Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Drama therapy for refugee children

Children of refugees have often suffered from terrible events in their home country and often end up in violent and/or deprived areas when they settle in their new country. A trial on the beneficial effects of drama therapy which aims to help newly-arrived children and adolescents bridge the gap between home and school, past and present, as well as to work through experiences of loss and trauma has produced mixed results. At the end of the nine-week programme the children showed no improvements in self-esteem or emotional and behavioural symptoms but did show 'lower mean levels of impairment by symptoms' than those children in the control group. Strangely they also showed an improved performance in mathematics.

Rousseau, Cecile ... [et al] - Classroom drama therapy program for immigrant and refugee adolescents : a pilot study Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry July 2007, 12(3), 451-465

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