PCORI Project to Develop Effective Treatment for Refugee Adults with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects nearly 1 in 10 resettled refugee adults in high- and middle-income nations. Not effectively treating an adult’s PTSD can have profound negative impacts on their child’s behavior and development, which can lead to a number of health-related issues in the future. We know that kids do better when their parents do better, so it’s essential to take the necessary steps to improve the health of caregivers.
This project will focus on increasing knowledge of PCORI’s treatment evidence among clinicians who care for refugees, as well as professional interpreters and refugee community leaders, and provide guidance on how to discuss treatment options with patients. In partnership with Pennsylvania’s Refugee Resettlement Program, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Refugee Health Program and Multi-Cultural Health Evaluation Delivery System, Inc., we will first develop a brief, provider-oriented summary of PCORI evidence on PTSD treatment for adult refugees that clinicians can give to patients. We will then create a multi-lingual lexicon for accurately and sensitively discussing PTSD treatment recommendations with refugees from a variety of backgrounds, which will contain a list of technical and non-technical PTSD-related terms and phrases.