About
66
Publications
28,382
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
1,614
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Additional affiliations
February 2021 - May 2021
January 2015 - present
March 2009 - June 2012
Publications
Publications (66)
A scoping review was conducted to explore the metaphors and related expressions older adults use to describe extremely stressful events that may lead to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Complex PTSD (CPTSD), Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD), or Adjustment Disorder (AjD). Relevant databases from psychology, gerontology, and related fields were s...
Child maltreatment has been linked to insecure adult attachment. However, it is not yet clear how different child maltreatment types are associated with attachment-related anxiety and avoidance in adulthood; and whether resilience against these insecure attachment styles is dependent on risk-specific resources. Therefore, this study explored differ...
Objectives:
Small area analysis is a health services research technique that facilitates geographical comparison of services supply and utilization rates between health service areas (HSAs). HSAs are functionally relevant regions around medical facilities within which most residents undergo treatment. We aimed to identify HSAs for psychiatric outp...
Background
People with mental illnesses are at an increased risk of experiencing human rights violations, stigma and discrimination. Even though mental health stigma and discrimination are universal, there appears to be a higher burden in low- and middle-income countries. Anti-stigma interventions need to be grounded in local evidence. The aim of t...
Background
Most displaced people with mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries do not receive effective care, and their access to care has deteriorated during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Digital mental health interventions are scalable when digital access is adequate, and they can be safely delivered during the COV...
Background:
Most people with mental disorders in communities exposed to adversity in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) do not receive effective care. Digital mental health interventions are scalable when digital access is adequate, and can be safely delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Objective:
To examine the effects of a new W...
Background
Mental health-related stigma is a global public health concern and a major barrier to seeking care. In this study, we explored the role of stigma as a barrier to scaling up mental health services in primary health care (PHC) centres in Lebanon. We focused on the experiences of Healthcare Providers (HCPs) providing services to patients wi...
There is a lack of empirical research on the heterogeneity in well‐being of individuals who disaffiliated (i.e., left or were expelled) from an exclusionary and demanding faith community. Thus, little quantitative knowledge exists on factors related to resilience in these individuals. Therefore, the study aims were twofold: (1) to identify profiles...
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) was introduced as a new diagnostic category in ICD-11. It encompasses PTSD symptoms along with disturbances in selforganisation (DSO), i.e., affect dysregulation, negative self-concept, and disturbances in relationships. Quantitative research supports the validity of CPTSD across different cultural gro...
Background
Although a high proportion of older adults suffer from common mental disorder symptoms and psychosocial problems, only a small number of older individuals seek psychological treatment. Internet-based interventions have the potential to bridge this treatment gap. However, while there is extensive literature on internet-based treatments in...
Aims
Stigma related to mental disorders is a barrier to quality mental healthcare. This scoping review aimed to synthesise literature on stigma related to mental disorders in Nepal to understand stigma processes. The anthropological concept of ‘what matters most’ to understand culture and stigma was used to frame the literature on explanatory model...
Background
There is a lack of empirical evidence on the level of cultural adaptation required for psychological interventions developed in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies to be effective for the treatment of common mental disorders among culturally and ethnically diverse groups. This lack of evidence is par...
Background
Refugees and asylum seekers in Europe are affected by high prevalence of common mental disorders. Under the call ‘mental health of refugee populations’, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (FMER) funded a series of research projects to test evidence-based psychological interventions among refugee populations in Germany....
Background:
This study aims to provide a transparent and replicable documentation approach for the cultural adaptation of a cognitive-behavioural transdiagnostic intervention (Common Elements Treatment Approach, CETA) for Arabic-speaking refugees with common mental disorders in Germany.
Method:
A mixed-methods approach was used, including litera...
Background
Stigma is a barrier for help-seeking, mental health service access, and contributes to the mental health treatment gap. Because the mental health treatment gap is greatest in low- and middle-income countries, it is vital to identify effective strategies to reduce stigma in these settings. To date, there has been a lack of synthesis of fi...
Background
Stigma among healthcare providers is a barrier to the effective delivery of mental health services in primary care. Few studies have been conducted in primary care settings comparing the attitudes of healthcare providers and experiences of people with mental illness who are service users in those facilities. Such research is necessary ac...
