Page 203 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

172 Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilence

itself spontaneously induces breathing in a way that lengthens the exha-
lation. Prolonging exhalation engages the vagus nerve and parasympa-
thetic nervous system enough to reduce heart rate and bring about a
subjective feeling of calm (Hobfoll et al., 2007; Sakakibara & Hayano,
1996; van Dixhoorn, 1998).

Our sessions of Laughter Yoga were loud, enthusiastic, and sometimes
challenging. Laughter activities appeared to reinforce playfulness and
interconnectedness in a novel way that was linked to yoga traditions.

Synthesis

Box 6: intEgratiVE psyChosoCial
rEsiliEnCE: sEVEn projECt stEps

1. Inventory of team capacities and determining optimal scope of work
2. Communicate with networks, build collaborations, delineate scope of
work
3. Onsite assessment, development of ethnomedically competent services,
exit strategy determination
4. Service provision
5. Monitoring/outcomes measurement, monitoring team for burnout/
vicarious trauma
6. Returning to and refining Steps 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 as appropriate
7. Closing work processes, exit

Of note, the four IPR cases described in this chapter do not represent-
complete applications of the above seven project steps. While subjective
evaluations were collected, objective or pre- and postoutcome measure-
ments were lacking. This is a major gap in monitoring and evaluation,
and projects should strive to close this gap not only to ensure the quality
of its services for immediate beneficiaries but also because reliable objec-
tive data can provide a guide (with evidence-based recommendations and
warnings) to the field of psychosocial relief work.
With varying degrees of success, the above four IPR cases strove for EC.
However, in order to make key EC processes more transparent, the follow-
ing section describes EC rationale correlated to the IPR cases.