Youth wellbeing in the occupied palestinian territory : a mixed methods study

Other Title(s)

عافية الشباب في الأرض الفلسطينية المحتلة : دراسة مختلطة

Dissertant

Khatib, Ahmad Musa

Thesis advisor

Hammudah, Wiam

University

Birzeit University

Faculty

Institute of Community and Public Health

University Country

Palestine (West Bank)

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2018

English Abstract

Background: Youth in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) are facing considerable challenges affecting their wellbeing.

While the literature addressing youth wellbeing in the oPt is limited, the need to assess their wellbeing and understand some of the reasons which can negatively and positively affect wellbeing is vital, not only for youth but for the whole nation, especially given the importance of this age group.

The aim of this study is to address this research gap by assessing the prevalence of wellbeing and its determinants for youth in the oPt.

Methodology: A mixed methods approach, beginning with a quantitative phase to assess the prevalence of wellbeing and its associated factors, then a qualitative phase to investigate the meaning of wellbeing and the factors that influence wellbeing according to the perspective of youth in the oPt.

Finally, mixing the two forms of information in the discussion section to obtain rich and complementary information about youth wellbeing in the oPt.

The quantitative phase is a secondary analysis of the Power2Youth cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of 1353 youth of age 18-29 years old living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The dependent variable is the World Health Organization (WHO) Well-Being Index (WHO5).

Bivariate and multivariate analysis were conducted with five sets of independent variables: demographic, socioeconomic, social relations, internal political and future outlook.

The analysis was conducted for the whole sample and then stratified by age group.

The qualitative data collection was through 13 focus groups and 12 interviews covering most of the area’s in the oPt.

A thematic analysis was used, starting with reading and rereading, then coding, arranging codes into themes and themes into domains.

The quantitative findings: The mean wellbeing score is 58.7 (s.d =22.7; range 1-100).

Age is negatively associated with wellbeing (B=-0.6, p=0.01), and males had scores 3 points lower than young women in the wellbeing scale (B= -2.8, P<0.05).

While, living in camp areas compared to urban areas (B=4.5, P<0.01); trust in people (B=1.9, P<0.001); personal freedom (B= 2.0, P<0.001); satisfaction with the quality of governance (B=2.4, P< 0.001); satisfaction with the economic situation (B=1.6, P<0.001), and future outlook (B=0.7, P<0.01).

All were significant in their positive association with wellbeing.

When stratified by age-groups; political confidence, future outlook and living in camps compared to urban areas are no longer significant for the (18- 23) year age-group, while gender had a larger effect for males compared to females (B=-4.45, P<0.05).

Residents of the Gaza Strip had scores 3.9 points higher than West Bank (B=3.9, P<0.05).

A lack of political confidence was inversely associated with wellbeing (B=-0.9, P<0.05).

For the 24-29 age-group, living in camp compared to urban areas became significant (B=8.2, P<0.01), however, gender, region and political confidence were no longer statistically significant.

The effect of all the significant variables are increased in magnitude among older age group compared to the younger age group.

The qualitative findings: Youth in the oPt described wellbeing as the product of the interaction of all things that makes them healthy, happy and comfortable in all life domains; physically, psychologically, socially and functionally.

The factors that influence wellbeing came in six main domains: The Israeli military occupation, the internal political, the socio-economic, the sociocultural, the environmental, and the personal domains.

Conclusion: Youth in the oPt have relatively low levels of wellbeing.

Both the quantitative and qualitative findings underscore the impact of the internal political, economic and social domains on wellbeing.

The qualitative phase highlighted the importance of the Israeli military occupation as a source of negative influence on youth wellbeing, in addition to the influence of the environmental and personal factors on wellbeing.

Furthermore, all dimensions have an interactive influence over youth wellbeing, forming a complex web of factors that influence wellbeing, while the domains themselves influence each other’s.

Finally, this study provides a valuable information about youth wellbeing in the oPt and reviled that youth in general face considerable challenges to their wellbeing in the oPt.

Main Subjects

Social Sciences (Multidisciplinary)

Topics

• Youth
• Palestine

No. of Pages

146

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-837123