Victims of affected communities’ experiences of a legal education plus trauma-informed therapy compared to a media orientation intervention to improve reintegration of former Boko Haram members in Nigeria: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Reintegrating former Boko Haram members and their families remains a crucial issue due to the affected communities' resistance to their reintegration and stigma. This article is the first to adopt an interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine affected communities and victims' experiences of a legal education plus trauma-informed therapy (LETIT) compared to media orientation (MO) in encouraging their attitude towards the positive reintegration of former deradicalised Boko Haram members. N = 6 focus groups comprising 24 participants in each state and split evenly across the experimental (LETIT) and MO groups, including 36 individual interviews were conducted with participants recruited from Borno, Adamawa, and Plateau states. The study found that poor experiences and resentment constitute barriers to reintegration and that involvement in the LETIT reintegration program reinforces a mixed transition in attitude towards reintegration as participants in the LETIT programme demonstrated more willingness to accept former Boko Haram members back compared to those in the media orientation group. Thus, highlighting the positive benefits of the programme. The findings have significant policy implications as they underscore the importance of community involvement in the design of reintegration programmes alongside addressing the affected victims' needs, such as trauma and awareness of legal support channels to encourage positive reintegration.