A collaboration with research partner Claire Greene

Section One: Objectives and Research Methodology.  Download the Report.

Section Two: Literature review of the grey literature and academic literature.  Awaiting additional funding.

Section Three: Interviews and evaluations of treatment programs.  Awaiting additional funding.

Executive Summary

The objective of this research project is to identify and evaluate the current mental health interventions and practices targeting child soldiers that are being implemented in the field.  This systematic review will compile the current practices and the evaluations of traditional and non-traditional mental health programs in the field.

To accomplish this goal we will conduct a systematic literature review of the grey literature and academic literature.  Post-intervention program assessments and evaluations from the perspective of key agencies, professionals and child soldiers will provide information on the feasibility and effectiveness of mental health programs.  This component of the data will be collected through a fieldwork interview and assessment project.  With this information we will analyze the consistency and agreement between the research recommendations for child soldier mental health programs and the interventions that are actually implemented in the field.  We will limit data collection to studies and evaluations of programs implemented in countries that have documented the use of child soldiers.  We will exclude assessment reports that describe mental health needs pre-intervention as the purpose of this study is to examine the effective evidence-based programs that have been used in the field.

These findings will aid in the development of comprehensive mental health treatment models that can be used to improve the mental health of child soldiers and prevent future mental illness, which can complicate reintegration.  One large focus of this project is disseminating the results of the systematic review and interview/assessment project to relevant organizations and a global audience at large.  This will be done by mailing and/or emailing the findings of this study directly to the relevant organizations we have identified through the research process as well as publishing results in an academic format online without restrictions so that they can be accessed by the largest possible audience.

By making these results available, we can prevent duplication of ineffective interventions that may result in wasted resources that could have been allocated and utilized more effectively had information on evidence-based and feasible practices been available.

References

            2008            Facts and Figures on Child Soldiers. Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. Betancourt, T. S., et al.

            2010            Sierra Leone’s former child soldiers: a longitudinal study of risk, protective factors, and mental health. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 49(6):606-15. Blattman, C., and J. Annan

            2008            Child combatants in northern Uganda: Reintegration myths and realities. Cochrane

            2011            The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. The Cochrane Collaboration. Dickson-Gomez

            2002            Growing up in Guerrilla Camps: The Long-Term Impact of Being a Child Soldier in El Salvador’s Civil War. Ethos 30(4):327-356. IASC

            2007            IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial support in Humanitarian Settings. Inter-Agency Standing Committee. Kohrt, B. A., et al.

            2008            Comparison of mental health between former child soldiers and children never conscripted by armed groups in Nepal. JAMA 300(6):691-702. Majoo, R, and C McRaith

            2011            Gender-Based Violence and Justice in Conflict and Post-Conflict Areas. Cornell International Law Journal 44:11-31. Pham, P. N., P. Vinck, and E. Stover

            2009            Returning home: forced conscription, reintegration, and mental health status of former abductees of the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda. BMC Psychiatry 9:23. Prince, M., et al.

            2007            No health without mental health. The Lancet 370(9590):859-877. Rademaker, A. R., et al.

            2008            Self-reported early trauma as a predictor of adult personality: a study in a military sample. J Clin Psychol 64(7):863-75. Single, B UNICEF

            1997            Cape Town Principles and Best Practices. UNICEF.