Background Mental health related stigma is a global public health concern and is considered a major barrier to seeking care. In this study, we explored the role of stigma as a barrier to scaling up mental health services in primary health care (PHC) centres in Lebanon. We focused on the experiences of PHC workers, while providing services to patien...
Background
People with mental illnesses are at an increased risk of experiencing human rights violations, stigma and discrimination. Even though mental health stigma and discrimination are universal, there appears to be a higher burden in low- and middle-income countries. Anti-stigma interventions need to be grounded in local evidence. The aim of t...
Background
E-mental health interventions may help to bridge the mental health treatment gap. Evidence on their effectiveness is compelling in high-income countries. Not enough evidence has been generated on their use with communities affected by adversity in low- and middle-income countries. The World Health Organization (WHO), the National Mental...
Background: In order to narrow the world-wide treatment gap, innovative interventions are needed that can be used among culturally diverse groups, e.g., immigrant populations in high-income countries. Research on cultural adaptation of psychological interventions indicates that a higher level of adaptation is associated with a higher effect size of...
Background
Internet- and mobile-based mental health interventions have the potential to narrow the treatment gap in ethnic groups. Little evidence exists on the cultural adaptation of such interventions. Cultural adaptation of evidence-based interventions distinguishes between surface and deep structure adaptation. Surface refers to matching materi...
BACKGROUND
The lack of availability of evidence-based services for people exposed to adversity globally has led to the development of psychological interventions with features that will likely make them more scalable. The evidence for the efficacy of e-mental health from high-income countries is compelling and the use of these interventions could b...
Background
The lack of availability of evidence-based services for people exposed to adversity globally has led to the development of psychological interventions with features that will likely make them more scalable. The evidence for the efficacy of e-mental health from high-income countries is compelling, and the use of these interventions could...
The concept of psychological trauma implies that people experiencing traumatic stress are wounded, thus relating to the metaphor of a physical injury. Although this notion is widely accepted by clinicians and researchers in mental health, there is evidence of a broad range of metaphorical idioms for extremely aversive experiences or catastrophic ev...
Cultural variability regarding concepts of distress for common mental disorders (CMD) has been reported extensively in cultural clinical psychology across the globe. However, little is known about illness narratives in social communities from Southeast Europe. The purpose of this paper is to identify cultural concepts of distress (CCDs) among Alban...
Background:
E-mental health is an established mode of delivering treatment for common mental disorders in many high income countries. However, evidence of its effectiveness in lower income countries is lacking. This mixed methods study presents lessons learned and preliminary data on the feasibility of a minimally guided e-mental health interventi...
The worldwide mental health treatment gap calls for scaling-up psychological interventions, which requires effective implementation in diverse cultural settings. Evidence from the field of global mental health and cultural clinical psychology indicates cultural variation in how symptoms of common mental disorders are expressed, and how culturally d...
Adversity-related metaphors Sometimes we feel imprisoned [tied], with tied hands, without being able to do anything. As vezes a gente se sente amarrados. De mãos atadas, sem ter como agir. This was the moment we felt blocked. E aí foi quando bloqueou. We are branded, marked. Nos somos marcados. Feeling empty Senir-se vazio Live this constant fight...
The expressions resilience and posttraumatic growth represent metaphorical concepts that are typically found in Euro-American contexts. Metaphors of severe adversity or trauma and the expressions of overcoming it vary across cultures—a lacuna, which has not been given much attention in the literature so far. This study aimed to explore the metaphor...
Reducing mental health-related stigma in primary health care settings in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review – CORRIGENDUM - E. Heim, B. A. Kohrt, M. Koschorke, M. Milenova, G. Thornicroft
Aims
This systematic review compiled evidence on interventions to reduce mental health-related stigma among medical and nursing students in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Primary outcomes were stigmatising attitudes and discriminatory behaviours.
Methods
Data collection included two strategies. First, previous systematic reviews were se...
Cross-national epidemiological studies show that prevalence rates of common mental disorders (i.e. depression, anxiety disorders, and PTSD) vary considerably between countries, suggesting cultural differences. In order to gather evidence on how culture relates to the aetiology and phenomenology of mental disorders, finding meaningful empirical inst...
This edited volume outlines approaches to cultural clinical psychology in three broad areas: (1) culturally sensitive approaches to PTSD and related mental disorders; (2) cultural values, metaphors, and the search for universals; and (3) global mental health and intervention challenges. In addition to mapping key issues for research, the volume aim...
