Boosting Refugee Integration Through Psychological Intervention

Change in psychological distress will be measured with the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25). Items are rated on a scale from 1 to 4. Higher scores indicate more pronounced symptom severity.

Change in psychological distress will be measured with the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25). Items are rated on a scale from 1 to 4. Higher scores indicate more pronounced symptom severity.

Change in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms will be assessed using the 4-item short form of the PCL-5. Items are rated on a scale from 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating more pronounced symptom severity.

General psychological distress will be measured with the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), a brief screening questionnaire assessing general psychological distress in the past 30 days. It consists of ten items (e.g., "During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel tired out for no good reason?") rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = "none of the time" to 5 = "all of the time"), before summation (range 10-50).

Somatic symptoms will be assessed using the Somatic Symptom Scale (SSS-8). Items are rated on a scale from 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating higher symptom severity.

Changes in post-migration stressors will be assessed using a 9-item version of the Post Migration Living Difficulties Checklist (PMLDC). Items are rated on a scale from 0 to 4 with lower scores representing fewer post-migration stressors.

Exposure to potentially traumatic events is indexed using a list of seven traumatic experiences. Overall trauma exposure is represented by a count of the number of traumatic event types (ranging from 0 to 7) experienced by each participant; higher scores indicate experience of more forms of traumatic events.

Level of integration will be measured using the Immigration Policy Lab Integration Index (IPL-24).

Suicidal Ideation is measured using the Suicidal Ideation Attribution Scale (SIDAS), a brief measure of severity of suicidal ideation assessing frequency, controllability, closeness to attempt, level of distress associated with the thoughts and impact on daily functioning. It consists of five items rated on a 11-point scale (0 = "Never" to 10 = "Always").

Self-efficacy is assessed using a subscale of the Compound Psychological Capital Scale (CPS). This subscale consists of three items (e.g., "I can solve most problems if I invest the necessary effort") of the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE). Each item is rated on a 6-point Likert type scale ranging from 1 = "strongly disagree" to 6 = "strongly agree".

Prolonged Grief will be assessed using a slightly adapted version of the Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale (PG-13). The items are rated on a scale from 1 to 5 with higher scores more pronounced symptom severity.

The outcome is measured with a nine-item scale that was developed to assess the extent to which the participants perceives that they use the specific strategies, which are trained during the study intervention. The items are rated on a scale from 0 to 4. Higher scores represent greater usage of the strategies.

Anger will be assessed using the Dimensions of Anger Reactions Questionnaire (DAR-5). The 5 items are rated on scale from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating worse symptomatology.

Time and risk preferences are assessed using five questions of the Global Preference Survey (GPS), an experimentally validated survey measure. It consists of one self-assessment question (rated on a scale from 0 to 10 with higher scores indicating a greater preference) and a 4-item series of interdependent binary choices between immediate and delayed financial rewards, a format commonly referred to as a "staircase" procedure. In each of the binary choice question, participants must decide between receiving a payment today or a larger payment in twelve months (time preference) or between a sure choice and a lottery (risk preference).

Participants will also be asked about current life stressors and how they cope with these stressors. Analyses will be conducted to calculate facial actions, acoustic quality, and speech content using the OpenDBM software.

To assess counterfactual comparisons regarding well-being, two items of the Comparison Standards Scale for Well-being (CSS-W) will be used. The two items of the CSS-W ask about frequency of well-being comparisons in the past three weeks on six-point Likert scales (0 = not at all to 5 = very often).

Investigators will complement the self-reported survey-based health measures with register data from the major health insurance providers in Switzerland covering the RAS population to explore the use and involved costs of health care services and medications.

To explore the consequences of the length of the asylum process on mental health outcomes (and the potential of PM+ to alleviate them), register information on the length of the asylum process, defined as the days between the submission of the asylum application and the date of the (initial) decision by the State Secretariat of Migration (SEM), will be used.

To assess labour market integration investigators will leverage data from the AHV-insurance to obtain information on participants' employment, considered a sign of successful integration in the labour market. The data indicates periods of employment and levels of earnings for each individual working in Switzerland.

To assess the impact of residence status, population and household data will be obtained which records movements within Switzerland, individuals' resident status and changes of the latter. They are important factors impacting mental health and integration that need to be included in the analysis.

The impact of cantonal regulations will be assessed using register data which provides up to date information on cantonal variation regulating labour market access, including length of the initial employment bans, occupational and mobility restrictions.

To assess integration of RAS population, population and household data will be used. This database provides indicators of integration, including marriages between foreign and Swiss residents, and naturalization, which complements the study's integration outcomes with more accurate measures, as compared to the self-reported data.