A systematic review of school-based social-emotional interventions for refugee and war-traumatized youth

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Abstract

Refugees often experience significant psychological distress, but many do not
receive necessary services. Among children and youth, most mental health
services are provided by schools, so schools are an important service provider
for young refugees. We conducted a systemic literature review to synthesize
and evaluate the existing research on school-based interventions to
improve mental health or social-emotional functioning of students who are
refugees, asylum seekers, or immigrants with war trauma. Three types of
school-based interventions were identified: cognitive behavioral therapy,
creative expression, and multitiered or multimodal models. The review identified
several interventions with positive effects, as well as multiple interventions
that had null or negative effects. We address the implications of this
body of intervention research for practice and research.

Citation

Relevant Evidence Summaries

The evidence was reviewed and included in the following summaries: 

What can help refugees process traumatic grief?

There is limited strong evidence on interventions that specifically target traumatic grief. Prolonged and traumatic grief are usually closely associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and therefore many interventions target PTSD with grief symptoms as an auxiliary diagnosis. There appear to be some differences in interventions that target grief as a result of loss of […]

About this study

AGE: Adolescents and/or Youth

DIRECTION OF EVIDENCE: Inconclusive or mixed impact

FULL TEXT AVAILABILITY: Paid

GENDER: All

HOST COUNTRY: Multiple countries

HOST COUNTRY INCOME: High

INTERVENTION DURATION: varied

INTERVENTION: Various

OUTCOME AREA: Mental Health

POPULATION: Refugees

REGION OF ORIGIN OF PARTICIPANT(S): Multiple Regions

STRENGTH OF EVIDENCE: Strong

TYPE OF STUDY: Systematic review

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2016

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