CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 76Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchConflict, Peace, and Violence in ColombiaChild Abuse and Trauma

The treatment of posttraumatic stress symptoms and aggression in female former child soldiers using adapted Narrative Exposure therapy—A RCT in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Open access
Robjant, Katy, Koebach, Anke, Schmitt, Sabine, Chibashimba, Amani, Carleial, Samuel, Elbert, Thomas·2019·Behaviour Research and Therapy
DOI 10.1016/j.brat.2019.103482
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Women and girls make up a sizeable proportion of armed groups in conflict regions. However, compared to males, research into the mental health of female combatants is limited and there have been no investigations into treatments. Psychological sequalae amongst predominantly male former combatants most prominently include PTSD and appetitive aggression indicating a need for trauma-focused therapy that also addresses violent behaviour with additional components that strengthen social behaviour and inclusion. The aim of this study is to research the effectiveness of a revised adaptation of Narrative Exposure Therapy in a sample of female former child soldiers. METHODS: 92 female former child soldiers who had been forcibly recruited during the M23 insurgency (2012-2014) in Eastern DRC who were found to have PTSD were randomised into groups receiving a version of Narrative Exposure Therapy adapted for offenders (FORNET) or treatment as usual. Clinical outcomes for PTSD, appetitive aggression and depression were assessed, as well as social outcomes (current violent behaviour, guilt and perceived social acknowledgement). RESULTS: High levels of trauma, historical perpetration of extreme violence and ongoing violent behaviour were found within this group. The intervention was found to be superior to treatment as usual at 3-4 month and 9 month follow up for all clinical and social endpoints. Moderate to large effect sizes were found for PTSD, aggression and depression. CONCLUSIONS: This study investigates the effectiveness of psychotherapy for former female child soldiers, and includes long term follow up. It demonstrates that FORNET combined with group therapy can effectively reduce mental health problems as well as ongoing acts of violence in female former child soldiers within post conflict communities. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02992561.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.brat.2019.103482

Cites

77 of 77 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • A randomized controlled trial of female former child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo demonstrated the efficacy of a group version of narrative exposure therapy in reducing post-traumatic stress, depression symptoms, and aggressive behaviors in the midst of ongoing conflict.

    “An RCT of female former child soldiers in the DRC demonstrated the efficacy of a group version of NET in reducing PTS, depression symptoms, and aggressive behaviors in the midst of ongoing conflict [76].”

    From Psychological Interventions for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence in Humanitarian Settings: An Overview of the Evidence and Implementation Considerations (2022) · cites this paper as [76]

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Weierstall, R., Hinsberger, M., Kaminer, D., Holtzhausen, L., Madikane, S., & Elbert, T. (2013). Appetitive aggression and adaptation to a violent environment among youth of- fenders, Vol. 19. Educational Publishing Foundation.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Robjant, K., Koebach, A., Schmitt, S., Chibashimba, A., Carleial, S., & Elbert, T.
Affiliations
University of Konstanz (DE)
Corresponding author
Robjant, Katy
ORCID
Venue
Behaviour Research and Therapy
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-12
Volume
123
Pages
103482
ISSN
0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.brat.2019.103482
OpenAlex
W2975799096
Cited by
76
References
77
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 7
FWCI
9.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • University of Konstanz, Germany
  • vivo international
  • Social Fund of the DRC
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Conflict, Peace, and Violence in Colombia
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, appetitive aggression, narrative exposure therapy, trauma-focused psychotherapy, armed groups, forced recruitment, depression, violent behavior, guilt, social inclusion, post-conflict mental health, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aggression, Depression, Female, Humans, Implosive Therapy, Military Personnel, Psychotherapy, Brief, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Treatment Outcome, Young Adult, Narrative Therapy

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review