Sozialwesen (SW)
Approximately 300,000 asylum-seeking children arrived in Europe in 2015. The chance of experiencing a traumatic event is very high for fleeing children. Since the origin of the refugees is widespread, the languages spoken are diverse. Multilingual electronic patient-reported outcome systems (ePROs) can be used to gather medical data in a foreign language and display the results in the health professionals' language, which helps overcoming the language barrier. Utilizing such a system, a two-phase study aiming to screen refugee minors for potential mental health issues has started. Potential eligible participants are examined using questionnaires with good psychometric properties and cross-cultural applicability. To date, 75 minors and 21 of their relatives participated in the study, being German and Arabic the most desired languages for the electronic survey. Developing a system that provides multilingual questionnaires entails several drawbacks like a cumbersome translation process and dealing with writing directions. The proposed translation process and the ePRO can be re-used in similar studies.
OBJECTIVE Parental physical disease is a family issue, but families' minor children are seldom considered. The current study analyzed experiences with implementation of counseling for families with physically ill parents and minor children during a European multisite pilot project. METHOD Implementation protocols of seven European partner centers collaborating in a joint research project were analyzed by Mayring's qualitative content analysis. Both an inductive approach and a deductive approach were chosen. Satisfaction of families and therapists was considered based on information from three partner centers. RESULTS Satisfaction with counseling was rather high. Mentioned problems referred to aspects related to liaison partners, family-related aspects and physicians' concerns. Recommendations related to contacting families, liaising with other professions, implementing counseling together with a research project, and training. Results are integrated in the current dissemination literature. CONCLUSION Successful implementation was mostly determined by aspects of interdisciplinary cooperation and communication, perceived relative advantage and organizational premises. With regard to this kind of innovative child-centered family mental health services, top-down and bottom-up implementation strategies should be combined, and strategies of maintenance and sustainability should be considered from the very beginning.