An online intervention designed to reduce self‐stigma and increase help‐seeking in Arabic‐speaking refugees with posttraumatic stress symptoms: A randomized controlled trial

TL;DR

This study tested an online intervention to reduce self-stigma and encourage mental health help-seeking among Arabic-speaking refugees with trauma symptoms.

Contribution

The study evaluates the Tell Your Story intervention's effectiveness in reducing self-stigma and increasing help-seeking among Arabic-speaking refugees.

Findings

Participants in the TYS group showed increased help-seeking behavior at 3-month follow-up compared to the control group.

The control group showed greater reductions in PTSD-related self-stigma over time.

Results suggest the need for further investigation in a larger trial with refugee populations.

Abstract

Despite elevated rates of psychopathology, refugees underutilize mental health services. Mental health self‐stigma is a prominent barrier to accessing psychological support; however, there is limited research on intervention approaches to reduce self‐stigma among refugees. The present study aimed to provide further support for the Tell Your Story (TYS) intervention in reducing self‐stigma and increasing help‐seeking among Arabic‐speaking male and female refugees. In this randomized controlled trial (RCT), 67 Arabic‐speaking refugees with self‐stigma and at least subthreshold posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) were randomly allocated to the TYS group or waitlist control group. At baseline, postintervention, and 3‐month follow‐up, participants completed assessment measures indexing measures of self‐stigma (related to symptoms and help‐seeking) and help‐seeking (intentions and behavior). Poisson regression analyses revealed that participants in the TYS group demonstrated more help‐seeking behavior at 3‐month follow‐up than those in the waitlist control group, Hedges’ g = 0.67. However, linear mixed models showed that the waitlist control group demonstrated larger decreases in PTSD‐related self‐stigma across time, T2: g = 0.07, T3: g = 0.04, whereas no significant group differences were observed for self‐stigma related to help‐seeking. Although the findings were mixed and suggest a need for further investigation in a larger RCT with a sample of refugee men and women, the results provide support for the intervention's utility in expanding one's help‐seeking network in a population with low treatment uptake.

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