Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

David Rentler

Abstract

The use of child soldiers as a weapon of war is a practice that has been condemned by the United Nations but still exists as a common practice in third world countries impacted by ongoing war conflict. When these child soldiers are rescued or able to return home, often their struggles continue and worsen. Social reintegration into the community after witnessing horrific acts of human cruelty can be challenging. Guided by Herman’s theory of stages of healing, the purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental archival study was to examine the effectiveness of By His Wounds: Trauma Healing for Africa, a research-based culturally driven trauma treatment program designed for African culture, being implemented in war-torn areas. Archival data from 66 former child soldiers who completed the treatment program were analyzed using a paired sample t test. Statistically significant results demonstrated that post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, as measured by the Trauma Symptom Checklist-40, decreased between pre- and postintervention on all seven scales of the measure, across all participants. The results of this study confirmed the findings of previous studies that examined the effects of a research-based trauma intervention with former child soldiers. Positive social change implications included the identification of an evidence-based trauma intervention that is effective and low-cost, highlighting a sustainable model of healing that can be used to treat traumatized populations.

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