Stiles Deborah A, Alaraudanjoki Esa, Wilkinson Lisa R, Ritchie Keary L, Brown Kelly Ann
Applied Educational Psychology and School Psychology, Webster University, 470 Lockwood Ave, St. Louis, MO 63119 USA.
J Child Adolesc Trauma. 2019 Sep 9;14(1):123-139. doi: 10.1007/s40653-019-00286-w. eCollection 2021 Mar.
With the growing worldwide refugee crisis, there is a need for evidence-based interventions that specifically deal with the consequences of cumulative trauma-exposure in refugee youth. Refugee children have unique service needs and differ from their non-refugee peers in terms of sociocultural trauma, language, culture, and educational barriers. This article explains the complexities associated with understanding refugee youth and presents a proposal for studying the possible benefits of Tree of Life therapy. At the present time, Tree of Life therapy has no evidence-base because the published studies of Tree of Life with refugee and/or immigrant youth have sample sizes of one, six, eight, and twenty-nine. As a culturally-grounded, strength-based group counseling approach, Tree of Life therapy addresses traumatic experiences, recognizes participants' cultural differences, highlights individual skills, and aids in instilling both confidence and hope for the future. Ncazelo Ncube, the co-founder and main developer of Tree of Life, describes this therapy as a collective narrative practice that considers cultural beliefs and values (2006, 2010, 2018, 2019). The proposed research design is to study the effectiveness of the Tree of Life in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. The research plan is to use pragmatic, group-randomized controlled trials in the "real world" settings of schools and agencies in each of the four countries. In addition, the article describes the development of the Roots and Wings Questionnaire for Children and Youth, a culturally relevant, child-friendly questionnaire. The Tree of Life is a readily available therapy with great potential for helping traumatized refugee youth as well as other trauma-impacted young people worldwide.
随着全球难民危机的不断加剧，需要有基于证据的干预措施来专门应对难民青少年累积创伤暴露的后果。难民儿童有独特的服务需求，在社会文化创伤、语言、文化和教育障碍方面与非难民同龄人不同。本文解释了理解难民青少年所涉及的复杂性，并提出了一项研究生命之树疗法可能益处的提议。目前，生命之树疗法没有证据基础，因为已发表的关于生命之树与难民和/或移民青少年的研究样本量分别为1、6、8和29。作为一种基于文化、以优势为基础的团体咨询方法，生命之树疗法处理创伤经历，认识到参与者的文化差异，突出个人技能，并有助于灌输对未来的信心和希望。生命之树的联合创始人兼主要开发者恩卡泽洛·恩库贝将这种疗法描述为一种考虑文化信仰和价值观的集体叙事实践（2006年、2010年、2018年、2019年）。拟议的研究设计是在加拿大、美国、英国和南非研究生命之树的有效性。研究计划是在四个国家中每个国家的学校和机构等“现实世界”环境中采用务实的、群组随机对照试验。此外，本文还描述了针对儿童和青少年的“根与翼问卷”的开发情况，这是一份与文化相关、对儿童友好的问卷。生命之树是一种现成的疗法，在帮助受创伤的难民青少年以及全球其他受创伤影响的年轻人方面具有巨大潜力。
