Recruitment and Baseline Characteristics of Participants in the “Sanadak” Trial: A Self-Help App for Syrian Refugees with Post-traumatic Stress

Susanne Röhr, Franziska U. Jung, Anna Renner, Anna Plexnies, Rahel Hoffmann, Judith Dams, Thomas Grochtdreis, Hans-Helmut König, Anette Kersting and Steffi G. Riedel-Heller
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Susanne Röhr: Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Franziska U. Jung: Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Anna Renner: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Anna Plexnies: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Rahel Hoffmann: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Judith Dams: Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Thomas Grochtdreis: Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Hans-Helmut König: Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, Hamburg Center for Health Economics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Anette Kersting: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Steffi G. Riedel-Heller: Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: Many Syrian refugees residing in Germany have been exposed to traumatizing events, while treatment options are scarce. Therefore, the self-help app “Sanadak” was developed to target post-traumatic stress in Syrian refugees. We aimed to inspect the recruitment and baseline characteristics of the participants in the trial, which is conducted to evaluate the app. Analyses were based on the recruitment sample ( n = 170) and the trial sample ( n = 133). Data were collected during structured face-to-face interviews in the Arabic language. Targeted outcomes included post-traumatic stress (primary; Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale for DSM-5/PDS-5) and depressive symptoms, anxiety, resilience, among others (secondary). Recruited individuals were M = 32.8 (SD = 11.2, range = 18–65) years old; 38.8% were women. The average PDS-5 score was 23.6 (SD = 13.2) regarding trauma exposure, which was most frequently related to experiencing military- or combat-related events (32.9%). Moreover, 46.5% had major depression and 51.8% showed low resilience. Anxiety was present in 40.6% of the trial participants. Psychological distress was high in Syrian refugees residing in Germany, enrolled in a trial targeting post-traumatic stress. This underlines the need for intervention. Our results provide important figures on the mental health of a not well-studied population group in Germany.

Keywords: Syrian refugees; posttraumatic stress; eHealth; mHealth; app; smartphone; trial; randomized-controlled trial; intervention; baseline; mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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