Effectiveness of Narrative Exposure Therapy Among Refugee Children and Adolescents

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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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.

Official Title
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How to Help War-affected Children and Adolescents: the Role of Memory Functions in Therapeutic Intervention

Conditions
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Narrative Exposure Therapy, Treatment as Usual

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Narrative Exposure Therapy
* Behavioral: Treatment as Usual


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: 9-17 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 Exclusion Criteria: acute psychosis intellectual disability

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 9 Years
Maximum Age: 17 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Narrative Exposure Therapy<br>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<br> <br> |
| Active Comparator: Treatment as Usual<br>For the TAU control group, participants will receive the usual care for posttraumatic stress symptoms currently offered by each unit. | Behavioral: Treatment as Usual<br> <br> |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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 Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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 |