Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38736135›Full record

Trial reportThe British journal of clinical psychology2025

Improving access to psychological intervention in low-middle income settings: Results from a waitlist-controlled, proof-of-concept trial of the MemFlex intervention for trauma-exposed Afghan youth.

Vida Mirabolfathi, Mohammad H Choobin, Ali Reza Moradi, Fatemeh Sanambari, Shahryar Naeini, Mohamad Mahdavi, Caitlin Hitchcock

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in The British journal of clinical psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Vida MirabolfathiDepartment of Cognitive Psychology, Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran.
Mohammad H ChoobinDepartment of Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran.
Ali Reza MoradiDepartment of Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
Fatemeh SanambariDepartment of Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.
Shahryar NaeiniQueen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Mohamad MahdaviDepartment of Cognitive Psychology, Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran.
Caitlin HitchcockMelbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2435-0713

Funding

Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) 96005280
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLow-intensity interventions targeting a range of mental health issues offer a scalable approach for young trauma survivors in low-middle income countries.

aimsHere, we present results from a proof-of-concept, randomized, waitlist-controlled trial evaluating MemFlex, an autobiographical memory-based intervention, for trauma-exposed Afghan youth residing in Iran. MemFlex seeks to reduce the negative and overgeneral memory biases which maintain and predict poor mental health. MATERIALS AND

methodsYoung people aged 12-18 years (N = 40) with parents who had experienced forced migration from Afghanistan were recruited from high schools in Karaj City in Iran. All had experienced a traumatic event in the last year. Participants were randomized to receive four weeks of a group-based delivery of MemFlex or Waitlist. Our primary cognitive outcome was autobiographical memory flexibility, that is, the ability to deliberately retrieve any memory type on demand. Primary clinical outcome was emotional distress, measured on the Farsi version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist.

resultsResults indicated that MemFlex participants demonstrated large effect sizes for pre-to-post improvement in memory flexibility (d = 2.04) and emotional distress (d = 1.23). These improvements were significantly larger than Waitlist (ds < .49), and were maintained at three-month follow-up. DISCUSSION: Positive benefits were observed for completion of MemFlex, and future comparison against an active intervention appears warranted.

conclusionFurther evaluation of MemFlex in this context may offer a low-cost, and low-resource intervention to improve access to psychological intervention for young migrants in low-middle income countries.

Indexed as

Health Services AccessibilityMemory, EpisodicPsychological DistressPsychological TraumaPsychosocial InterventionStress Disorders, Post-TraumaticAdolescentAfghanistanChildFemaleHumansIranMaleProof of Concept Studyautobiographical memorycross‐culturalprevention/early interventionpsychological factors/processespsychological interventionsrandomised controlledtrialsyoung adult/adolescent

Identifiers

PMID38736135
PMCPMC11797149

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.