Addressing Urgent Community Mental Health Needs in Rwanda: Culturally Sensitive Training Interventions

Levers, Lisa Lopez; Kamanzi, D.; Mukamana, Donatilla; Pells, Kirrily; Bhusumane, Dan-Bush

doi:10.1080/14330237.2006.10820130

Cited by 10 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Importantly, so far, no study has taken a community psychology approach to evaluate programmes in Rwanda. The need to take such an approach is expressed by Levers et al (). They emphasise the great potential of community action programmes that draw from the principles of community psychology to address the psychological consequences of the Rwandan genocide.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Community psychology deals with the relationships and systems influencing mental health‐related issues of communities. Therefore, it constitutes a promising approach to address mental health in Rwanda on a larger scale (Levers et al ). Based on the scarcity of literature on community mental health interventions in Rwanda and the lack of literature that draws upon a community psychology approach to evaluate these interventions, this study constitutes a valuable contribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Twenty Years Post‐genocide: The Creation of Mental Health Competence among Rwandan Survivors Through Community‐based Healing Workshops

Mahr

Campbell

2015

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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Twenty years after the genocide, many Rwandans still suffer from the psychological wounds of the past. The country's mental health agenda is based on individualised and psychiatric approaches that help some but cannot be provided on a large scale. Further, many reconciliation initiatives have been based on public testimonies, which have been shown to be potentially re‐traumatising, leading to calls for small‐scale community‐based approaches to healing, which constitute a middle way between individualised and public approaches. Drawing on the concept of ‘mental health competence’ (Campbell and Burgess, 2012), this study evaluates one such approach: the Life Wounds Healing workshops offered by the African Institute for Integral Psychology. Twenty‐one semi‐structured interviews were conducted with former workshop participants, staff members and the institute's founder to investigate their views on how these workshops can help genocide survivors. The results suggest that the workshops succeed in creating mental health competence by establishing a safe social space for people to open up, increasing people's critical understandings of the processes of pain — and potential for healing — that informs behaviour change, generating bonding social capital and offering participants' income‐generating possibilities. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Twenty Years Post‐genocide: The Creation of Mental Health Competence among Rwandan Survivors Through Community‐based Healing Workshops

Mahr

Campbell

2015

Community & Applied Soc Psy

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“…Tens of thousands of women were intentionally infected with HIV, sexually humiliated and mutilated by the attackers [ 4 - 7 ]. Two million people fled their homes and became refugees in neighbouring countries [ 8 ]. It tore Rwandans apart despite having a common history and speaking the same language and now remains as a difficult past [ 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traumatic episodes experienced during the genocide period in Rwanda influence life circumstances in young men and women 17 years later

et al. 2013

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BackgroundDuring Rwanda’s genocide period in 1994, about 800,000 people were killed. People were murdered, raped and seriously injured. This retrospective study investigated prevalence and frequency of traumatic episodes and associated psychosocial effects in young adults in Rwanda over the lifetime, during the genocide period and in the past three years.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional population-based study conducted among men and women, aged 20 to 35 years, residing in the Southern province of Rwanda. The study population, randomly selected in a multi stage procedure, included 477 females and 440 males. Data collection was performed through individual interviewing with a structured questionnaire during the period December 2011- January 2012. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire was used to assess traumatic episodes. All data was sex-disaggregated. Differences between groups were measured by chi square and Fischer’s exact test. Associations with socio-demographic and psychosocial factors were estimated by use of odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals in bi- and multivariate analyses.ResultsThe participants in this study were 3 to 18 years of age in 1994, the year of the genocide. Our sample size was 917 participants, 440 men and 477 women. Women were to a higher extent exposed to traumatic episodes than men during their lifetime, 83.6% (n = 399) and 73.4% (n = 323), respectively. During the genocide period, 37.5% of the men/boys and 35.4% of the women/girls reported such episodes while in the past three years (2009-2011) 25.0% of the men and 23.1% of the women did. Women were more exposed to episodes related to physical and sexual violence, while men were exposed to imprisonment, kidnapping and mass killings. Victims of such violence during the genocide period were 17 years later less educated although married (men OR 1.47; 0.98-2.19; women OR 1.54; 1.03-2.30), without children (men OR 1.59; 1.08-2.36; women OR 1.86; 1.11-3.08) and living under extremely poor circumstances.ConclusionThe participants in this population-based study witnessed or experienced serious traumatic episodes during the genocide, which influenced their life circumstances 17 years later. Such traumatic episodes are however still taking place. The reasons for this need further investigation.

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“…A related challenge is that Western consultants and approaches often are valued over the knowledge and experiences of the practitioners from the local area (Silove & Zwi, 2005). Additionally, ample time must be allowed for those collaborators from outside the project area to learn about the context, experiences, and issues of the area in which they will be training (Silove & Zwi, 2005;Levers, Kamanzi, Mukamana, Pells, & Bhusumane, 2006). Claiborne and Lawson (2005) provided a useful framework conceptualizing the process of collaboration involving communication, community building, connection, co-location, cooperation, consulting, coordination, and contracting.…”

Section: Conceptual Analysis and Discussion Of The Collaboration Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The U.S. facilitators were somewhat knowledgeable and familiar with many aspects of the history and culture of this area but relied on the Ugandan facilitators to understand how this TOT should unfold in this setting and at this time period. While the training focused on specific content and skills, the context of the conflict affected areas were a constant reminder to focus on the voices and the needs of community members (Levers, Kamanzi, Mukamana, Pells, & Bhusumane, 2006). This process echoed a critical principle of social workselfdetermination.…”

Section: Practice Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaborative Psychosocial Capacity Building in Northern Uganda

Corbin

Miller

2009

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Service

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Armed conflicts affect an increasing number of children and families worldwide. War-torn communities often require external resources to address the overwhelming psychosocial needs during and after such violence. This article provides information about a psychosocial training-of-trainers (TOT) program designed by a team of United States and Ugandan practitioners to enhance the knowledge and skills of local community members providing psychosocial support. The conceptual framework of collaboration was used to analyze the work of the TOT facilitators and participants, and identify implications for continued efforts. Discussions among facilitators and between facilitators and participants were essential to developing shared goals, exchanging knowledge and skills, and integrating Western concepts of psychosocial healing with non-Western approaches to individual and community healing.

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Addressing Urgent Community Mental Health Needs in Rwanda: Culturally Sensitive Training Interventions

Cited by 10 publications

References 22 publications

Twenty Years Post‐genocide: The Creation of Mental Health Competence among Rwandan Survivors Through Community‐based Healing Workshops

Twenty Years Post‐genocide: The Creation of Mental Health Competence among Rwandan Survivors Through Community‐based Healing Workshops

Traumatic episodes experienced during the genocide period in Rwanda influence life circumstances in young men and women 17 years later

Collaborative Psychosocial Capacity Building in Northern Uganda

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