Sheba Atieno Okumnu
Narrative Exposure Therapy’s application was discovered by a research on African refugee’s settlement. NET was noted to help people who have been traumatized confront their painful memories and feelings than Supportive Counseling and Psycho education. Narrative Exposure Therapy uses techniques that aim at reducing the level of distress with memories of the event and quelling the resultant physiological reactions through narration and exposure. NET has also been noted to be better than other types of psychotherapy and psychosocial interventions in post conflict settings. Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) a short-term treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder can be applied in low and middle income, in post conflict settings. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of NET in reducing symptoms of PTSD and depression among bereaved adolescents in selected children’s homes. The study took place in 8 children’s homes in Kajiado County, Kenya. The sample size was 154 bereaved adolesdents aged 12-18 years. All the respondents provided informed consent. Respondents were administered a socio demographic questionaire which captured the age, gender, level of education, and respondents status of significant others. University of California Loss Angeles (UCLA) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index was used to identify the types of traumatic events that bereaved adolescents had experienced.NET was found effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD as seen in reduced mean scores from base-line 3.1923 ± (SD: .55963)) to mid-line 2.2308 ± (SD: .50768) and from mid-line to end-line 1.4359 ± (SD: .49908). The reduction was statistically significant at p=0.0001. NET was effective in reducing symptoms of depression as seen in reduced mean scores of the experimental group at base-line (3.04), mid-line (2.39) and end-line (1.23) seen in p=0.0001 compared to the control group.This study confirmed that NET as an effective treatment of PTSD among bereaved adolescents and it is therefore recommended that mental health workers should apply NET in adolescents specifically bereaved and presenting with PTSD symptoms.
