Effectiveness of Narrative Exposure Therapy in Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Bereaved Adolescents in Children’s Homes in Kajiado County, Kenya

Abstract

This study was to determine the effectiveness of Narrative exposure therapy (NET) in the treatment of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among bereaved adolescents in selected children’s homes in Ngong, Kajiado County, Kenya. Specifically, the study identified prevalence of PTSD and depression among bereaved adolescents risk factors and indicators of PTSD, and other traumatic events besides bereavement that can expose adolescents to development of PTSD and depression. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design with experimental and control groups to achieve the objectives. Based on Casagrande sample size calculation, a sample size of 160 bereaved adolescents aged between 12-18 who met the inclusion criteria was sampled. A purposive sampling technique was used and data was collected using Socio demographic Questionnaires, Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) PTSD Reaction Index (Adolescents version). Data was analyzed descriptively and inferentially using IBM SPSS (version 20) statistical software. The study showed that the prevalence of PTSD among bereaved adolescents was 96.25%, while main indicators of PTSD were gender, male (p=.040), female (p=.020), and living with a guardian (p=0.020). Similarly, bereaved adolescents were also exposed to other traumatic events such as being in an accident (18.8%), physical abuse (39.6%), witnessing physical abuse (47.4%), being threatened (42.9%), seeing a dead body (89.6%), sexual abuse (12.3%) and attending the funeral of a close relative (90.9%). NET was found to be effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD p=.0001 and PTSD comorbidity (p=.0001) in the experimental group. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended the use of NET in treatment of PTSD among bereaved adolescents.