None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Complex humanitarian emergencies have a significant negative impact on child mental health, as well as on the welbeing and functioning of families and communities. Parents in these settings have described difficulty supporting their child, and managing their child's psychological, emotional and behavioural reactions. This research aims to develop, implement and evaluate a parent-level group intervention that can be delivered by non-specialist staff to address child and family mental health needs in humanitarian contexts. It is hypothesised that a brief parent group intervention will positively impact on child mental health and wellbeing, as well as parent mental health and wellbeing.
Interventions
A parent group consisting of six 2-hour sessions, once a week over six weeks. Providing psycho-education, psychological support and strategies to parents based on cognitive behavioural and attachment-based principles. Delivered by non-specialist staff (Community Mental Health Workers and Counsellors) working for Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) in contexts of humanitarian crisis (Iraq, Syria and Democratic Republic of the Congo). Delivered face-to-face with groups of 8-12 parents / caregivers, at
A parent group consisting of six 2-hour sessions, once a week over six weeks. Providing psycho-education, psychological support and strategies to parents based on cognitive behavioural and attachment-based principles. Delivered by non-specialist staff (Community Mental Health Workers and Counsellors) working for Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) in contexts of humanitarian crisis (Iraq, Syria and Democratic Republic of the Congo). Delivered face-to-face with groups of 8-12 parents / caregivers, at MSF run health clinics and community centres in each context. Adherence to the intervention will be monitored through recording parent attendance for each group session. Group Facilitators will participate in weekly supervision with the MSF Mental Health Activity Manager in each context to address any concerns regarding delivery of the intervention.
Sponsors
The Australian National University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Single group
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
8 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Parents or primary caregivers of children aged 8-12 years. Children aged 8-12 years. Parents report concern regarding their child’s mental health or psychosocial functioning (this includes psychological, cognitive, emotional, behavioural and social concerns). (NB. There is no requirement for psychiatric diagnosis or clinical threshold on outcome measures to be met).
Exclusion criteria
Parents with severe mental illness (e.g., psychosis), severe emotional dysregulation (e.g., extreme aggression), current high risk of suicide, severe substance abuse, or other indicators that individual psychiatric/ psychological intervention is more appropriate as a primary intervention for the parent. Parents who report their primary concern as related to developmental disabilities or neurological conditions (e.g., epilepsy), as these are not addressed by the intervention.
Outcome results
None listed