“Living with Disaster After the Disaster”: A Multi-Stakeholder Qualitative Study of Children’s Psychosocial Recovery Following Flooding in Aceh, Indonesia

Abstract Background Children’s psychosocial recovery after disasters extends beyond symptom reduction and unfolds within disrupted family, school, community, and service environments. However, integrated evidence remains limited regarding recovery after flooding in Aceh, Indonesia. Aim This study explored perspectives on children’s psychosocial recovery after flooding in Aceh Tamiang, Indonesia. Methods A qualitative research using case study methods was conducted approximately seven months after the disaster. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with children, caregivers, teachers, health personnel, and cross-sector stakeholders. Sixteen verbatim transcripts, comprising fourteen individual in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions, were analysed inductively. Three researchers conducted the primary analysis, with unresolved interpretations discussed with additional research-team members. Reporting followed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research. Results Four interconnected themes described children’s recovery across individual, relational, everyday, and system-level dimensions. Distress persisted through environmental reminders, disrupted routines, and continuing material and educational difficulties. Safety was gradually rebuilt through family reassurance, peer relationships, school re-entry, spirituality, and renewed everyday routines. Children also demonstrated agency through learning, helping others, creative activities, play, future aspirations, and preferred forms of expression. Existing psychosocial responses were valued but remained uneven, episodic, and insufficiently connected across community and service structures. Conclusion Children’s psychosocial recovery involved rebuilding safety, relationships, routine, agency, and meaningful participation alongside continuing distress. Sustainable support should strengthen existing family, school, community, and primary-care structures within coordinated and developmentally responsive pathways. These findings provide a contextual foundation for developing community-based psychosocial support for disaster-affected children.