Testing the feasibility of delivering and evaluating a child mental health recovery program enhanced with additional parenting sessions for families displaced by the Syrian conflict: A pilot study

Children who live through armed conflict and displacement are at increased risk of mental health difficulties, including posttraumatic stress (PTS). Parental support and monitoring are significant potentially modifiable factors amenable to preventive intervention. Children's resilience can be increased by assisting parents and caregivers in supporting children. This study investigated the feasibility of delivering and evaluating an adapted version of the teaching recovery techniques (TRT) intervention, an established, evidence-based mental health recovery program for children, in a displacement setting resulting from the Syrian conflict. Three parent skills sessions were added to the original TRT intervention to form a brief, 5-week child plus parenting program (TRT + Parenting). Feasibility to recruit and train nonspecialist staff on the ground to screen families for eligibility, collect outcome data and deliver the intervention, and to recruit and retain families in the intervention and study were examined. Fourteen Syrian refugee families residing in a border town in Turkey took part in the study. Research staff and intervention facilitators were successfully appointed in the field, screened participants, and delivered the intervention, collecting outcome measures pre- and postdelivery. Supervision was provided via Skype and Whatsapp from the Unite Kingdom. All families completed the outcome measures, with very little missing data, and all of the intervention sessions, except for one family who moved to another location. This indicated that TRT+Parenting can be delivered feasibly and evaluated with displaced families in this humanitarian context. Preliminary outcome data showed promise that TRT + Parenting may have the potential to both reduce children's PTS and increase caregivers' parenting self-efficacy and use of effective strategies. Implications and future directions of the research are discussed.