Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Jul 25, 2025
Date Accepted: Nov 27, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Evaluating a Culturally Tailored Digital Storytelling Intervention to Improve Trauma Awareness in Conflict-Affected Eastern Congo: A Quasi-Experimental Pilot Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is highly prevalent in conflict-affected regions like eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), yet cultural stigma and lack of psychoeducation limit public understanding and help-seeking behaviors.
Objective:
This study evaluates the effect of a short, culturally adapted animated video on mental health perception, knowledge, and attitudes toward trauma.
Methods:
A community-based quasi-experimental pre-post design was implemented among 239 participants from South Kivu. The intervention involved viewing a 3-minute animated psychoeducational video portraying locally relevant PTSD symptoms and resilience strategies. Perception, knowledge, and attitude scores were measured before and after the intervention, alongside PTSD prevalence and video appreciation.
Results:
Forty percent of the participants screened positively for PTSD. Post-intervention, significant improvements were observed in perception (P = 0.01), knowledge (P < 0.001), and attitudes (p = 0.001) toward trauma. Appreciation was high: 82% expressed empathy for the characters, and 74% were likely to share the video. Linear regression showed that having PTSD symptoms (β = 3.29, P = 0.003), years of education (β = 0.54, P < 0.001), empathy toward the portrayed situations (β = 5.07, P < 0.001), perceived acquisition of new knowledge (β = 2.58, P < 0.001) and willingness to share the video (β = 1.75, P = 0.001) predicted stronger positive effect. A multiple linear regression including all predictors revealed that PTSD symptoms (β = 1.93, P = 0.034), years of education (β = 0.47, P < 0.001), empathy toward the portrayed situations (β = 3.50, P < 0.001), and willingness to share the video (β = 1.75, p = 0.001) remained significant predictors of video impact. Age and perceived acquisition of new knowledge were not significant in the multivariate model. This model accounted for 44.6% of the variance in video impact scores (R² = 0.446, F(6, 231) = 30.99, P < 0.001).
Conclusions:
This study highlights the effectiveness of culturally grounded, low-cost digital media for improving mental health literacy in post-conflict settings. Video-based tools may serve as scalable components of trauma-informed care and public health communication in low-resource, high-need areas.
Citation
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