TY - JOUR
T1 - The Danish Trauma Database for Refugees (DTD)
T2 - A Multicenter Database Collaboration—Overcoming the Challenges and Enhancing Mental Health Treatment and Research for Refugees
AU - Thøgersen, Marie Høgh
AU - Bager, Line
AU - Bangsgaard, Sofie Grimshave
AU - Palic, Sabina
AU - Auning-Hansen, Mikkel
AU - Møller, Stine Bjerrum
AU - Larsen, Kirstine Bruun
AU - Tækker, Louise
AU - Jensen, Bo Søndergaard
AU - Bothe, Søren
AU - Nordin, Linda
PY - 2023/8
Y1 - 2023/8
N2 - Mental health of trauma-affected refugees is an understudied area, resulting in inadequate and poorer treatment outcomes. To address this, more high-quality treatment studies that include predictive analyses, long-term evaluations, cultural adaptations, and take account for comorbidities, are needed. Moreover, given the complex intertwining of refugees’ health with post-migration stressors and other social factors, it is crucial to examine the social determinants of refugee mental health. The Danish Trauma Database for Refugees (DTD) is a multicenter research database uniting six national centers that provide outpatient treatment for trauma-affected refugees. Through the database, we collect clinical and sociodemographic data from approximately 1200 refugees annually and will merge the database with Danish population register data. The purpose of the DTD is two-fold; clinical and research. The DTD offers data-driven guidance for routine clinical treatment planning of the individual patient, as well as exceptional research opportunities for testing treatment interventions in clinical settings, with larger sample sizes, and more representative heterogeneity of the population. Complex analyses of risk and protective factors, barriers, access to treatment, and societal and transgenerational aspects of trauma are possible with the DTD. This conceptual paper introduces the DTD, the historical background, the development process and implementation strategy, and the associated challenges with developing and running a multicenter database. Most importantly, it highlights the clinical and research potential of the DTD for advancing the understanding and treatment of trauma-affected refugees.
AB - Mental health of trauma-affected refugees is an understudied area, resulting in inadequate and poorer treatment outcomes. To address this, more high-quality treatment studies that include predictive analyses, long-term evaluations, cultural adaptations, and take account for comorbidities, are needed. Moreover, given the complex intertwining of refugees’ health with post-migration stressors and other social factors, it is crucial to examine the social determinants of refugee mental health. The Danish Trauma Database for Refugees (DTD) is a multicenter research database uniting six national centers that provide outpatient treatment for trauma-affected refugees. Through the database, we collect clinical and sociodemographic data from approximately 1200 refugees annually and will merge the database with Danish population register data. The purpose of the DTD is two-fold; clinical and research. The DTD offers data-driven guidance for routine clinical treatment planning of the individual patient, as well as exceptional research opportunities for testing treatment interventions in clinical settings, with larger sample sizes, and more representative heterogeneity of the population. Complex analyses of risk and protective factors, barriers, access to treatment, and societal and transgenerational aspects of trauma are possible with the DTD. This conceptual paper introduces the DTD, the historical background, the development process and implementation strategy, and the associated challenges with developing and running a multicenter database. Most importantly, it highlights the clinical and research potential of the DTD for advancing the understanding and treatment of trauma-affected refugees.
KW - database
KW - DTD
KW - migration
KW - multicenter research
KW - PTSD
KW - refugees
KW - trauma
KW - treatment
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph20166611
DO - 10.3390/ijerph20166611
M3 - Article
C2 - 37623194
AN - SCOPUS:85168694928
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 20
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 16
M1 - 6611
ER -