The effectiveness, mechanisms of change, and acceptability of Family Focused PsychoSocial Support for at-risk adolescents in Lebanon

American University of Beirut0 sites351 target enrollmentMarch 24, 2022

Overview

No summary available.

Registry

who.int

Start Date

March 24, 2022

End Date

TBD

Last Updated

last year

Study Type

Interventional

Sex

All

Sponsor

•Inclusion criteria for participation in the research study are 1\) a single\- or dual\-headed household with an adolescent aged 12\-18 (male and female), 2\) identified as at\-risk by the partner organization, 3\) scoring above the cutoff on the Pediatric Symptom Scale for general mental health, and 4\) gives assent and parental/legal guardian consent. One target child will be identified per family for the assessments (if multiple children meet the criteria in one family, the child who has the highest PSC score will be selected as the index child). At\-risk status will be established as part of usual screening processes for focused PSS and clinical assessment by facilitators in partner organizations, who will identify and referral potential participants. Medium\-to\-high risk is defined for this study as being ‘vulnerable to a protection risk but not high with imminent risk (i.e. without a current protection risk that would require immediate referral to case management). Once potential participants give verbal permission to be contacted by the research team, and have consented/assented to take part, they will be screened fully by the research team (including administering the short\-form of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist) to ensure they meet the inclusion criteria and that the program is relevant to their needs.

•Participants will be excluded if they have severe psychiatric disturbance or risks requiring specialist mental health services (assessed by partner organizations as part of usual routine assessment and referral systems), if they are in immediate high risk requiring case management, or if they do not consent/assent. Cases requiring specialized services will not be invited to participate because of the level of vulnerability, potential issues of capacity, and because the family intervention is unlikely to be pitched at the right level for their needs, though they will be offered alternative relevant services. The decisions are made using the usual protocol for focused PSS programs within each partner organization by experienced mental health and child protection teams. Due to the high level of need within all communities in Lebanon, and the need to prevent resource\-based tension between groups, we will include families from all nationalities, religions, and refugee status.