Psychosocial and Economic Impacts of Narrative Exposure Therapy for Violence Survivors in Eastern DRC

NCT ID: NCT04841031

Last Updated: 2021-04-12

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 1053 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2017-06-29
• Study Completion Date: 2021-02-14

Brief Summary

The objective of the study is to evaluate the impact of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) delivered by local counselors, on the mental health and socio-economic empowerment of survivors of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) who suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), in North and South Kivu in Eastern DRC. The counselors will be trained and supervised by clinical experts from the NGO Vivo International. The therapy is expected to reduce the symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety in SGBV survivors. The project is expected to directly impact and improve the beneficiaries' mental health outcomes of interest, and to indirectly impact and enhance their economic empowerment in the medium term and social functioning both in the short and medium term. This proposed impact evaluation will answer the following research questions: 1) What is the impact of NET on survivors' psychosocial wellbeing, economic empowerment and social functioning and participation? 2) Does the impact of NET differ depending on individual and household characteristics as well as context-specific factors?

Conditions

Mental Health Disorder; PTSD; Depression Anxiety Disorder; Gender-based Violence

Study Design

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

Study Groups

NET Treatment

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) Treatment: Treatment group consists of eligible individuals who are randomly assigned to receive NET treatment and are part of the study sample. Within each health center, treated individuals are randomly selected over several cohorts. In every cohort, the treatment group contained 6 individuals who received NET.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

NET Treatment

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) aims to address PTSD symptoms among survivors of mass violence and torture (Onyut et al., 2004; Schauer, et al., 2005). Mainly, different from other psychosocial interventions which require the survivor to process a single traumatic event in his or her life at a given time, NET treatment recognizes that trauma survivors undergo multiple distressing events within their lifetime (Schauer et al., 2005). Focusing on the traumatic events, the patient constructs a chronological narrative of his or her life story and a coherent narrative is then structured with the assistance of the therapist. They received NET one to three months following their screening and randomization. The therapy involves 8 to 12 individual sessions of about 90 minutes each.

Control

This group contains eligible individuals who are randomly assigned to the control group and are part of the study sample. In every cohort, the control group contained 6 individuals.

Group Type: OTHER

Alternative Intervention

Intervention Type: OTHER

Individuals in control group received non-NET psychosocial support in the interim that is provided to SGBV survivors as part of the Great Lakes SGBV project and will then receive NET after endline data has been collected.

Interventions

NET Treatment

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) aims to address PTSD symptoms among survivors of mass violence and torture (Onyut et al., 2004; Schauer, et al., 2005). Mainly, different from other psychosocial interventions which require the survivor to process a single traumatic event in his or her life at a given time, NET treatment recognizes that trauma survivors undergo multiple distressing events within their lifetime (Schauer et al., 2005). Focusing on the traumatic events, the patient constructs a chronological narrative of his or her life story and a coherent narrative is then structured with the assistance of the therapist. They received NET one to three months following their screening and randomization. The therapy involves 8 to 12 individual sessions of about 90 minutes each.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Alternative Intervention

Individuals in control group received non-NET psychosocial support in the interim that is provided to SGBV survivors as part of the Great Lakes SGBV project and will then receive NET after endline data has been collected.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• GBV survivors who are screened for commonly found conditions of mental distress

Exclusion Criteria

• More severe cases of mental disorders are ineligible. They are referred to the General Referral Hospitals or specialized mental health clinics to receive immediate treatment.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Fonds Social de la République Démocratique du Congo

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Vivo international e.V.

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role: collaborator

World Bank

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Julia Vaillant, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

World Bank

Locations

South Kivu

Bukavu, , Democratic Republic of the Congo

North Kivu

Goma, , Democratic Republic of the Congo

Countries

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Other Identifiers

P147489

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id