In the present project, we intend to contribute to the mitigation of the mental health burden experienced by Afghan asylum seekers and refugees in Austria.

Refugees suffer from a variety of mental disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression or anxiety disorders. Post-migration stressors have repeatedly been found to profoundly contribute to this psychological distress. The evidence base for treatment of help-seeking refugees and asylum seekers is sparse and mainly limited to trauma-specific treatments.

Evaluating a transdiagnostic and short term manual is necessary for implementing early and wide-spread treatment methods. Several aspects can be addressed by the present study:

• Coping with post-migration living difficulties (PMLDs): e.g. family separation, acculturation, discrimination, refugee policies, social isolation
• Prevention of chronic states
• Shorten long waiting time
• Not all traumatized individuals need trauma therapy
• Involving therapists without specialization in trauma
• Short term treatments pave the way for specialized trauma treatment

The study has several major aims:

• To evaluate the efficacy of a short-term intervention protocol adapted to address mental health problems and post-migration stressors (adapted Problem Management Plus; WHO), for support-seeking Afghan asylum seekers and refugees.
• To include subjective experiences of participants in order to improve the manual’s acceptance.
• To develop an online training platform to train primary care mental health professionals and to evaluate its applicability.

Study procedure:

• Diagnostic interviews with all study participants (with interpreter, if needed) at 3 different time points within one year
• All diagnostic interviews are carried out by an experienced clinical and health psychologist
• Half of the study participants (random sample) participate in weekly sessions à 90 minutes for six weeks
• The sessions are carried out face-to-face with a trained clinical psychologist/psychotherapist (with interpreter, if needed)
• In-depth interviews with a small sample of participants
• Development and evaluation of an online training tool

Inclusion criteria:

• Female or male Afghan asylum seeker or refugee
• Registered on a waiting list for clinical psychological treatment or psychotherapy in a specialized   facility (e.g. Verein Hemayat, Sintem, Psychosoziales Zentrum ESRA, Kriseninterventionszentrum, PSD)
• Minimum age: 18yrs.
• Participants speak German, English, or Dari
• Positive screening on a screening questionnaire for common mental disorders
• No acute suicidal thoughts
• No psychotic disorder or severe substance abuse disorder

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