Cet article présente un dispositif de soins psychologiques pour les enfants exposés aux traumatismes de guerre.

Les enfants exposés aux événements traumatiques en Centrafrique. L’âge est compris entre 6 et 16 ans.

Les enfants ont participé à un dispositif de prise en charge psychologique sur cinq sessions avec une cadence hebdomadaire. Ce dispositif a été créé pour pouvoir permettre à une équipe de non-professionnels de la santé mentale de garantir un projet thérapeutique finalisé visant à réduire la symptomatologie traumatique des enfants en contexte humanitaire.

Six cent soixante-quatorze enfants (410 filles et 264 garçons) ont participé au dispositif de prise en charge groupale. À l’admission dans le programme, 69 % des enfants montraient un niveau de traumatisme très élevé (CPTS-RI : M=41,64 ; ET=10,12). Après cinq semaines d’intervention, les enfants ont pu réduire considérablement leurs symptômes traumatiques (p<0,001).

Le dispositif proposé en Centrafrique a montré sa contribution dans la réduction des symptômes liés à l’exposition traumatique. Les sujets évoqués par les planches ont permis aux enfants de penser, nommer et contextualiser temporellement l’événement traumatique afin de leur permettre une réélaboration du passé et une projection dans le futur. Les enfants ont aussi pu identifier les ressources internes et externes qui pourront les aider à surmonter les moments difficiles.

This article presents a psychological care device for children exposed to war trauma.

Children exposed to traumatic events in the Central African Republic. The age is between 6 and 16 years old.

The children were recruited during a psychoeducation session organized in the community. Following this, the children responding to the inclusion criteria participated in a psychological care device of five sessions on a weekly basis. This device was created to allow a team of non-professionals of mental health to guarantee a therapeutic project finalized to reduce the traumatic symptomatology of the children in a humanitarian context. Each session was organized in two parts. In the first part, the psychosocial worker, using a card representing a fictional character, encouraged children to speak about a subject. After this discussion, children were invited to draw a picture by following instructions related to the card observed and then to share their drawing with the group. The topics discussed in the sessions led children to rethink life before the war, to discuss difficult times during the war, and to imagine a future after the war.

Six hundred and seventy-four children (410 girls and 264 boys) participated in the group psychological device. At the time of admission to the program 69% of children showed a very high level of trauma (CPTS-RI: M=41.64, SD=10.12). After five weeks of intervention, children were able to significantly reduce their traumatic symptoms (P<0.001).

The proposed device in the Central African Republic contributed to reducing symptoms related to traumatic exposure. The subjects evoked by the cards allowed the children to think, nominate and temporally contextualize the traumatic event in order to allow them a re-elaboration of the past and a projection in the future. The children were also able to identify the internal and external resources that can help them overcome difficult times.

In humanitarian contexts children may be affected by several traumatic events, and the means in terms of skilled human resources to cope with children's mental suffering may be very limited. The device presented in this article has been shown to be very effective in reducing the traumatic symptoms of children in a humanitarian context with the support of staff without a specific technical background in mental health.