as well as common expectations that psychosocial programs are concerned with counseling, psychiatric symptoms, and therapy.

This report is concerned with reviewing psychosocial concepts in research related to humanitarian work, with particular emphasis on research related to children affected by prolonged violence and armed conflict.