NCT01494831

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
• Phase: Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 58 (actual)
• Sponsor: Queen's University, Belfast · Academic / Other
• Sex: Male
• Age: 13 Years – 17 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

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.

Conditions

• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
• Depression
• Conduct Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	TF-CBT	15 sessions of group-based, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy

Timeline

• Start date: 2011-05-01
• Primary completion: 2011-07-01
• Completion: 2011-10-01
• First posted: 2011-12-19
• Last updated: 2012-01-18