Internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, returnees and host communities in conflict settings experience high rates of mental health problems associated with prolonged and repeated exposure to multiple exposure to distress, as is the case in Iraq. We sought to highlight the outcomes and complementarity of Problem Management Plus (PM+) and Doing What Matters in Times of Stress (DWM) in addressing the mental health and psychosocial support needs of IDPs, returnees and host community teens and adults in Zummar, Iraq.

Researchers who are aiming to conduct high quality mental health research in resettled refugee populations are likely to experience multiple challenges in their work. To our knowledge, there is no overview of these challenges and their implications for the quality of research from a researchers’ perspective. We conducted a systematic literature search to further complete the overview of challenges. Lastly, we placed the findings of the thematic analysis and the literature search in a conceptual framework derived from the social ecological model of Bronfenbrenner.

Background: Trauma-affected refugee patients benefit from psychological treatment to different degrees. Only a handful of studies has investigated potential predictors of treatment outcome that could throw light on the great variability in outcomes reported for this group. Such knowledge may be vital to better tailor prevention and treatment efforts to the needs of different individuals and subgroups among these patients.

Background: While many elaborated treatment protocols focus on post-traumatic stress symptoms, a large number of refugees suffer from a range of mental health problems. Thus, brief and transdiagnostic psychological interventions may be helpful first interventions for help-seeking refugees and asylum seekers in a stepped-care approach.