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

World Bank

Status: Completed

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

Treatments: Behavioral: NET Treatment; Other: Alternative Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT04841031

P147489

Details and patient eligibility

About

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?

Enrollment: 1,053 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

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.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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1,053 participants in 2 patient groups

NET Treatment

Experimental group

Description:

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.

Treatment:

Behavioral: NET Treatment

Control

Other group

Description:

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.

Treatment:

Other: Alternative Intervention