In the best interest of the child? : a study into a decision-support tool validating asylum-seeking children's rights from a behavioural scientific perspective

In Art. 3(1) van het Internationaal Verdrag voor de Rechten van het Kind is bepaald dat bij alle besluiten die het leven van kinderen raken, het ‘belang van het kind’ een eerste overweging dient te zijn. In dit onderzoek staat centraal hoe het ‘belang van het kind’ op methodische wijze tot uitdrukking kan worden gebracht ten behoeve van juridische besluitvormingsprocedures. Hiertoe is een instrument, genaamd de Best Interest of the Child - Questionnaire (BIC-Q), ontwikkeld en onderzocht op betrouwbaarheid en validiteit. De onderzoeksgroep bestaat uit asielzoekerskinderen.

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Hope as a change mechanism in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder

Research exploring nonspecific mechanisms of change is necessary to understand processes that contribute to psychotherapy outcomes. Many veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) report a profound sense of hopelessness prior to receiving treatment, and thus one possible nontargeted change mechanism is the enhancement of hope. In this study, 164 veterans diagnosed with PTSD and admitted to a Veteran's Administration residential treatment program received 6 weeks of cognitive processing therapy.

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Impact of childhood life events and trauma on the course of depressive and anxiety disorders

OBJECTIVE: Data on the impact of childhood life events and childhood trauma on the clinical course of depressive and anxiety disorders are limited. METHOD: Longitudinal data were collected from 1209 adult participants in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). Childhood life events and trauma at baseline were assessed with a semi-structured interview and the clinical course after 2 years with a DSM-IV-based diagnostic interview and Life Chart Interview. RESULTS: At baseline, 18.4% reported at least one childhood life event and 57.8% any childhood trauma.

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Impact of evidence-based standardized assessment on the disability clinical interview for diagnosis of service-connected PTSD: a cluster-randomized trial

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the fastest growing compensated medical conditions. The present study compared usual disability examiner practices for PTSD with a standardized assessment that incorporates evidence-based assessments. The design was a multicenter, cluster randomized, parallel-group study involving 33 clinical examiners and 384 veterans at 6 Veterans Affairs medical centers. The standardized group incorporated the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale and the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule-II into their assessment interview.

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Healing Touch With Guided Imagery for PTSD in Returning Active Duty Military: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains a significant problem in returning military and warrants swift and effective treatment. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether a complementary medicine intervention (Healing Touch with Guided Imagery [HT+GI]) reduced PTSD symptoms as compared to treatment as usual (TAU) returning combat-exposed active duty military with significant PTSD symptoms. Active duty military (n = 123) were randomized to 6 sessions (within 3 weeks) of HT+GI vs. TAU.

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Health in fragile and post-conflict states: a review of current understanding and challenges ahead

Health systems face enormous challenges in fragile and post-conflict states. This paper will review recent literature to better understand how, within a context of economic volatility, political instability, infrastructural collapse and human resource scarcity, population health deteriorates and requires significant attention and resources to rebuild.

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Help the people to help themselves': UNRRA relief workers and European displaced persons

This article aims to explore the practices relief workers employed in their efforts to rehabilitate refugees in postwar Europe. It argues that the objectives and methods UNRRA's officers adopted to manage the phenomenon of mass displacement drew on a longer tradition of humanitarianism. Furthermore, these methods took shape as a result of the different ways staff in the field interpreted the organization's mandate. The article looks at UNRRA's aspirations to transform international relief into a modern profession, and analyses the obstacles that stood in the way of this endeavour.

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Family violence and mental health in adolescence: complex trauma as a developmental disorder

AIM: To highlight the harmfulness and pervasive of early and repeated exposure to family violence from the theoretical perspective of complex trauma as a developmental disorder. METHOD: A study carried out on a sample of 22 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18, who have been entrusted to Il Faro Bologna, a Specialist Centre for child abuse and neglect. Specific areas of psychological functioning were examined. According to the NCTSN these areas are considered vulnerable to violence in primary relationships and crucial for future mental health.

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Gender Differences in the Maintenance of Response to Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Objective: To examine potential differential responses in men and women to cognitive behavior therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Method: Fifty-two men and 56 women diagnosed with PTSD participated in randomized controlled trials of cognitive behavior therapy for PTSD. Participants were randomly allocated to either (a) exposure-only therapy (Ex) or (b) exposure-based treatment combined with cognitive restructuring (ExCR). Results: There were no significant differences between men and women in treatment response immediately after treatment in either Ex or ExCR.

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Explanatory Models And Mental Health Treatment: Is Vodou an Obstacle to Psychiatric Treatment in Rural Haiti?

Vodou as an explanatory framework for illness has been considered an impediment to biomedical psychiatric treatment in rural Haiti by some scholars and Haitian professionals. According to this perspective, attribution of mental illness to supernatural possession drives individuals to seek care from houngan-s (Vodou priests) and other folk practitioners, rather than physicians, psychologists, or psychiatrists.

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