Implementing Psychosocial Interventions to Syrian Refugee Women Who Are Exposed to Psychological Trauma

Psychological Distress Clinical Trial

Official title:

War and Immigration: Implementing Psychosocial Interventions to Syrian Refugee Women Who Are Exposed to Psychological Trauma

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03912077
• Other study ID #: 16/2018No:1
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: March 9, 2019
• Est. completion date: June 20, 2019

Study information

• Verified date: August 2019
• Source: Istanbul Sehir University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study assesses severity of trauma, depression and anxiety symptoms of Syrian women under temporary protection who reside in Istanbul and types of exposed trauma that they have experienced. This study also evaluates the effectiveness of the Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CA-CBT) in Syrian women under temporary protection who are with psychological distress in Turkey. Half of participants will receive Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CA-CBT), while the other half will receive treatment as usual.

Description:

Background: Due to the ongoing conflict in Syria, Syrian people have faced with various atrocities. Many of them were displaced from their home, causing them to experience difficulties during and after the immigration. Being exposed to such stressors makes refugees susceptible to psychological distress and put them at risk to develop psychological disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, depression and so on (Alpak et al., 2015).

Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CA-CBT) is an evidence-based psychological intervention manual developed by Devon Hinton, MD from Harvard University and Baland Jalal from University of Cambridge. It is a group therapy protocol that consists of 7 sessions. CA-CBT is a brief intervention that adopts a transdiagnostical approach and can be delivered by trained facilitators to people who are psychologically distressed. Several RCTs has been conducted to evaluate effectiveness of CA-CBT and demonstrated positive results. (Hinton et al., 2012).

Objectives: This study has two aims. First aim of the study is to assess severity of trauma, depression and anxiety symptoms and types of exposed trauma of Syrian refugee women who reside in Istanbul. Second aim of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in Syrian refugee women with psychological distress resettled in Turkey, as compared with treatment as usual (TAU). The primary outcome is the decrease in psychological distress symptoms. Secondary outcomes are depression, anxiety and psychological trauma symptoms along with post-migration living difficulties and related distress symptoms.

Design: This is a parallel-group randomized controlled trial, therefore participants will have an equal probability (1:1) of being randomly allocated to the CA-CBT intervention or the TAU.

Methodology: Screening will be conducted before randomization. Syrian refugee women who score 1.75 or above (≥ 1.75) at the Hopkins Symptom Checklist - 25 (HSCL-25) will enter the study. After randomization they will receive the 7- session CA-CBT or the TAU. The CA-CBT intervention phase will last 7 weeks (1 session per week). After intervention, post-assessments will be performed.

Expected outcomes: The expected outcome is decrease in the depression, anxiety and psychological trauma symptoms and general improvement in distress symptoms caused by post-migration living difficulties, in refugees in the CA-CBT intervention arm, as compared to TAU.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 23
• Est. completion date: June 20, 2019
• Est. primary completion date: June 20, 2019
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Female
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Being 18 years old and older

• Being a Syrian woman under temporary protection who resides in Istanbul

• Being able to speak and understand Arabic

• Having psychological distress symptoms, as shown by a score of 1.75 or more at the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25 = 1.75 )

Exclusion Criteria:

• Imminent risk of suicide

• Severe mental disorder (psychotic disorders, substance dependence)

• Severe cognitive impairment (severe intellectual disability or dementia)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Psychological Distress
• Psychological Trauma
• Wounds and Injuries

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
7-session psychosocial intervention

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Turkey	Refugees and Asylum Seekers Assistance and Solidarity Association	Istanbul

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Istanbul Sehir University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Turkey, 

References & Publications (10)

Alpak G, Unal A, Bulbul F, Sagaltici E, Bez Y, Altindag A, Dalkilic A, Savas HA. Post-traumatic stress disorder among Syrian refugees in Turkey: a cross-sectional study. Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract. 2015 Mar;19(1):45-50. doi: 10.3109/13651501.2014.961930. Epub 2014 Oct 6. — View Citation

Aragona M, Pucci D, Mazzetti M, Maisano B, Geraci S. Traumatic events, post-migration living difficulties and post-traumatic symptoms in first generation immigrants: a primary care study. Ann Ist Super Sanita. 2013;49(2):169-75. doi: 10.4415/ANN_13_02_08. — View Citation

Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. Manual for Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation. 1996.

