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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2014 Sep;104(9):1680-6.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.301981. Epub 2014 Jul 17.

The effect of cognitive therapy on structural social capital: results from a randomized controlled trial among sexual violence survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Brian J Hall  1 , Paul A Bolton, Jeannie Annan, Debra Kaysen, Katie Robinette, Talita Cetinoglu, Karin Wachter, Judith K Bass
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The effect of cognitive therapy on structural social capital: results from a randomized controlled trial among sexual violence survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Brian J Hall et al. Am J Public Health. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: We evaluated changes in social capital following group-based cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for female survivors of sexual violence.

Methods: We compared CPT with individual support in a cluster-randomized trial in villages in South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Local psychosocial assistants delivered the interventions from April through July 2011. We evaluated differences between CPT and individual support conditions for structural social capital (i.e., time spent with nonkin social network, group membership and participation, and the size of financial and instrumental support networks) and emotional support seeking. We analyzed intervention effects with longitudinal random effects models.

Results: We obtained small to medium effect size differences for 2 study outcomes. Women in the CPT villages increased group membership and participation at 6-month follow-up and emotional support seeking after the intervention compared with women in the individual support villages.

Conclusions: Results support the efficacy of group CPT to increase dimensions of social capital among survivors of sexual violence in a low-income conflict-affected context.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Mean differences in group participation between group-based cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and individual support (IS) among female survivors of sexual violence: Democratic Republic of the Congo, April 2011–February 2012.
FIGURE 2—
FIGURE 2—
Mean differences in emotional support seeking between group-based cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and individual support (IS) among female survivors of sexual violence: Democratic Republic of the Congo, April 2011–February 2012.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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