Translation, adaptation, and pilot of a guided self-help intervention to reduce psychological distress in South Sudanese refugees in Uganda

This paper describes the adaptation and piloting of a guided, multi-media, self-help intervention, Self-Help Plus.

Abstract

Scalable interventions are needed to address mental health concerns of forced migrants in low-resource settings. This paper describes the adaptation and piloting of a guided, multi-media, self-help intervention, Self-Help Plus (SH+), which was developed to reduce psychological distress in large groups of people affected by adversity.

Using a phased approach that included community consultations, cognitive interviewing, facilitator training, pilot implementation, and a qualitative process evaluation, SH+ was adapted for use among South Sudanese refugees in a refugee settlement in northern Uganda.

The research found that this potentially scalable, guided self-help intervention could be adapted for and feasibly implemented among female South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda. These findings lay the groundwork for a future rigorous evaluation of SH+ in this context.

This research was supported by the Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) Programme.

Citation

W A Tol and others. ‘Translation, adaptation, and pilot of a guided self-help intervention to reduce psychological distress in South Sudanese refugees in Uganda’ Global Mental Health 2018: volume 5, e25

Translation, adaptation, and pilot of a guided self-help intervention to reduce psychological distress in South Sudanese refugees in Uganda

Updates to this page

Published 27 July 2018