Clinical trial NCT02390778: Reducing Secondary Distress in Violence Researchers: a Randomised Trial of the Effectiveness of Group Debriefings.
Official title: Reducing Secondary Distress in Violence Researchers: a Randomised Trial of the Effectiveness of Group Debriefings.
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Emotional Distress
Keywords: secondary traumatic stress
vicarious trauma
secondary distress
Lead sponsor: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2015-03-18
Enrollment: 53
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The objectives of the study were: To (1) describe the epidemiology of emotional distress experienced by Ugandan violence researchers; to (2) assess the effectiveness of group debriefings in mitigating secondary distress; to (3) assess risk and protective factors. Eligible participants were 59 Ugandan researchers employed by the Good Schools Study (GSS, NCT01678846) to interview children and adults who experienced violence. Recruited participants were randomly assigned to group debriefings (intervention) or film viewing (control). The primary outcome was change in levels of emotional distress.

Detailed description: Background: Secondary distress including emotional distress, vicarious trauma (VT) and secondary traumatic stress (STS) due to exposure to primary trauma victims have been described in helping professionals and in violence researchers. To our knowledge, there are few prevalence studies, and no tailored interventions have been tested to reduce secondary distress in violence researchers.

Objective: To (1) describe the epidemiology of emotional distress experienced by Ugandan violence researchers; to (2) assess the effectiveness of group debriefings in mitigating secondary distress; to (3) assess risk and protective factors.

Methods: An unblinded, individually randomised trial with parallel assignment was conducted. Eligible participants were 59 Ugandan researchers employed by the Good Schools Study (GSS, NCT01678846) to interview children and adults who experienced violence in the district of Luwero, Uganda. 53 researchers agreed to participate and were randomly allocated. The intervention group (n=26) participated in three group debriefings and the control group (n=27) participated in three leisure sessions (film viewing).The primary outcome was change in levels of emotional distress (SRQ-20); secondary outcomes were levels of VT and STS at end-line.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Eligible participants were all 59 Ugandan researchers who had been employed by the GSS.

Exclusion Criteria:

* none

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change from baseline Self-Report Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20) score at 5 weeks
timeFrame: 5 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Vicarious Trauma Scale (VTS) at 5 weeks
timeFrame: 5 weeks
measure: Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) at 5 weeks
timeFrame: 5 weeks
measure: Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) at 5 weeks
timeFrame: 5 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
name: Heidi Grundlingh, MPH
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Grundlingh H, Knight L, Naker D, Devries K. Secondary distress in violence researchers: a randomised trial of the effectiveness of group debriefings. BMC Psychiatry. 2017 Jun 2;17(1):204. doi: 10.1186/s12888-017-1327-x.