@article {4841, title = {A pilot study of a family focused, psychosocial intervention with war-exposed youth at risk of attack and abduction in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo}, journal = {Child Abuse Negl}, volume = {38}, number = {7}, year = {2014}, note = {O{\textquoteright}Callaghan, Paul
Branham, Lindsay
Shannon, Ciaran
Betancourt, Theresa S
Dempster, Martin
McMullen, John
eng
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t
England
2014/03/19 06:00
Child Abuse Negl. 2014 Jul;38(7):1197-207. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.02.004. Epub 2014 Mar 15.}, month = {Jul}, pages = {1197-207}, abstract = {Rural communities in the Haut-Uele Province of northern Democratic Republic of Congo live in constant danger of attack and/or abduction by units of the Lord{\textquoteright}s Resistance Army operating in the region. This pilot study sought to develop and evaluate a community-participative psychosocial intervention involving life skills and relaxation training and Mobile Cinema screenings with this war-affected population living under current threat. 159 war-affected children and young people (aged 7-18) from the villages of Kiliwa and Li-May in north-eastern DR Congo took part in this study. In total, 22\% of participants had been abduction previously while 73\% had a family member abducted. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress reactions, internalising problems, conduct problems and pro-social behaviour were assessed by blinded interviewers at pre- and post-intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Participants were randomised (with an accompanying caregiver) to 8 sessions of a group-based, community-participative, psychosocial intervention (n=79) carried out by supervised local, lay facilitators or a wait-list control group (n=80). Average seminar attendance rates were high: 88\% for participants and 84\% for caregivers. Drop-out was low: 97\% of participants were assessed at post-intervention and 88\% at 3 month follow-up. At post-test, participants reported significantly fewer symptoms of post-traumatic stress reactions compared to controls (Cohen{\textquoteright}s d=0.40). At 3 month follow up, large improvements in internalising symptoms and moderate improvements in pro-social scores were reported, with caregivers noting a moderate to large decline in conduct problems among the young people. Trial Registration clinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT01542398.}, keywords = {*Social Behavior, *Warfare, Abduction, Adolescent, Child, Crime/*psychology, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Family Therapy/*methods, Family/*psychology, Female, Humans, Internalising symptoms, Male, Pilot Projects, Post-traumatic stress symptoms, Psychosocial, Rural Health, Treatment Outcome, Violence/psychology, War, youth}, isbn = {1873-7757 (Electronic)
0145-2134 (Linking)}, author = {O{\textquoteright}Callaghan, P. and Branham, L. and Shannon, C. and Betancourt, T. S. and Dempster, M. and McMullen, J.} }