The preventive Mind-Spring Junior intervention for refugee families: an exploratory evaluation.

Abstract

Since refugee families are at risk of developing psychopathological symptoms due to their distressing experiences, preventive interventions aimed at reinforcing resilience are of great value. Forasmuch as research about these interventions has remained limited, this explorative study primarily focused on the implementation, strengths and weaknesses, and effectiveness of the Dutch Mind-Spring Junior preventive intervention. Conducting research in this context can be challenging and therefore describing experienced barriers and providing recommendations regarding future studies was a second objective of this study. Both quantitative and qualitative instruments were used to answer these four research questions in a multifaceted approach. Interventions at two asylum centers and one family location in the Netherlands were included in this study. In total, 33 parents and 23 children took part in this study. Parents and children indicate to have learned a great deal of information and skills from the intervention, and changes have generalized into the home environment. However, these benefits are not reflected on standardized measures of psychosocial well-being and health related quality of life. It is yet unclear what factors explain this differential effect, but at least the substantive aspects of the intervention suit parents’ and children’s needs. Moreover, trainers feel to have anticipated to participant’s needs by following the natural course of the group. Their major improvement points are to enhance the manuals’ structures and to improve logistics. Noticeable differences in implementation are the diversity in amount of provided training and differences in carried out activities among intervention sites. Furthermore, barriers as participant movability, dropout, overcharging, trust issues and social desirable responding were experienced, for which recommendations regarding future studies have been made. We have been able to contribute to the field by investigating the preventive Mind-Spring Junior intervention, and hope many others will follow.