Neurofeedback as a Treatment for Trauma-affected Refugees

Mental Health Services in the Capital Region, Denmark

Status: Completed

Conditions: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Treatments: Other: Neurofeedback

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05055037

NF

Details and patient eligibility

About

Neurofeedback (NF) is a form of treatment that can assist individuals in learning to control their brain wave activity. NF-studies have shown promising results in reducing PSTD-symptoms among military veterans, but there are no published peer-reviewed studies with refugees. However, preliminary studies from Malmö and Sydney indicate that refugees could benefit from NF. Therefore, at the Competence Centre for Transcultural Psychiatry (CTP) a longitudinal feasibility study, testing NF for trauma-affected was started. The study contains both a quantitative and a qualitative substudy. In in the quantitative substudy, where a total of 32 participants have been included, the aim was to evaluate the feasibility of NF with trauma affected refugees using a quantitative perspective. The NF intervention offered was 12 training sessions of 12-20 minutes NF, and the outcome measures were self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews collected before and after the intervention. In a subsample of eight participants of those included in the quantitative substudy, qualitative in-depth interviews were carried out. The participants were offered two interviews; one before the first NF training and one during the treatment course. The aim of the qualitative substudy was to evaluate the feasibility of NF with trauma-affected refugees by examining the participants' thoughts and expectations prior to participating in NF treatment as well as their experience with the treatment after a few sessions.

Enrollment: 32 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Refugee or a person who had been family reunified with a refugee
• Diagnosed with PTSD (ICD-10 diagnosis F43.1) and experienced a psychological trauma in another country than Denmark.
• Informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• Current abuse of drug or alcohol (F1x.24-F1x.26)
• Diagnosed with a severe psychotic disorder (F2x) or a manic disorder (F30.1-F31.9).
• No informed consent.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Device Feasibility

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)