Effect study of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program for tortured and traumatized refugees
Research project
Contact person: Linda Nordin
The rehabilitation program at DIGNITY,
for tortured and traumatized refuges, is mainly bases on the
existing evidence on mono-therapies for PTSD, pain, etc. Research
on this population is scarce and research on multidisciplinary
rehabilitation for this group does not exist. The purpose of this
study is to evaluate the effect of the existing multidisciplinary
rehabilitation program at DIGNITY, for tortured and traumatized
refugees. There is a need for such studies to provide
treatment guidelines.
Many refugees
have been subjected to various forms of torture in their native
countries. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common in
tortured refugees. Weighted prevalence internationally amounts to
about 24%. Compared to the populations included in existing PTSD
research, tortured refugees often have a more complex symptom
picture. Many have experienced multiple traumas over time, and
other long-term difficulties, such as loss of family, migration,
and complications of a life in exile. The result is a more
extensive problem than only PTSD, with mental symptoms, such as
anxiety, depression, sleep problems, somatic symptoms, including
chronic pain and disability, and social problems such as lack of
social networks, poverty, isolation, difficulty in contact with the
social, community and familial and integration problems.
Many
traumatized refugees within the EU never receive the medical,
psychological and social help they need, and there are no proven
guidelines on how this group should be treated. DIGNITY's
rehabilitation philosophy is that these clients with complex
problems are in need of multidisciplinary rehabilitation to treat
all mental, physical, and social problems in a holistic manner. The
treatment is based on inter-disciplinary team of psychologists,
physicians, social counselor and physiotherapist. The approach aims
to reduce the above-mentioned complex symptoms, as well as to
increase the client´s level of function and quality of life.