TY - JOUR
T1 - Islamic trauma healing
T2 - Initial feasibility and pilot data
AU - Zoellner, Lori
AU - Graham, Belinda
AU - Marks, Elizabeth
AU - Feeny, Norah
AU - Bentley, Jacob
AU - Franklin, Anna
AU - Lang, Duniya
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the Catherine Holmes Wilkins Foundation and the Seattle Foundation.
Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Catherine Holmes Wilkins Foundation and the Seattle Foundation. Acknowledgments: This work was conducted in partnership with the Somali Reconciliation Institute and the Abu-Bakr Islamic Center of Washington, Seattle, WA. Duniya Lang, founder and director of the Somali Reconciliation Institute, approached Zoellner to help develop an empirically-supported intervention for trauma healing within the Somali community and is responsible for the genesis of this program. The Islamic Trauma Healing manual was developed collaboratively with Lang, Zoellner, Graham, Marks, and Feeny as authors. We would like to thank Sheikh Ahmed Nur, the Imam at the Abu-Bakr Islamic Center in Seattle, who agreed to host the program at the mosque, contributed beginning and ending group session supplications to the manual, and reviewed the program manual to ensure religious integrity. We would also like to thank Jessica Flores for her contribution to the qualitative coding. Finally, we would like to thank Abdirahman Oman, Safiyah Hersi-Dhooye, and Ubah Aden who served as the first group leaders.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2018/9
Y1 - 2018/9
N2 - Effective interventions for trauma-related psychopathology exist but there are considerable barriers to access and uptake by refugee groups. There is a clear need for culturally appropriate and accessible interventions designed in collaboration with refugee groups. Islamic Trauma Healing is a lay led, group intervention specifically targeting healing the mental wounds of trauma within local mosques. Using Prophet stories and turning to Allah about traumatic experiences, this program incorporates cognitive and exposure principles into an Islamic-informed intervention. In Study 1, following a community event describing the program, 39 Somali participants completed a brief trauma screening and interest measure. In Study 2, pre-to post-group pilot data related to PTSD, depression, somatic symptoms, well-being, and satisfaction was examined for men’s and women’s groups (N = 13). Qualitative analysis of group and leader feedback was conducted. Both studies suggest a strong perceived need and match with the Islamic faith for the intervention, with large effects from the pre-to post-group (g = 0.76 to 3.22). Qualitative analysis identified themes of community, faith integration, healing, and growth. The program was well-received by participants and offers a promising model for the delivery of trauma-focused intervention to Muslim refugee communities.
AB - Effective interventions for trauma-related psychopathology exist but there are considerable barriers to access and uptake by refugee groups. There is a clear need for culturally appropriate and accessible interventions designed in collaboration with refugee groups. Islamic Trauma Healing is a lay led, group intervention specifically targeting healing the mental wounds of trauma within local mosques. Using Prophet stories and turning to Allah about traumatic experiences, this program incorporates cognitive and exposure principles into an Islamic-informed intervention. In Study 1, following a community event describing the program, 39 Somali participants completed a brief trauma screening and interest measure. In Study 2, pre-to post-group pilot data related to PTSD, depression, somatic symptoms, well-being, and satisfaction was examined for men’s and women’s groups (N = 13). Qualitative analysis of group and leader feedback was conducted. Both studies suggest a strong perceived need and match with the Islamic faith for the intervention, with large effects from the pre-to post-group (g = 0.76 to 3.22). Qualitative analysis identified themes of community, faith integration, healing, and growth. The program was well-received by participants and offers a promising model for the delivery of trauma-focused intervention to Muslim refugee communities.
KW - Asylum seekers
KW - Capacity-building
KW - Refugees
KW - Religion
KW - Trauma
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U2 - 10.3390/soc8030047
DO - 10.3390/soc8030047
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85059301739
SN - 2075-4698
VL - 8
JO - Societies
JF - Societies
IS - 3
M1 - 47
ER -