Field Feasibility and Acceptability Testing of Action-Based Psychosocial Reconciliation Approach in a Post-Genocide Rural Community in Rwanda

Field Feasibility and Acceptability Testing of Action-Based Psychosocial Reconciliation Approach in a Post-Genocide Rural Community in Rwanda: A Study Protocol Masahiro Minami1 1 * Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 250-13450 102 Avenue, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada V3T 0A3 ABSTRACT Background: Interpersonal/psychosocial reconciliation is highly prioritized in post-Genocide Rwanda. Despite the need, empirically sound strategies have been extremely scarce. The proposed study is a segment of a broader services-research effort to develop, evaluate, and implement a novel and empirically supported interpersonal/psychosocial reconciliation approach termed Action-Based Psychosocial Reconciliation Approach (ABPRA), that is authentically founded on Rwandan people’s lived experiences of reconciliation. Methods/Design: The proposed study consists of two major steps. The purpose of step 1 is to develop and empirically validate a set of outcome measures, termed the psychosocial reconciliation impact scales module (PRISM) to assess beneficial impacts native to ABPRA. We will employ hermeneutic phenomenological analysis (van Manen, 2016) of pilot interview data to generate item pool. The purpose of step 2 is to field-test the delivery of ABPRA in Rwanda to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention, exploring and illuminating potential procedural uncertainties in conducting a larger-scale evaluation of ABPRA. We will follow the guidance on pilot study by Thabane et al. (2010). Discussion: The study is an essential step to advance the project to a full-scale experimental evaluation of ABPRA. The project holds the possibility of making available and accessible, an empirically supported and meaningful approach to conflict resolution, genocide/war prevention and peacebuilding in Rwanda and other war/conflict-affected regions around the globe. Keywords: psychosocial reconciliation, feasibility and piloting, Morita therapy, contact theory, the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi * Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Masahiro Minami, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 250-13450 102 Avenue, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada V3T 0A3. Email: Social Science Protocols, February 2021, 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.7565/ssp.v4.5199 1 1. Background 1.1 Study context and background In April of 1994, the Genocide against the Tutsi took place in Rwanda. UNICEF (Chauvin, Mugaji, & Comlavi, 1998; Dyregrov, Gupta, Gjestad, & Mukanoheli, 2000) reported that between April and July, approximately 800,000 to 1 million people of Tutsi ethnic background were systematically murdered by Hutu extremists, the Interahamwe. Subsequently, in 2003, a presidential decree was released to pardon and reintegrate genocide perpetrators/prisoners back into their community. The 1994 Genocide was characterized as an “intimate genocide” in which families, relatives, friends, and neighbours sharing the same village/community turned to kill each other (Staub, Pearlman, Gubin, & Hagengimana, 2005). The 2003 release of prisoners led to the rare circumstance (in the context of post-war restitution) in which genocide survivors would have to live ‘side by side’ with the returning perpetrators to share the same home community (McGarty, 2014). Interpersonal/psychosocial reconciliation for groups and individuals is highly prioritized, promoted, and urged as a way of achieving conflict resolution, prevention, and peacebuilding in rural communities in Rwanda today (National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, 2020). Despite the grave need, available research-informed strategies to foster interpersonal/psychosocial reconciliation have been extremely scarce. Among the very few is the seminal work undertaken by Drs. Staub and Perlman, employing a theory-driven approach to promote healing, unity, and reconciliation in Rwanda (Staub et al., 2005). Due to its methodological limitations in an experimental design, their studies left unanswered other research questions that could advance the field of interpersonal/psychosocial reconciliation and the effectiveness of currently available approaches: What is the nature and process of interpersonal reconciliation as experienced by the very survivors and perpetrators in Rwanda? What may be critically missing is our understanding of the very lived experiences of people in the process of reconciliation today and a reconciliation approach that is founded on these authentic experiences. The proposed study is a segment of a broader services-research project that has been undertaken by the PI since 2011 in Rwanda. The goal of the project is to develop and make available a research-informed interpersonal/psychosocial reconciliation approach closely founded on Rwandan people’s lived experiences of reconciliation to nurture authentic reconciliation, recovery, and growth in rural villages of Rwanda. In terms of scholarship, the proposed study is situated in the broader areas of (a) post-war/conflict psychosocial development strategies, (b) interpersonal and psychosocial reconciliation process and outcome, (c) peace and conflict studies, (d) war/conflict/genocide prevention, (e) forgiveness, (f) restorative justice and reparation approaches, (g) intergroup contact theory, (h) attitude and attitude change, (i) mental health services-research, and (j) implementation science. The project as a whole, is an application of mental health services research and implementation science strategies to aid postconflict/war reconciliation and psychosocial development. 1.2 Development of Action-Based Psychosocial Reconciliation Approach (ABPRA) ABPRA (Minami, 2020) is a research-informed and practical approach developed by conducting a series of narrative literature reviews to model and empirically support micromechanisms facilitative of healing and reconciliation among conflicting parties. Healing mechanisms are grounded in the therapeutic principles of Japanese Morita therapy (Morita, Social Science Protocols, February 2021, 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.7565/ssp.v4.5199 2 1974). Seminal works in the area of post-conflict reconciliation suggested that the essence of reconciliation is in a mutual attitude change (Bar-Tal, 2000; Staub, 2008; Staub et al., 2005). Therefore, mechanisms facilitative of positive attitude change between conflicting parties are also architected in the ABPRA and founded on principles of intergroup contact theory (Allport, 1954; Amir, 1969; Brewer & Kramer, 1985; Pettigrew, 1997, 1998; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). Harmonised together, ABPRA is a practical synthesis and translation of Japanese Morita therapy and intergroup contact theory into an interpersonal reconciliation approach. ABPRA (Minami, 2020) was developed as an alternative approach to forgiveness (Hamber, 2007; Worthington, 2005, 2006) -based reconciliation counselling (FBRC) – popularly practised in post-genocide Rwandan villages (Hinson, 2009). In the forgiveness-base (...truncated)