HDFS doctoral student presents flood relief mental health research at SSWR 2026

Mehwish Dawood, a doctoral student in human development and family sciences, presented a flashtalk at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) 2026 conference in Washington, D.C. Her presentation, "Building Frontline Capacity to Support Flood-Affected Women: A Pilot Psychological First Aid (PFA) and Problem Management Plus (PM+) Intervention in Pakistan," examined the effectiveness of training female health workers to deliver mental health interventions to flood-affected women.

The study assessed the impact of PFA and PM+ sessions on depression, anxiety, PTSD and resilience outcomes among participants, while also exploring the experiences and challenges of both health workers and intervention recipients. Mehwish's research highlights the critical need for culturally grounded, frontline mental health support in disaster-affected communities.