Self-help plus for refugees and asylum seekers; study protocol for a series of individual participant data meta-analyses
Open accessAbstract
Background: Refugees and asylum seekers face various stressors due to displacement and are especially vulnerable to common mental disorders. To effectively manage psychological distress in this population, innovative interventions are required. The World Health Organization (WHO) Self-Help Plus (SH+) intervention has shown promising outcomes in reducing symptoms of common mental disorders among refugees and asylum seekers. However, individual participant differences in response to SH+ remain largely unknown. The Individual Participant Data (IPD) meta-analysis synthesizes raw datasets of trials to provide cutting-edge evidence of outcomes that cannot be examined by conventional meta-analytic approaches. Objectives: This protocol outlines the methods of a series of IPD meta-analyses aimed at examining the effects and potential moderators of SH+ in (a) reducing depressive symptoms at post-intervention and (b) preventing the six-month cumulative incidence of mental disorders in refugees and asylum seekers. Method: RCTs on SH+ have been identified through WHO and all authors have agreed to share the datasets of the trials. The primary outcomes of the IPD meta-analyses are (a) reduction in depressive symptoms at post-intervention, and (b) prevention of six-month cumulative incidence of mental disorders. Secondary outcomes include post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, well-being, functioning, quality of life, and twelve-month cumulative incidence of mental disorders. One-stage IPD meta-analyses will be performed using mixed-effects linear/logistic regression. Missing data will be handled by multiple imputation. Conclusions: These results will enrich current knowledge about the response to SH+ and will facilitate its targeted dissemination. The results of these IPD meta-analyses will be published in peer-reviewed journals.
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The pilot showed promising results for SH+, consistent with studies of SH+ in other countries in the prevention and treatment of common mental disorders in refugees and asylum seekers.
“Importantly, the pilot showed promising results for SH+, which were consistent with studies of SH+ in other countries in the prevention and treatment of common mental disorders in refugees and asylum seekers (34–36).”
From Translation, adaptation, and initial evaluation of a guided self-help intervention to reduce psychological distress among nurses during COVID-19 in China (2023) · cites this paper as [34]
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Self-Help Plus for refugees and asylum seekers: an individual participant data meta-analysis
Karyotaki, E., Sijbrandij, M., Purgato, M., Acarturk, C., Lakin, D., Bailey, D., Peckham, E., Uygun, E., Tedeschi, F., Wancata, J., et al. (2023) · BMJ Mental Health · doi:10.1136/bmjment-2023-300672 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Karyotaki, E., Sijbrandij, M., Purgato, M., Acarturk, C., Lakin, D., Bailey, D., Peckham, E., Uygun, E., Tedeschi, F., Wancata, J., Augustinavicius, J., Carswell, K., Välimäki, M., van Ommeren, M., Koesters, M., Popa, M., Leku, M. R., Anttila, M., Churchill, R., White, R., Al-Hashimi, S., Lantta, T., Au, T., Klein, T., Tol, W. A., Cuijpers, P., & Barbui, C.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Amsterdam Public Health (NL)
- University of Verona (IT)
- Department of Psychology, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- University of York (GB)
- Istanbul Bilgi University (TR)
- Medical University of Vienna (AT)
- World Health Organization (CH)
- Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Department of Mental Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
- Universität Ulm (DE)
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- HealthRight Uganda, Arua, Uganda
- University of Turku (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Karyotaki, Eirini
- ORCID
- Karyotaki, Eirini
- Sijbrandij, Marit
- Purgato, Marianna
- Lakin, Daniel
- Bailey, Della
- Peckham, Emily
- Uygun, Ersin
- Tedeschi, Federico
- Wancata, Johannes
- Augustinavicius, Jura
- Koesters, Markus
- Leku, Marx Ronald
- Anttila, Minna
- Churchill, Rachel
- White, Ross
- Lantta, Tella
- Au, Teresa
- Klein, Thomas
- Tol, Wietse A.
- Cuijpers, Pim
- Barbui, Corrado
- Venue
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2021-01
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1930690-1930690
- ISSN
- 2000-8066 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8259851
- OpenAlex
- W3178656551
- Cited by
- 9
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 1.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- Digital Collections portal (Koç University) (acceptedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- VU Research Portal (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- UTUPub (University of Turku) (submittedVersion)
- UTUPub (University of Turku) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- European Commission (grant agreement n. 779255)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- refugees, asylum seekers, common mental disorders, depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological distress, individual patient data meta-analysis, treatment moderators, well-being, quality of life
- MeSH terms
- Psychological Distress, Adult, Mental Disorders, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Refugees, Research Design, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Meta-Analysis as Topic
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