Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Department of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, University of Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria.
J Med Internet Res. 2020 Sep 23;22(9):e17906. doi: 10.2196/17906.
Refugees have an increased risk of developing mental health problems. There are insufficient psychosocial care structures to meet the resulting need for support. Stabilizing and guided imagery techniques have shown promising results in increasing traumatized refugees' emotional stabilization. If delivered via audio files, the techniques can be practiced autonomously and independent of time, space, and human resources or stable treatment settings.
This study aimed to evaluate the self-practice of stabilizing and guided imagery techniques via digital audio files for traumatized refugees living in a reception and registration center in Germany.
From May 2018 to February 2019, 42 traumatized refugees participated in our study. At T1, patients received digital audio files in English, French, Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, or Serbian for self-practice. Nine days later, at T2, a face-to-face interview was conducted. Two months after T2, a follow-up interview took place via telephone.
At T2, about half of the patients reported the daily practice of stabilizing and guided imagery techniques. At follow-up, the average frequency of practice was once weekly or more for those experiencing worse symptoms. No technical difficulties were reported. According to T2 and follow-up statements, the techniques helped the patients dealing with arousal, concentration, sleep, mood, thoughts, empowerment, and tension. The guided imagery technique "The Inner Safe Place" was the most popular. Self-practice was impeded by postmigratory distress factors, like overcrowded accommodations.
The results show that self-practice of stabilizing and guided imagery techniques via digital audio files was helpful to and well accepted by the assessed refugees. Even though postmigratory distress factors hampered self-practice, "The Inner Safe Place" technique was particularly well received. Overall, the self-practiced audio-based stabilizing and guided imagery techniques showed promising results among the highly vulnerable group of newly arrived traumatized refugees.
难民患心理健康问题的风险增加。现有的心理社会关怀结构不足以满足由此产生的支持需求。稳定化和引导意象技术已显示出在增加创伤后难民情绪稳定方面的有前景的结果。如果通过音频文件提供，这些技术可以自主练习，并且不依赖于时间、空间和人力资源或稳定的治疗环境。
本研究旨在评估通过数字音频文件在德国接待和登记中心生活的创伤后难民自我实践稳定化和引导意象技术。
2018 年 5 月至 2019 年 2 月，42 名创伤后难民参加了我们的研究。在 T1 时，患者接受了英语、法语、阿拉伯语、波斯语、土耳其语或塞尔维亚语的数字音频文件以进行自我实践。9 天后，在 T2 时进行了面对面访谈。两个月后，通过电话进行了随访访谈。
在 T2 时，约有一半的患者报告每天练习稳定化和引导意象技术。在随访时，对于症状更严重的患者，练习频率平均为每周一次或更多。未报告技术困难。根据 T2 和随访时的陈述，这些技术帮助患者应对觉醒、注意力、睡眠、情绪、思维、赋权和紧张。最受欢迎的技术是“内心安全之地”引导意象技术。自我实践受到后移民困扰因素的阻碍，如过度拥挤的住宿条件。
结果表明，通过数字音频文件自我实践稳定化和引导意象技术对评估的难民是有帮助且被接受的。尽管后移民困扰因素阻碍了自我实践，但“内心安全之地”技术特别受欢迎。总体而言，新抵达的创伤后难民这一高度脆弱群体中，自我实践的基于音频的稳定化和引导意象技术显示出有前景的结果。
