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Report on the proceedings of the conference by Honnête KASALI at the Panzi Foundation.

Mr. Honnête KASALI presented his research "Traumatic Exposure and Psychopathological Disorders in Explaining the Cognitive Functioning of Survivors of Rape and Sexual Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo" at the ICART Scientific Conference - Panzi Foundation.

Abstract

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, wars and successive armed conflicts are decried on a daily basis (Baraka Akilimali, 2018). In the eastern part of the country, the situation has persisted for over 30 years now. There are multiple consequences, including rapes used as a weapon of war and a means of domination. As a traumatic event, the repercussions of rape on the mental health of victims are well documented (Mukwege & Nangini, 2009). Psychopathological disorders have been reported by authors on this subject (Maisha, 2016; Mukwege & Nangini, 2009). Studies on the effects of traumatic exposure in general also document cognitive repercussions (Scott et al., 2015). However, there is little research on the relation to sexual violence, especially not in eastern DRC where no study on the cognitive impact of traumatic exposure in general and rape in particular is documented in the current literature. The main objective of this study was to investigate this question among a specific target population, women survivors of rape in eastern DRC. In a quasi-experimental design with two time points, we conducted two experiments with 313 participants (T1) and 142 participants (T2, six months after T1) recruited from the Panzi Foundation and the city of Bukavu. Participants were subjected to assessment of traumatic exposure, psychopathology (post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety), as well as cognitive functioning (working memory, attention, and inhibition). The results of this study show that traumatic exposure impacts cognitive functioning and that rape has a specific traumatic power compared to other traumatic events, especially when psychopathology occurs following traumatic exposure. This can have consequences on the daily functioning of women and could be taken into account in interventions. Also, the results of the study show that there was a significant improvement in psychopathological symptoms between T1 and T2 of our experiment. This had a positive effect on the cognitive functioning of survivors. However, the results of this study do not allow us to determine if this improvement in psychopathology and cognitive functioning is due to the care received because no significant difference was found between survivors who received care and those who did not between T1 and T2.

Speaker:

NYANDU KASALI Honnête is a clinical psychologist, psychopathologist, and political scientist. He is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Psychological and Educational Sciences at the University of the Great Lakes (ULPGL-Goma) and is currently a PhD student in Psychology at the School of Psychology at Université Laval in Canada since 2021.

Supervisory Team:

1. Madame Isabelle Blanchette University Professor Université Laval (Thesis Director)

2. Monsieur Serge Caparos University Professor Université Paris 8 (Thesis Co-director)

Target Audience for the Presentation:

Any researcher or practitioner interested in the psychological consequences of sexual violence within the Panzi Foundation, Panzi Hospital, the Mukwege Chair, and the Denis Mukwege Center of Excellence (CEDM).

Objective:

To share knowledge, discuss the results of this research before publication, and consider new perspectives for training, intervention, and research.

Conference Proceedings:

The conference was chaired by Madame Director of the International Center for Advanced Research and Training (ICART), Professor Marie Hatem from the University of Montreal. According to the attached presentation document, the speaker gave a presentation of about 45 minutes. The purpose was to briefly present his doctoral research project, the preliminary results of the data analysis collected at the foundation and Panzi Hospital in collaboration with ICART. This was followed by a lively debate between the speaker and the participants moderated by Professor Marie Hatem for about an hour. It should be noted that the conference was attended by Madame Miracle Sambu Zawadi, local coordinator of the Psycavi observatory in Bukavu; as well as Mr. Sammuel Kasereka Musisiva, a doctoral student at the University of Liège conducting research at Panzi Hospital and colleague of Honnête Nyandu Kasali at the University of the Great Lakes (ULPGL-Goma). Other participants included psychologists, healthcare and administrative personnel from the Foundation and Panzi Hospital, mainly ICART members undergoing research methodology training.

All participants had a particular interest in the presentation, which was evident from the flurry of questions and observations, the main ones being:

- The precision of the selection criteria for participants (inclusion and exclusion)
- Biases in participant selection and categorization to anticipate to avoid influencing results
- Ethical procedures
- Presentation of graphs with all necessary information to facilitate understanding for absent readers of the presentation
- Describing all evaluated variables
- Presenting the statistical analyses conducted
- Correct use of the concept of "experimentation"
- Presenting hypotheses and explanatory theories
- The need to include minor girls in the study
- Softening the conclusion considering different participant selection biases

From all these questions and observations, the speaker made it clear that several elements of the research protocol had not been presented, and that some details had been overlooked to save time by focusing directly on the results that need to be discussed before various publications. Regarding possible biases, one clear observation emerged. It is noted that the analyses suggest that participants who reported receiving no form of care significantly improved in psychopathology and cognitive functioning compared to those who received care between T1 and T2. This conclusion seems statistically logical but could be discussed because several participants who reported being rape victims at time 1 had already been discharged from care facilities. As the literature shows that the effects of care are either immediate but especially deferred, this improvement could be attributed to the effects of care prior to our study, which requires additional statistical analyses as data on this subject were collected. The second proposal considered valid was to limit the results to studying the psychopathological and cognitive impact of rape and its evolution over time without commenting on the quality of care because there was no cohort study.

Conclusion:

To conclude the conference, Professor Marie Hatem congratulated PhD candidate Honnête Nyandu Kasali for the efforts made to carry out his study to completion. She also praised him for his open-mindedness in wanting to receive a second look at his study. She then expressed the wish to see Honnête Kasali continue to collaborate with ICART and contribute to the emergence of this center to promote scientific research and its development in the Great Lakes region. For his part, PhD candidate Honnête Kasali thanked the Foundation and Panzi Hospital for the special interest they accord to scientific research, without which practice remains blind. He expressed the wish to see an ICART member intervene in the writing of scientific articles resulting from his research project as a co-author. This request was warmly received by all participants.

Proposal:

Organize the same conference in Goma to have a critical view from academics (lecturers and students) and mental health professionals (psychologists and neuro-psychiatrists) who are neutral (unrelated to the data collection environment); the objective being to share knowledge and validate or challenge our approach to the problem under study and the analyses.

 

Honnête KASALI presents his research
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