Reintegrating Children Living at Landfills in Burundi Into Society by Means of a Comprehensive Family Program Addressing Maltreatment and Mental Health Symptoms

NCT ID: NCT03846154

Last Updated: 2019-04-25

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 96 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2018-03-01
• Study Completion Date: 2019-03-30

Brief Summary

Children living at the landfills of Bujumbura are often exposed to maltreatment, including emotional neglect and physical abuse, and traumatic experiences. Furthermore, they grow up in severe poverty. Addressing trauma-related mental health issues and aggressive behaviour by Narrative Exposure Therapy (FORNET), familial communication by family visits, interaction difficulties of children by a group intervention, poverty by financial support and economic training for mothers, medical problems by medical assistance, legal conflicts by legal advice, and providing access to school, we aimed at reintegrating those children within the Burundian school system and improving familial relationships.

The investigators want to provide evidence, that mental health interventions are an integral part of assisting children and families affected by poverty and violence.

Conditions

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Aggressive Behaviour; Parental Maltreatment; Days Spent at the Landfill

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Intervention group

Children and adolescents in the intervention group received:

1. A group intervention once a week for about 20 weeks, including psychoeducation on mental health and drug abuse, anger management, roles within families, developing plans for the future, communication skills, sex education.

2. Access to schools and school material

3. Family visits

4. Their parents received training regarding agriculture and microcredit projects, and financial assistance

5. FORNET if affected by trauma-related symptoms, and/or acting aggressive

6. If needed medical assistance is provided

7. If needed legal assistance is provided

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Comprehensive family intervention including individual sessions of FORNET

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

1. A group intervention once a week for about 20 weeks, including psychoeducation on mental health and drug abuse, anger management, roles within families, developing plans for the future, communication skills, sex education.

2. Access to schools and school material

3. Family visits

4. Their parents received training regarding agriculture and microcredit projects, and financial assistance

5. FORNET if affected by trauma-related symptoms, and/or acting aggressive

6. If needed medical assistance /.) If needed, legal assistance

Control group

The control group was invited to participate in three interviews getting small amounts of money (\~2,5 €) as decompensation of their time.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Comprehensive family intervention including individual sessions of FORNET

1. A group intervention once a week for about 20 weeks, including psychoeducation on mental health and drug abuse, anger management, roles within families, developing plans for the future, communication skills, sex education.

2. Access to schools and school material

3. Family visits

4. Their parents received training regarding agriculture and microcredit projects, and financial assistance

5. FORNET if affected by trauma-related symptoms, and/or acting aggressive

6. If needed medical assistance /.) If needed, legal assistance

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Spending days at the landfills of Bujumbura

Exclusion Criteria

• Psychotic symptoms

• Minimum Eligible Age: 7 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Vivo international e.V.

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Psychologues sans Frontières Burundi

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Université Lumière de Bujumbura

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Konstanz

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Anselm Crombach

Principal investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

vivo international & Psychologues sans Frontières mental health center

Bujumbura, Bujumbura Mairie Province, Burundi

Countries

Burundi

Other Identifiers

UKCR18

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id