Culture-Sensitive and Resource Oriented Peer (CROP)-Groups as a Community Based Intervention for Trauma Survivors: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study with Refugees and Asylum Seekers from Chechnya

Asylum seekers and refugees frequently suffer from post-traumatic stress and culturally sensitive methods towards reducing symptoms should be taken into account. The aim of the work reported was to examine the effectiveness of Culture-Sensitive and Resource Oriented Peer (CROP) Groups for Chechen asylum seekers and refugees towards reducing post-traumatic symptoms, anxiety, and depression. Some 94 participants were randomly assigned to 15 sessions of CROP or Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) Groups, to 3 single sessions of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), or to a Wait-List (WL). The results indicated that CROP was significantly superior to WL, and was equally effective as CBT in reducing post-traumatic symptoms, anxiety, and depression. Improvements still were present at three and six month follow-up occasions. EMDR yielded negative results. According to this pilot study, CROP-Groups pose a promising, culturally sensitive alternative to psychotherapy with Chechen migrants.