Dunnewold, A.L. · Current Research in Psychology · 2014
TFT has been shown to reduce PTS symptoms with trauma survivors in four related studies in Africa, including two RCTs in Rwanda (2008, 2009) and preparation of a third RCT in Uganda, using community-leader-facilitated TFT.
If this pattern across multiple African trauma studies keeps replicating, picture a community devastated by genocide or mass violence, where a small number of briefly trained local leaders could teach survivors a technique those survivors then go on administering to themselves for free, an approach that scales in places where importing outside clinicians isn't realistic. That kind of scalability could matter enormously in future humanitarian crises.
Building on these four community-based studies in Rwanda and Uganda, a valuable next step would be a larger multi-site trial across additional post-conflict settings that adds cortisol or heart rate variability measurement to standard PTS symptom scales, to see whether community-leader-delivered TFT produces measurable physiological recovery in mass-trauma survivors, not just reported symptom relief. Tracking how well briefly trained local leaders retain fidelity to the protocol over time would also help refine scalable training models for future humanitarian crises.
| Design | Review |
|---|---|
| Participants | 4 studies pooled |
| Population | orphaned Rwandan adolescents and adult genocide survivors, plus a Ugandan trauma population, across four studies |
| Comparison group | community-leader-administered TFT vs comparison/control groups within each study |
| Outcome measures | PTS symptom measures across the four described studies |
| Journal | Current Research in Psychology |
| Year | 2014 |
| Country | Rwanda, Uganda |
| Language | English |
| Method | Thought Field Therapy (related Tapping method) |
| Publication type | Study / trial |
| Verification | ✓ Confirmed against the primary source |
Dunnewold, A.L. (2014). Thought field therapy efficacy following large scale traumatic events: Description of four studies. Current Research in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3844/crpsp.2014.34.39
This record is part of the Tapping Evidence Base — an openly-sourced, fully-referenced directory of the research on EFT/Tapping. Explore more studies on PTSD & Trauma · Other Physical Conditions
A ready-made graphic — right-click or long-press to save the image.