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| Titre de l’article | Testing the Effectiveness of the Culturally Adapted Skills Training START NOW to Reduce Mental Health Problems in Migrants: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial |
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| Code d’article | P27 |
| Auteurs | |
| Forme de présentation | Poster |
| Domaines thématiques |
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| Résumé (Abstract) |
Background: Adolescent refugees are particularly vulnerable to mental health problems, as they experience many risk factors at crucial stages of their physical and emotional development. However, despite having a greater healthcare requirement than others, they face significant barriers to accessing healthcare services. To overcome these barriers, peer approaches would be necessary, in which a certain basis of trust and understanding already exists due to a common cultural background. These peers could interact with refugees in a manner that respects cultural norms and values, aiming to support their healing and resilience. To address this issue and test a low-threshold intervention provided by a trained facilitator with the same cultural background on this vulnerable population, this study aims to test the effectiveness of a culturally adapted version of the skills training START NOW in reducing mental health problems among adolescent refugees. Methods: We will recruit 80 adolescent refugees (15 to 18 years) with symptoms of anxiety and depression or high perceived stress in Northwestern Switzerland. They will be randomly assigned to one of two study groups: an intervention group, receiving START NOW Adapted, and a control group, receiving treatment as usual (TAU). The intervention will last 10 weeks and will consist of one-hour sessions per week provided by a trained facilitator with the same cultural background in the respective language. Assessments to collect depressive and anxious symptoms, perceived stress, social-ecological resilience, and emotion recognition abilities will be conducted pre-intervention, post-intervention (11 weeks later) and at the 3-month follow-up. Multilevel models will be computed with primary and secondary outcome measures as dependent variables. An effect of at least moderate size will be considered as clinically relevant. Discussion: To date, there is a significant lack of RCTs investigating the effectiveness of culturally adapted interventions for adolescent refugees. Consequently, the present study considers the need to create an intervention method that combines different theoretical rationales while addressing core problems of adolescent refugees and applying culturally adapted strategies and materials. Ultimately, effects of START NOW Adapted on depression may facilitate positive life outcomes and decrease costs associated with treating migration- or conflict-related trauma. |