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 here 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.
Unaccompanied Refugee Minors: A Systematic Review of Psychological Interventions / Unbegleitete minderjährige Flüchtlinge: Eine systematische Übersicht über psychologische Interventionen. Kindheit und Entwicklung
In 2014, 34,300 applications for asylum were placed by unaccompanied refugee minors in 82 countries. Unaccompanied refugee minors are at a very high risk for psychological disorders, since the absence of a parent is associated with developmental risks that are further increased owing to experiences made while on flight. Given the current refugee situation in…