Refugees can help themselves out of psychological distress -Study

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Refugees that develop psychological challenges do not necessarily need interventions by an experienced medical worker, a new study has revealed.

The randomized trial carried out among 700 South Sudanese refugee women settling at Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement in Northwestern Uganda was meant to establish whether guided self-help could be a promising first-line strategy to address the vast gap in mental health support.

The study, whose findings are published in The Lancet Global Health Journal, shows that although follow-up is needed to determine the long-term effects of the intervention, a tool dubbed Self Help Plus developed by the World Health Organisation is effective in offering mental health help.

In the study, 697 female refugees with at least moderate levels of psychological distress were organized in groups assigned in 14 villages, guided by non-specialist facilitators with minimal training, were taken through a five-session pre-recorded audio course with an illustrated self-help book designed for low literacy populations.

Study participants were divided into two groups where the control group didn’t participate in the sessions which according to the statement can be delivered to groups of up to 30 people.

After the study, all participants  including the group that had participated in the three months course and those that hadn’t were given questionnaires to assess  their levels of psychological distress and to measure changes in symptoms of distress, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), self-reported concerns, inter-ethnic relations, feelings of anger, functional impairment and subjective well being one week before the intervention, and one week and 3 months after the intervention had ended.

Compared to 48 percent in the control group, the statement shows that while 84 percent of the participants reported their psychological stress to be severe at the beginning of the study, only 33 percent of those that had taken part in the sessions reported distress immediately after.

According to Dr  Wietse Tol from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Health Right International, USA, who co-led the research, Self Help Plus provides strategies for managing distress arising in the context of a range of adversities including interpersonal violence, armed conflict, and chronic poverty.

He says the treatment is based on a modern form of mental healthcare that is based on the sufferer accepting that they are sick and committing to take part in therapy through mindfulness exercises.

His co-author Marx Leku said this method of treatment is ideal for countries like Uganda where psychiatric services hard to find in some areas.

“Our findings indicate that SH+ offers sizeable immediate benefits, which is very promising for an intervention that has a high potential for scale-up, and can be delivered in areas with limited access to care”.

However, they initially studied response among female refugees, studies on males are currently ongoing.

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