RESOURCES
A policy brief on WHO’s Self Help Plus (SH+) intervention and its preventive effects
Around 1 % of the world’s population, or 1 in 97 people, is forcibly displaced.1 Refugees and asylum seekers are at a higher risk than the general population for developing mental health conditions because of their adverse life experiences. However, most refugees and asylum seekers with poor mental health do not get effective help. On average only 2% of countries’ health budgets go to mental health. Most refugees do not have access to quality affordable mental health care in their community. This brief provides details of a new psychological intervention: Self Help Plus (SH+), developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to address this gap. In a recent study called RE-DEFINE (Refugee Emergency: Defining and Implementing Novel Evidence-based psychosocial interventions) with 1,101 refugees and asylum seekers in Turkey and in five countries in Western Europe, SH+ was shown to be effective in reducing psychological distress and preventing the development of mental disorders.
| Published: 01 January 2022
Self-Help Plus (SH+) is WHO’s 5-session stress management course for large groups of up to 30 people. It is delivered by supervised, non-specialist facilitators who complete a short training course and use pre-recorded audio and an illustrated guide (Doing What Matters in Times of Stress) to teach stress management skills. The course is suitable for adults who experiences stress, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances. It has been shown to reduce psychological distress and prevent the onset of mental disorders. The format of SH+ makes it well-suited for use alongside other mental health interventions, as a first step in a stepped care programme, or as a community intervention delivered alongside broader community programming.
| Published: 23 September 2021
New stress management course for people living with adversity
Self-Help Plus is a stress management course intended for groups of up to 30 people who have lived through or are living through adversity, whether due to personal difficulties, work- or family-related stress or issues that affect whole communities such as armed conflict, violence, disease and poverty.
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 MR, Anttila M, Churchill R, White R, Al-Hashimi S, Lantta T, Au T, Klein T, Tol WA, Cuijpers P, Barbui C.
| First Published: 5 July 2021
Purgato M, Carswell K, Tedeschi F, Acarturk C, Anttila M, Au T, Bajbouj M, Baumgartner J, Biondi M, Churchill R, Cuijpers P, Koesters M, Gastaldon C, Ilkkursun Z, Lantta T, Nosè M, Ostuzzi G, Papola D, Popa M, Roselli V, Sijbrandij M, Tarsitani L, Turrini G, Välimäki M, Walker L, Wancata J, Zanini E, White R, van Ommeren M, Barbui C.
| First Published: 20 July 2021
Healing refugees’ mental scars could help them build new lives
Article by professor Richard Gray published in the UN Research & Innovation Magazine, Horizon.
| Version published: 15 July 2019
How do you promote well-being in refugee and asylum-seeking populations? Try the Re-Define tool
Podcast by Ken Gordon from Refugee Voices Scotland. Interview with Dr. Ross White and Mariana Popa from the RE-DEFINE project, at University of Liverpool.
| Version published: 27 May 2019
Marianna Purgato, K. Carswell, C. Acarturk, T. Au, S. Akbai, M. Anttila, J. Baumgartner, D. Bailey, M. Biondi, M. Bird, R Churchill, S Eskici, L. Juul Hansen, P. Heron, Z. Ilkkursun, R. Kilian, M. Koesters, T. Lantta, M. Nosè, G. Ostuzzi, D. Papola, M. Popa, M. Sijbrandij, L. Tarsitani, F. Tedeschi, G. Turrini, E. Uygun, M. Anneli Välimäki, J. Wancata, R. White, E. Zanini, P. Cuijpers, C. Barbui, M. Van Ommeren
| First Published: 16 April 2019
The culture, mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of Rohingya refugees: a systematic review
K. Tay, A. Riley, R. Islam, C. Welton-Mitchell, B. Duchesne, V. Waters, A. Varner, B. Moussa, A. N. M. Mahmudul Alam, M. A. Elshazly, D. Silove and P. Ventevogel.
| First Published: 10 March 2019
(The article is written with RE-DEFINE’s partners) G. Turrini, M. Purgato, C. Acarturk, M. Anttila, T. Au, F. Ballette, M. Bird, K. Carswell, R. Churchill, P. Cuijpers, J. Hall, L. J. Hansen, M. Kösters, T. Lantta, M. Nosè, G. Ostuz.
| First Published: 11 February 2019
Loud, Gray, and Arbitrary — The Compounding Trauma of Detention for Asylum Seekers
Katherine C. McKenzie, M.D.
| First Published: 28 February 2019
Cloitre, M. Shevlin, C. R. Brewin, J. I. Bisson, N. P. Roberts, A. Maercker, T. Karatzias, P. Hyland
Pages: 536-546 | First Published: 03 September 2018
Vallières, R. Ceannt, F. Daccache, R. Abou Daher, J. Sleiman, B. Gilmore, S. Byrne, M. Shevlin, J. Murphy, P. Hyland
Pages: 547-557 | First Published: 24 October 2018
Marianna Purgato, Chiara Gastaldon, Davide Papola, Mark van Ommeren, Corrado Barbui, Wietse A Tol
Cochrane Systematic Review – Intervention | Version published: 05 July 2018
Listen to the podcast: