Her Stories, Our Future: Oral Histories of Women’s Health and Displacement from Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) to Armenia

Were you living in Nagorno Karabakh during the war, blockade, or forced displacement?
Were you a healthcare worker or a patient who was affected?

We want to hear your story! Help us preserve the voices of women who lived through crisis, cared for others, and survived displacement. We promise to keep your legacy safe and sound.

Project Overview:

We are collecting oral histories from women who were healthcare workers or patients in Nagorno Karabakh and were later forcibly displaced to Armenia.

Your voice is vital in documenting the history of health, survival, and care under war and blockade conditions. These stories will shape the future and therefore carry vital importance.

Interview Process:

The project entails 20 interviews with women displaced from NK – representing a range of geographic locations and educational backgrounds. The interviews will be voluntary, however, the participants will be provided with a small compensation (20,000 AMD honorarium) as a thank you for their time.

Following a telephone pre-screener, which includes questions that will be used to select a diverse group of participants, at another mutually agreed time, consent will be obtained, followed by completion of the demographic survey and the in-person interview.

The pre-screening and demographic survey will each take up to 15 minutes to complete. Then the actual interview will start and last up to 90 minutes.

Who Can Participate:

• Women (18 +)
• Fluent to speak, read, and write in Eastern Armenian (NK dialect as well)
• Currently lives in Armenia (2020-2025)
• Either a healthcare worker or a patient who received care in Nagorno-Karabakh between 2020 – 2023
• Displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia between 2020 – 2023
• Willing to share their story in a recorded conversation

 

Potential participants should call the research team at 033 353 789, then they will be contacted with the telephone pre-screening to determine eligibility.

This project is conducted by Dr. Hrag Yacoubian, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Nursing, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.

For further information, you can email Hrag Yacoubian at hyacoubian@mun.ca.

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The proposal for this research has been reviewed by the Interdisciplinary Committee on Ethics in Human Research and found to be in compliance with Memorial University’s ethics policy.
If you have ethical concerns about the research, such as the way you have been treated or your rights as a participant, you may contact the Chairperson of the ICEHR at icehr@mun.ca or by telephone at (+1) 709-864-2861.
This project is supported by the Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence, Division 48 of the American Psychological Association, and Memorial University of Newfoundland.