Understanding the state of mind of children who are refugees (ver 1.0)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding the state of mind of children who are refugees; can a short term child psychotherapy assessment identify the different ways they understand their experiences and relate to therapeutic support?
IRAS ID
110715
Contact name
Lynne Taylor
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Of East London
Research summary
Clinical experience within a specialist refugee team in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) indicates that children and families who are refugees show differences in the way that they relate to their previous traumatic experiences and to the therapeutic support offered.
Often their distress and symptoms are understood by clinicians and the professional network purely as a result of the trauma they may have experienced in their home country and the associated stress of living as a refugee in the UK (legal status, language, housing etc).
However, I wonder if their distress and symptoms could also be a reflection of their own previous relationship experiences (for example, their own early care giving relationships and attachment patterns) and that this affects their recovery and understanding of traumatic experiences. For refugee children, their previous attachment patterns could impact on how they then relate to the adults who are trying to support them in school, foster care, social care and CAMHS.
Child psychotherapy assessments are routinely used in CAMHS to assess how children relate to adults and to their experiences. This information is used to inform and plan support for the child in their family, education, and therapeutic need.
This study will be a small, exploratory study, using mainly qualitative methods to investigate if child psychotherapy assessments can identify differences in how children who are refugees relate to adults. It is hypothesized that this will affect their understanding and recovery from their experiences and trauma.
REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/0701
Date of REC Opinion
23 Jun 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion