186 SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE individual with a score of less than 7/20 was included in order to make up the numbers, but this individual nonetheless had a clear history of organized violence and torture.c No individual was excluded due to disability, and all individuals that showed serious physical disability or psychiatric disorder were referred subsequently to a rehabilitation centre that specializes in trauma disorders. 110 individuals were assessed initially, but only 74 finally attended a workshop. Seven workshops were held overall. It was intended that pre and post workshop SRQ20 scores would be collected in order to provide a measure of the success of the workshop. Unfortunately, due to the extreme mobility of the participants, many were in hiding or were subsequently forced to move, complete follow-up was only possible for 33 participants. The post workshop test with the SRQ-20 was intended to be carried out two months after the workshop. However, difficulties in the follow-up meant that some were assessed later than this, and, as indicated above, was not possible for some. The timing of the follow-up was set at two months, rather than at the end of the workshop, in order to assess possible changes more accurately, and to avoid any kind of halo effect from the workshop. T O R T U R E Vol um e 1 9 , N um be r 3 , 20 0 9 Participants These workshops were mainly conducted with victims from Mashonaland West, one of the areas that experienced terrible violence between 2000 and 2003. The participants were either opposition supporters, opposition office bearers, or had family members who are office bearers of the opposition. This was the reason why they were targeted. The attacks were allegedly carried out by either state officials – the police, central intelligence officers, army, or by state-sponsored proxy groups – war veterans, youth militia, and Zanu PF party supporters. There were many instances of severe beatings, falanga, sexual abuse (of both men and women), rape, arson, and property destruction. The groups were all mixed by gender – X males and Y females. The facilitators The three facilitators were previously trained in the methodology and were all experienced. All were survivors themselves, and had participated in the first Tree of Life workshops run in Zimbabwe during 2004. They ran the workshop in pairs, with the two male facilitators alternating with the one female facilitator, so that there was always a gender balance. The facilitators were supervised by the person who originated the Tree of Life process [BR], and met after each workshop to both de-brief and assess the workshop. Results Two sets of data were available for evaluating the success of the Tree of Life workshops. The first set was the data derived from the evaluations made by the participants after each workshop. A feedback questionnaire was given to each participant at the end of the workshop, which was completed anonymously. The questionnaire was comprised of both structured and open-ended questions, and this was entered on a purpose-built data base. The open-ended questions were then assessed independently by two assessors using a simple coding system (“positive response” or “negative response”9 and inter-rater reliability was calculated. This gave an inter-rater reliability on the openended questions of 96%, which was highly satisfactory. Evaluation of the workshop process A total of 73 persons attended seven work-