Introduction: The aim of this study is to describe the initial stages of the iterative and user-centered mobile mental health adaptation process of Step-by-Step (SbS), a modularized and originally web-based e-mental health intervention developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Given the great need for improving the responsiveness and access...
E-Mental-Health-Angebote haben großes Potenzial, um Menschen in unterversorgten Gebieten mit niederschwelligen psychotherapeutischen Angeboten zu erreichen, insbesondere Geflüchtete. Solche Ansätze werden in verschiedenen Ländern getestet. Therapeutische Interventionen wie Verhaltensaktivierung oder Entspannungstechniken eignen sich gut und können...
Background
Lebanon has a need for innovative approaches to increase access to mental health care to meet the country's current high demand. E-mental health has been included in its national mental health strategy while in parallel the World Health Organization has produced an online intervention called ‘Step-by-Step’ to treat symptoms of depression...
Background:
Insomnia has become a major public health concern.
Aims:
The study examined the efficacy of a web-based unguided self-help programme with automated feedback. The programme was based on cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). The investigation particularly focused on factors that contribute to the maintenance of insomnia and...
Aims
This systematic review compiled evidence on interventions to reduce mental health-related stigma in primary health care (PHC) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Studies targeting PHC staff (including non-professionals) were included. Primary outcomes were stigmatising attitudes and discriminatory behaviours.
Methods
Data collection...
The World Health Organization is developing a range of interventions, including technology supported interventions, to help address the mental health treatment gap, particularly in low and middle-income countries. One of these, Step-by-Step, is a guided, technology supported, intervention for depression. It provides psychoeducation and training in...
The metaphorical concepts resilience and post-traumatic growth (PTG) reflect the contemporary Western understanding of overcoming highly challenging life events. However, it is known that across different cultures, a broad range of metaphorical idioms for describing adaptive responses to severe adversity exists. This study aimed to explore and cont...
Zusammenfassung
Depressivität und andere psychische Erkrankungen sind eine häufige Begleiterscheinung militärischer Auslandseinsätze. Ein neueres Forschungsfeld befasst sich mit persönlichen Wertorientierungen und moralischen Verletzungen und deren Rolle bei der Entstehung psychischer Einsatzfolgen. In der vorliegenden Studie wurden Bundeswehrsold...
Objective: To examine the working alliance between users and an avatar and users' treatment expectations in an unguided Internet intervention for the treatment of insomnia.
Methods: The sample included participants from the treatment condition (N = 29) of a randomised controlled trial. The task and goal subscales of the Working Alliance Inventory S...
This study examined Bolivian women’s decisions to stay with or leave their violent partners. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used as the theoretical framework. One hundred thirty-four women were assessed 3 times over 6 months. The TPB constructs were measured at T1 and T2; relationship status was assessed at T3. At T2, attitudes about stay...
Dieses Dokument wurde von der FSP Arbeitsgruppe
Onlineinterventionen, zusammen mit Expertinnen
und Experten aus Wissenschaft, psychotherapeutischer
Praxis und Beratung, erstellt. Die Arbeit der
Gruppe knüpft an die Vorarbeiten der Jahre 2003 und
2006 an, als erste Qualitätskriterien erarbeitet wurden.
Ziel dieses Dokuments ist es, Qualitätsstandard...
Die folgenden Qualitätsstandards für Fachpersonen Beratung sollten von Psychologinnen und Psychologen, die Onlineinterventionen anbieten und durchführen, eingehalten werden. Dieses Dokument wurde von der FSP Arbeitsgruppe Onlineinterventionen, zusammen mit Expertinnen und Experten aus Wissenschaft, psychotherapeutischer Praxis und Beratung, erstell...
Psychologists and psychiatrists providing online interventions must present and apply the following quality standards. This document has been compiled with the FSP working group for online interventions in collaboration with academic experts and experts in psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling. The work this group has been carrying out dr...
Rationale:
The prevalence of common mental disorders (CMDs, i.e., depression and anxiety) worldwide is substantial, and prevalence rates are higher in high-income than in low- and middle-income countries. This difference might reflect both underlying prevalence rates as well as the measurement model used in cross-national epidemiological studies....
