Intervention effectiveness following gender-based violence and forced migration: A critical systematic literature review and synthesis of qualitative studies from the voice of the client

Aim. This systematic review aims to understand effective therapeutic interventions from the voice of the client; female forced migrants, post-migration who have endured and survived gender-based violence. Background. Professionals are implementing therapeutic interventions for this population whose experiences convey both vulnerabilities and resiliencies, yet a common understanding of what effective interventions are has not yet been established in the literature. Design. Systematic narrative review and synthesis of literature. Data sources. Electronic database search sources included ScienceDirect, SAGE, PubMed, and Scopus. Professionals in the field, think tanks, and research organizations were also consulted to locate texts which could contribute to the review. Review methods. A systematic narrative review and synthesis was undertaken including academic and grey literature. To begin, general search terms were used to include all relevant texts. The selection of final literature was then narrowed by defining inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results. A total of nine texts were identified for the final synthesis of findings. The representation of women the studies focused on was narrow. However, four core themes were identified: professional preparedness and perspective, intentional progression of therapeutic themes, interprofessional collaboration and referrals, and culturally-informed therapy. Conclusion. Four core themes describing effective interventions for female forced migrants who are victim/survivors of gender-based violence have emerged from current gray and academic literature. These themes may impact the effectiveness of implementing programs and therapeutic interventions for clients within this population in the future