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Title Trauma, poverty and mental health among Somali and Rwandese refugees living in an African refugee settlement - an epidemiological study
Full text http://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/publication/1783176; https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=1783176&fileOId=2314134
Date 2009
Author(s) Onyut, Lamaro P.; Neuner, Frank; Ertl, Verena; Schauer, Elisabeth; Odenwald, Michael; Elbert, Thomas
Abstract Background: The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression among Rwandese and Somali refugees resident in a Ugandan refugee settlement, as a measure of the mental health consequences of armed conflict, as well as to inform a subsequent mental health outreach program. The study population comprised a sample from 14400 (n = 519 Somali and n = 906 Rwandese) refugees resident in Nakivale refugee settlement in South Western Uganda during the year 2003. Methods: The Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS) and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist 25 were used to screen for posttraumatic stress disorder and depression. Results: Thirty two percent of the Rwandese and 48.1% of the Somali refugees were found to suffer from PTSD. The Somalis refugees had a mean of 11.95 (SD = 6.17) separate traumatic event types while the Rwandese had 8.86 (SD = 5.05). The Somalis scored a mean sum score of 21.17 (SD = 16.19) on the PDS while the Rwandese had a mean sum score of 10.05 (SD = 9.7). Conclusion: Mental health consequences of conflict remain long after the events are over, and therefore mental health intervention is as urgent for post-conflict migrant populations as physical health and other emergency interventions. A mental health outreach program was initiated based on this study.
Subject(s) Medicine and Health Sciences
Language eng
Type of publication info:eu-repo/semantics/article; text
Format application/pdf
Identifier 1783176; BiPrints:3485; 10.1186/1752-1505-3-6
Repository Bielefeld - University of Bielefeld
Added to C-A: 2012-02-11;10:47:19