Randomized Control Trial of Group Intervention With Former War-affected Boys in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Evaluation of a Group-based, Cognitive-behavioural Intervention With Former Child Soldiers and Other War-affected Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Randomised Controlled Trial.

Status

Completed

Phases

Phase 2

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01494831

Enrollment

Registered

2011-12-19

Start date

2011-05-31

Completion date

2011-10-31

Last updated

2012-01-18

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Conduct Disorder, Depression, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Brief summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate, in a randomised control trial (RCT), the effectiveness of group-based, trauma-focused Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (TF-CBT) in reducing psychological distress in former child soldiers and other war-affected children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Detailed description

To the best of the author's knowledge this is the first group-based mental health or psychosocial intervention developed specifically for psychologically distressed former child soldiers. While CBT is the modality with most empirical evidence for treating war-affected young people, this is the first evaluation with child soldiers specifically. Former child soldiers and war affected 'street boys' (aged 13-17) in eastern DRC, will be screened for symptoms of psychological distress and then randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a waiting-list control. The treatment groups will receive a 15-session manualised, culturally-adapted, TF-CBT intervention. This includes psycho-education, relaxation, affect modulation, cognitive processing and constructing a trauma narrative. After treatment and post-testing, the waiting-list controls then begin their intervention.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALTF-CBT

15 sessions of group-based, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

MALE

Age

13 Years to 17 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* War-affected children and adolescents

Exclusion criteria

* No traumatic war events experienced * Psychosis * Inability to speak Swahili, French or English

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Change in post-traumatic stress symptoms measured by UCLA-PTSD-RI	Post-intervention and 3 month

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change in psychosocial distress- measures by African Youth Psychosocial Assessment	Post-intervention and 3 month	Psychosocial distress- depression, anxiety, conduct problems, antisocial behaviour

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026