Rethinking mental health care provided to migrants and refugees; a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of Value Based Counseling, a culturally sensitive, strength-based psychological intervention.

Background: Despite traumatic experiences and persistent psychosocial stressors, many refugees and migrants display resilience and strength in the midst and aftermath of hardships. 'Value Based Counseling' (VBC), a low-threshold, short-term and culturally sensitive psychological intervention avoids the stigmatization and pathologization of mental health problems, and, in line with latest research calling for a rethink of mental health care for migrants and refugees, focusses on the resilience and resources of clients.

Method: This pragmatic, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial employed a pre-post control group design to assess the effectiveness of VBC in the development of psychological assets.

New directions in the mental health care of migrants, including refugees-A randomized controlled trial investigating the efficacy of value-based counselling.

Objective: Specialized literature has identified a need for evidence-based, low-threshold, short-term, and intracultural psychological interventions that can be made available to migrants, including refugees, who suffer from psychological symptoms in host countries. The objective of the present study is to measure the efficacy of value-based counselling (VBC) as such an intervention.

Method: We conducted a pragmatic, rater-blinded randomized controlled trial employing a pre-post control group design to assess the efficacy of VBC based on a study sample of 103 migrants, including refugees, who resided in Germany at the time.