Working in three Somali refugee camps on the Ethiopian border, the lab helped evaluate a mental health treatment for children carrying several kinds of distress at once, rather than one diagnosis.
Lay providers delivered the treatment to youth and families. Children reported substantial reductions in anxiety and depression, in behavioral difficulties, and in traumatic stress, and providers and families described the approach as workable in a camp setting. It was the first test of this flexible model with children.
Key Publications
Murray, L. K., Hall, B. J., Dorsey, S., Ugueto, A. M., Puffer, E. S., Sim, A., Ismael, A., Bass, J., Akiba, C., Lucid, L., Harrison, J., Erikson, A., & Bolton, P. A. (2018). An evaluation of a common elements treatment approach for youth in Somali refugee camps. Global Mental Health, 5, e16.
Hall, B. J., Puffer, E. S., Murray, L. K., Ismael, A., Bass, J. K., Sim, A., & Bolton, P. A. (2014). The importance of establishing reliability and validity of assessment instruments for mental health problems: An example from Somali children and adolescents living in three refugee camps in Ethiopia. Psychological Injury and Law, 7, 153–164.