ARQ International

Issues

Despite the large number of effective psychological interventions for alcohol use disorders (AUD), there is still a lack of clarity concerning the strategies that make these interventions effective.

Approach

Aim:
to assess the efficacy of psychosocial interventions delivered through task-sharing approaches for preventing perinatal common mental disorders among women in low- and middle-income countries.

Refugees and other displaced persons are exposed to many risk factors for unhealthy alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and concomitant mental health problems. Evidence-based services for AOD use and mental health comorbidities are rarely available in humanitarian settings. In high income countries, screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) systems can provide appropriate care for AOD use but have rarely been used in low- and middle-income countries and to our knowledge never tested in a humanitarian setting.

Although partner alcohol use and acceptance of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) are critical determinants of IPVAW, little is known about their interaction. We explored how partner alcohol use and attitudes toward IPVAW act independently and jointly at the individual and community levels to influence women’s reports of experiencing IPVAW across low- and middle-income countries.

Aims
Refugees typically spend years in a state of protracted displacement prior to permanent resettlement. Little is known about how various prior displacement contexts influence long-term mental health in resettled refugees. In this study, we aimed to determine whether having lived in refugee camps v. community settings prior to resettlement impacted the course of refugees' psychological distress over the 4 years following arrival in Australia.

Methods

An integrated approach to reduce intimate partner violence and improve mental health in humanitarian settings requires coordination across health and protection services. We developed and tested the Nguvu intervention, which combined evidence-based interventions for psychological distress and intimate partner violence among Congolese refugee women in Nyarugusu refugee camp (Tanzania). We conducted 29 semi-structured interviews with Nguvu participants and stakeholders to explore the relevance, acceptability, feasibility, and impact of this intervention.

Introduction: Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has a rapidly developing evidence base, with few studies in the developing world or humanitarian context. A recent trial of a guided self-help intervention derived from ACT reported significant positive findings, but the extent to which the central principles of this intervention were maintained and implemented have not been explored.

Background Longitudinal studies are needed to examine the association between maternal depression, trauma and childhood mental health in conflict-affected settings.

Aims To examine maternal depressive symptoms, trauma-related adversities and child mental health by using a longitudinal path model in conflict-affected Timor-Leste.

The current Russian war against Ukraine is of global concern. It builds on the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and subsequently the war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, and has become a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine from three directions, Crimea in the south, Russia in the east, and Belarus in the north. Despite the geopolitical background that, in the eyes of Russia, justifies its annexation of regions in and around Ukraine, we cannot turn a blind eye towards the untold miseries of the citizens of the invaded country.

Objectives: This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention).

The objectives are as follows:. To assess the efficacy of psychosocial interventions aimed at promoting mental health versus control conditions (no intervention, intervention as usual, or waiting list) in people living in LMICs affected by humanitarian crises.