TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2008//
TI  - Psychosocial intervention for war-affected children in Sierra Leone
JO  - British journal of psychiatry
A1  - Gupta, Leila
A1  - Zimmer, Claus
SP  - 212
EP  - 216
VL  - 192
IS  - 3
N2  - BACKGROUND: There are no psychosocial interventions to address both educational needs and psychological distress among displaced children in post-conflict settings. AIMS: To assess the psychosocial status of displaced children enrolled in the Rapid-Ed intervention; and to determine whether the Rapid-Ed intervention alleviated traumatic stress symptoms that interfere with learning among war-affected children in Sierra Leone. METHOD: A randomly selected sample of 315 children aged 8-18 years who were displaced by war were interviewed about their war experiences and reactions to the violence before and after participating in the 4-week Rapid-Ed intervention combining basic education with trauma healing activities. RESULTS: High levels of intrusion, arousal and avoidance symptoms were reported at the pre-test interviews conducted 9-12 months after the war. Post-test findings showed statistically significant decreases in intrusion and arousal symptoms (P<0.0001), a slight increase in avoidance reactions (P<0.0001) and greater optimism about the future. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest potential for combining basic education with trauma healing activities for children in post-conflict settings, but confirmatory studies using a control group are needed. Conducting research in post-conflict settings presents unique challenges.</p>    <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0007-1250
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.107.038182
ID  - ref1
ER  -