Child Abuse & Neglect 40 (2015) 24–35 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Child Abuse & Neglect Research article Effectiveness of psychosocial intervention enhancing resilience among war-affected children and the moderating role of family factors  Marwan Diab a,b , Kirsi Peltonen a , Samir R. Qouta c , Esa Palosaari a , Raija-Leena Punamäki a,* a University of Tampere, Finland b Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, Gaza, Palestine c Islamic University, Gaza, Palestine a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 4 June 2014 Received in revised form 25 November 2014 Accepted 1 December 2014 Available online 20 December 2014 Keywords: Resilience War trauma Psychosocial intervention Family atmosphere Attachment Children a b s t r a c t The study examines, first, the effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention based on Teach- ing Recovery Techniques (TRT) to increase resiliency among Palestinian children, exposed to a major trauma of war. Second, it analyses the role of family factors (maternal attach- ment and family atmosphere) as moderating the intervention impacts on resilience. School classes in Gaza were randomized into intervention (N = 242) and control (N = 240) groups. The percentage of girls (49.4%) and boys (50.6%) were equal, and the child age was 10–13 years in both groups. Children reported positive indicators of their mental health (proso- cial behaviour and psychosocial well-being) at baseline (T1), post-intervention (T2) and at a six-month follow-up (T3). At T1 they accounted their exposure to war trauma. Mothers reported about their willingness to serve as an attachment figure, and the child reported about the family atmosphere. Resilience was conceptualized as a presence of positive indi- cations of mental health despite trauma exposure. Against our hypothesis, the intervention did not increase the level of resilience statistically significantly, nor was the effect of the intervention moderated by maternal attachment responses or family atmosphere. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction War brings suffering to families, and children are at risk for psychiatric distress (Attanayake et al., 2009) and develop- mental problems (Tol, Song, & Jordans, 2013a; Tol, Song, & Jordans, 2013b). Yet, there is also evidence showing that many children can endure traumatic experiences, maintain their mental health, and enjoy normal development in war. The chil- dren who face severe trauma but recover represent resilience. Resilient children are those who show high levels of mental health functioning despite high exposure to traumatic events (Masten & Narayan, 2012), and some children may even ‘blos- som’ and become stronger and more capable to meet future challenges (Werner & Smith, 1982). A primary task in helping  We are grateful to the children and their families for the participation and to the Academy of Finland (# 215555) for the financing of the study. Without our committed field workers, Mohmed Shame, Mohmed Motter, Amel Hossen, Reham Faed, and Ahmed Syied this study could not be realized. We are grateful for the Ministry of Education, and headmasters and teachers of the schools who kindly helped us during the data collection and intervention organization. * Corresponding author address: School of Social Sciences and Humanities/Psychology, FIM-33014 University of Tampere, Kalevankatu 5, Linna 4krs, Finland. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.12.002 0145-2134/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.