The present study examined Chinese students’ personal value orientations according to the Schwartz value theory in comparison with students from Germany and Russia. The theory postulates 10 value orientations grouped into four higher-order factors: conservation versus openness to change and self-transcendence versus self-enhancement. Schwartz’ valu...
Die stetig wachsende kulturelle Diversität und die weltweite Versorgungslücke im Bereich psychischer Gesundheit haben zu einem „Globalisierungs“-Anspruch an die Psychotherapie geführt, weshalb die kulturelle Anpassung von evidenzbasierten Diagnose- und Interventionsverfahren zunehmend an Bedeutung gewinnt. Dieser Beitrag stellt aktuelle Forschungse...
Das klassische Konzept der „sozialen Unterstützung“ wird im Zusammenhang mit traumatisierten Patientengruppen und hier aktuell den traumatisierten Flüchtlingen und Migranten wieder besonders aktuell. Der Beitrag soll wichtige Ergebnisse der Soziale-Unterstützungs-Forschung illustrieren, z. B. die Arten ihrer positiven Wirkung, Kontexte, Geschlechts...
This study examined the circular structure of values in China. The circular structure is a central element of Schwartz value theory and visualises the idea that some values are similar while others conflict with one another. Whereas numerous studies addressed the question whether the circular structure of values can be generalised cross-culturally,...
Background:
Cultural adaptation of mental health care interventions is key, particularly when there is little or no therapist interaction. There is little published information on the methods of adaptation of bibliotherapy and e-mental health interventions.
Objective:
To systematically search for evidence of the effectiveness of minimally guided...
This paper describes the development of a new research project on trauma and posttraumatic growth with a (cross-) cultural psychology focus. Leaving quantitative psychology behind and moving toward a metaphor-analytic methodology presents new opportunities and risks. We are aware that quantitative methodologies and case descriptions are highly prev...
This study examines the role of cognitive distortion in women's decision to stay with or leave their violent partner in a sample of Bolivian women. Our study is based on a consistency model: Cognitive distortion is assumed to play an important role in maintaining cognitive consistency under threatening conditions. Eighty victims of partner violence...
Among the most important innovations within the psychotherapeutic care system are the new opportunities in the field of e-mental health. During the past decade, Internet-based and other e-mental health approaches for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and related stress-associated symptoms have been developed in great variety. Solely I...
Among the most important innovations within the psychotherapeutic care system are the new opportunities in the field of e-mental health. During the past decade, Internet-based and other e-mental health approaches for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and related stress-associated symptoms have been developed in great variety. Solely I...
Between 2004 and 2007, NGOs, community based organisations and private investors promoted jatropha in Kenya with the aim of generating additional income and producing biofuel for rural development. By 2008 it became gradually evident that jatropha plantations (both mono- and intercropping) are uneconomical and risky due to competition for land and...
Objectives:
Systematic reviews on prevalence estimates of child sexual abuse (CSA) worldwide included studies with adult participants referring on a period of abuse of about 50 years. Therefore we aimed to describe the current prevalence of CSA, taking into account geographical region, type of abuse, level of country development and research metho...
There is a growing demand for better understanding of the link between research, policy and practice in development. This article provides findings from a study that aimed to gain insights into how researchers engage with their non-academic partners. It draws on experiences from the National Centre of Competence in Research North–South programme, a...
Recommendations include, first, that plausible
links between researchers and the context in which policy dialogues take place should
be brought into focus. More empirical evidence is necessary to improve understanding
of the relation between researchers’ strategies for interacting with non-academic
partners, on the one hand, and the social and poli...
Projects
Projects (7)
The planned study aims to examine the effectiveness of a newly-developed, culturally-adapted gender-sensitive integrated Community Reinforcement Approach- and CBT-based guided smartphone intervention (called Promoting Recovery in Opioid Maintenance and Psychosocial Treatments; PROMPT) that takes into account common mental health problems in OMT patients in Iran.
To examine whether or not genocide survivors are suffering from historic trauma (new conceptualization) and if succeeding generations are affected by historical trauma transfer.
To contribute to a better understanding of trauma from a culturally sensitive perspective by identifying alternative metaphorical concepts and idioms used to describe extremely aversive experiences and catastrophic events shared within selected cultural groups.
The project was moved into the larger one on Cultural Clinical Psychology at our Lab