Evaluation of a sandplay program for preschoolers in a multiethnic neighborhood.

BACKGROUND: This evaluative study assesses the efficacy of a school-based secondary prevention program consisting of creative expression workshops for immigrant and refugee preschoolers in a predominantly South Asian multiethnic neighborhood. Coincidentally, the program began in the wake of the tsunami. METHOD: Pretest and posttest data were collected from the parents and teachers of 105 preschoolers in 10 classes randomly assigned to an experimental or control status. The parents' and teachers' versions of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire were used to assess the children's mental health. The family's ethnic origins and premigration experiences of organized violence were considered in the analysis. RESULTS: According to both the teachers' and parents' reports, the children in the experimental group benefited moderately from the program, which appeared to reduce the SDQ global score of children whose families had experienced violence in their homelands (t(21) = 3.83, p = .001 (MT(1) = 12.81, MT(2) = 9.59)), in particular those from South Asia. CONCLUSION: This study provides some evidence that immigrant preschoolers whose families have experienced adversity before migration can benefit from the creative expression workshops. Further studies are needed to determine if this program can help address the effects of mass media exposure to a disaster or traumatic event on vulnerable communities.

Classroom drama therapy program for immigrant and refugee adolescents: a pilot study.

This evaluative study assesses the effects of a school drama therapy program for immigrant and refugee adolescents designed to prevent emotional and behavioral problems and to enhance school performance. The 9-week program involved 136 newcomers, aged 12 to 18, attending integration classes in a multiethnic school. Pretest and posttest data were collected from the students and their teachers. The self-report and teacher's forms of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire were used to assess emotional and behavioral symptoms. At the end of the program, although there were no reported improvement in self-esteem or emotional and behavioral symptoms, the adolescents in the experimental group reported lower mean levels of impairment by symptoms than those in the control group, when baseline data were controlled for. Their performance in mathematics also increased significantly compared to that of their control peers. The findings suggest that the workshops may have an impact on social adjustment of recently arrived immigrants and refugees. This drama therapy program appears to be a promising way of working preventively and in a nonstigmatizing manner with adolescents who have been exposed to diverse forms of adversity, among which are war and violence.

[Playing with identities, transforming shared realities: school theatre workshop for immigrant and refugee adolescents]. / Du jeu des identités à la transformation de réalités partagées: un programme d'ateliers d'expression théâtrale pour adolescents immigrants et réfugiés.

Migration during adolescence represents a challenge for the youth who need to simultaneously work through the multiple losses associated with the migratory journey and adapt to a young adult status. The drama workshop program described here was designed to facilitate the adjustment of newly arrived immigrant teens. The aim of the program is to make it easier for adolescents to adjust to their new environment through creative group work around identity issues. The program also seeks to improve intergroup relations in multiethnic schools. The workshops are inspired both from playback theater and from Boal's form theater which emphasizes the collective transformation of the singular experience. The qualitative assessment of the program effects on the adolescents suggests that the workshops constitute a safe space of expression, in which the team and the ritual nature of the play hold the participants. The workshops facilitate the representation of the multiplicity of values in the adolescent world and invite them to reconsider the way in which they interact, with their environment, without splitting between "us" and "them," but rather creating solidarities around issues of social justice. The workshops also address the life transformation associated both with adolescence and migration and help the elaboration of the losses linked to the migratory journey and the construction of a hybrid identity.

Evaluation of a classroom program of creative expression workshops for refugee and immigrant children.

OBJECTIVE: This evaluative study assessed the effect of a creative expression program designed to prevent emotional and behavioral problems and to enhance self-esteem in immigrant and refugee children attending multiethnic schools. METHOD: The 12-week program involved 138 children, aged 7 to 13, registered in both integration classes designed for immigrant children and regular classes at two elementary schools. Pretest and posttest data were collected from the children themselves and from their teacher. Teachers used Achenbach's Teacher's Report Form to assess the emotional and behavioral symptoms of their pupils whereas children self-reported their symptoms with the Dominic, a computerized questionnaire. Self-esteem was measured with the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale administered by interviewers to the children. RESULTS: At the end of the program, the children in the experimental groups reported lower mean levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and higher mean levels of feelings of popularity and satisfaction than the children in the control groups, when controlling for baseline data. In integration classes, the effect on self-esteem was especially notable in boys. The intervention's effect on internalizing and externalizing symptoms was not modified by gender, age or fluency in the mainstream language. CONCLUSION: The study provides some evidence that creative workshops in the classroom can have a beneficial effect on the self-esteem and symptomatology of immigrant and refugee children from various cultures and backgrounds. These quantitative results support previous qualitative analysis showing that the workshops participate in the reconstruction of a meaningful personal world while simultaneously strengthening the link of the child to the group. They also transform the teachers' perceptions of newcomers by placing an emphasis on their strength and their resilience, while not negating their vulnerabilities.

Creative expression workshops in school: prevention programs for immigrant and refugee children.

INTRODUCTION: Immigrant and refugee families underutilize mental health services and schools are in a good position to develop prevention programs to help children adapt to their new environment. METHOD: The transcultural psychiatry team at the Montreal Children's Hospital, in partnership with schools, has implemented creative expression workshops for kindergarten, elementary schools, and high school to help the children bridge the gap between past and present, culture of origin and host society. RESULTS: The workshops provide a safe space for expression, acknowledge and value diversity, allow the establishment of continuity, and facilitate the transformation of adversity. CONCLUSION: Refugee and immigrant children's needs should be addressed through intersectoral programs that target exclusion and support a sense of agency.

Between innovation and tradition: the paradoxical relationship between eye movement desensitization and reprocessing and altered states of consciousness.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a relatively new form of psychotherapy to emerge in the West. Using both a case analysis and literature review we situate EMDR within the use of altered states of consciousness (ASCs) in psychological healing practices across times and cultures. We discuss EMDR's unique predicament as a therapy that draws upon techniques common to most therapeutic ASCs, while at the same time distancing itself from this tradition through its pseudoscientific language and technologic aesthetic. Our conclusion attempts to shed light on this paradox and raise questions for further study.