Effectiveness of a school-based intervention for adolescents and teachers to promote mental health among refugee and migrant adolescents

Abstract

Abstract Refugee youth have often experienced trauma during relocation and continue to face adversity in their host country in the form of acculturation stress, residence insecurity, social isolation, and experiences of discrimination. These experiences are associated with a significant risk of developing mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This cluster randomised trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based intervention that provides a manualized, trauma-focussed programme called Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) to target refugee and migrant youth and an In-Service Teacher Training (INSETT) programme to teachers. The study will consider the impact of the intervention on the mental health of adolescent refugees and their guardians who participate in the TRT programme. It will also consider the intervention's impact on the interrelationships between teachers and parents and teachers' cultural competence, as well as the social support and school belonging experienced by adolescents who do not participate in TRT but whose teachers receive INSETT training. Further details on TRT and INSETT, trial design and preliminary findings will be presented at the workshop.