Effectiveness of Narrative Exposure Therapy Among Refugee Children and Adolescents

NCT02425280 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 275804
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 50
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 3

Brief Summary

This study aims to understand how war trauma affects children's and adolescents' memory functions and mental health, and whether Narrative Exposure Therapy is effective in enhancing optimal memory functions and alleviating mental health problems. The study analyzes the mental health and cognitive and emotional healing mechanisms of therapeutic intervention among war-affected children and adolescents.

Conditions

Narrative Exposure Therapy; Treatment as Usual

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

• Post-traumatic Stress as measured by Revised Impact of Event Scale

  9 months

• Depression as measured by Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children

  9 months

• Psychological Distress as measured by Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

  9 months

• Resilience as measured by Child and Youth Resilience Measure

  9 months

• Cognitive Performance as measured by Working Memory Test Battery for Children

  9 months

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Quality of Traumatic Memory as measured by Trauma Memory Quality Questionnaire

  9 months

• Trauma Related Cognitions as measured by Children's Post Traumatic Cognitions Inventory

  9 months

• General functioning of autobiographical memory as measured by reported life events

  9 months

Other Outcomes (2)

• Subjective distress during therapy measured by Subjective Units of Distress Scale

  9 months

• Peritraumatic Dissociation measured by Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire

  once, at baseline

Study Arms (2)

Narrative Exposure Therapy

EXPERIMENTAL

For the intervention group receiving Narrative Exposure Therapy treatment, the intervention will last for approximately three months and include 10-12 weekly sessions of 60-90 minutes. The course of the intervention will follow the NET manual (Schauer et al., 2011).

Behavioral: Narrative Exposure Therapy

Treatment as Usual

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

For the TAU control group, participants will receive the usual care for posttraumatic stress symptoms currently offered by each unit.

Behavioral: Treatment as Usual

Interventions

Narrative Exposure Therapy BEHAVIORAL

Narrative Exposure Therapy

Treatment as Usual BEHAVIORAL

Treatment as Usual

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 9 Years - 17 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• years old
• has spent some part of her/his life living in a country where organized violence was taking place, or at a refugee camp
• suffers from significant stress symptoms thought be trauma-related

You may not qualify if:

• acute psychosis
• intellectual disability

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Tampere University: lead

Study Sites (3)

Centre for Torture Survivors

Helsinki, Finland

Location

Family Counselling Centre of the City of Tampere

Tampere, Finland

Location

Psychiatric Clinic for Traumatized Children at Tampere University Hospital

Tampere, Finland

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Kangaslampi S, Garoff F, Peltonen K. Narrative exposure therapy for immigrant children traumatized by war: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of effectiveness and mechanisms of change. BMC Psychiatry. 2015 Jun 17;15:127. doi: 10.1186/s12888-015-0520-z.

  PMID: 26081580 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Therapeutics

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Postdoctoral Researcher

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 15, 2015
• First Posted: April 23, 2015
• Study Start: November 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: April 1, 2018
• Study Completion: April 1, 2018
• Last Updated: October 17, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-10

Locations

FI (3)