Ghareeb, A. G. Manual of the Arabic BDI-II. Cairo, Egypt: Angle Press. 2000.

Hasanovic M, Herenda S. Post traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety among family medicine residents after 1992-95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Psychiatr Danub. 2008 Sep;20(3):277-85. — View Citation

Hinton DE, Rivera EI, Hofmann SG, Barlow DH, Otto MW. Adapting CBT for traumatized refugees and ethnic minority patients: examples from culturally adapted CBT (CA-CBT). Transcult Psychiatry. 2012 Apr;49(2):340-65. doi: 10.1177/1363461512441595. — View Citation

Kobeissi L, Araya R, El Kak F, Ghantous Z, Khawaja M, Khoury B, Mahfoud Z, Nakkash R, Peters TJ, Ramia S, Zurayk H. The relaxation exercise and social support trial-resst: study protocol for a randomized community based trial. BMC Psychiatry. 2011 Aug 25;11:142. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-11-142. — View Citation

Mollica, R. F., McDonald, L. S., Massagli, M. P., & Silove, D. Measuring trauma, measuring torture: instructions and guidance on the utilization of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma's Versions of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) & The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. 2004.

Shoeb M, Weinstein H, Mollica R. The Harvard trauma questionnaire: adapting a cross-cultural instrument for measuring torture, trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in Iraqi refugees. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2007 Sep;53(5):447-63. — View Citation

Silove D, Sinnerbrink I, Field A, Manicavasagar V, Steel Z. Anxiety, depression and PTSD in asylum-seekers: assocations with pre-migration trauma and post-migration stressors. Br J Psychiatry. 1997 Apr;170:351-7. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Psychological distress symptoms	Hopkins Symptoms Checklist - 25 (HSCL-25) measures psychological distress symptoms and has 25 items. Participants rate each item from 1 (not at all) to 4 (extremely). First 10 items measure anxiety symptoms, whereas the following 15 items measure depression symptoms. There are many studies, which demonstrate that the Arabic version of HSCL-25 is statistically reliable and valid (Kobeissi et al., 2011). HSCL-25 has been used in several intercultural studies (Aragona et al., 2013) and cut-off score has been assigned as 1.75 in many studies (Hasanovic and Herenda, 2008). The current study will primarily look at the total score in which the lower values represent a better outcome.	1-week post-intervention
Secondary	Psychological trauma symptoms	Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) assesses the traumatic events that one experienced during his/her lifetime (Part I of the questionnaire) and measures the severity of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (Part IV of the questionnaire) (Mollica et al., 2004). The first part of the HTQ consists of 43 traumatic events and participants are asked to answer whether they have experienced such traumatic event or not, by choosing 'Yes' or 'No'. The fourth part of the HTQ has 45 items and participants are asked to rate each item from 1 (not at all) to 4 (extremely).	1-week post-intervention
Secondary	Depression symptoms	Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) measures depression symptoms and has 21 items. The total score of BDI-II varies from 0 to 63 and higher scores indicate more severe depressive symptoms (Beck et al., 1996). The Arabic version of the BDI-II has been developed by Ghareeb (2000).	1-week post-intervention
Secondary	Distress symptoms related with post-migration events	Post-Migration Living Difficulties (PMLD) assesses adverse events that one experienced after migration and measures the distress level induced by such events. Participants are asked to evaluate their experiences regarding the problems they had in the last 12 months. PMLD has 17 items and participants are asked to rate each item from 0 (was not a problem/did not happen) to 4 (a very serious problem).	1-week post-intervention; 6-month and 12-month follow-ups