A Follow-Up Study of Mental Health and Health-Related Quality of Life in Tortured Refugees in Multidisciplinary Treatment

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Longitudinal studies of traumatized refugees are needed to study changes in mental health over time and to improve health-related and social interventions. The aim of this study was to examine changes in symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety, and in health-related quality of life during treatment in traumatized refugees. The study group comprises 55 persons admitted to the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims in 2001 and 2002. Data on background, trauma, present social situation, mental symptoms (Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25, Hamilton Depression Scale, Harvard Trauma Questionnaire), and health-related quality of life (WHO Quality of Life-Bref) were collected before treatment and after 9 months. No change in mental symptoms or health-related quality of life was observed. In spite of the treatment, emotional distress seems to be chronic for the majority of this population. Future studies are needed to explore which health-related and social interventions are most useful to traumatized refugees.

Related collections

Most cited references 38

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF Quality of Life Assessment

(1998)

0 comments Cited 694 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

The Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL): A self-report symptom inventory

Karl Rickels, Lino Covi, E Uhlenhuth … (1974)

0 comments Cited 278 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Anxiety, depression and PTSD in asylum-seekers: assocations with pre-migration trauma and post-migration stressors.

D Silove, I Sinnerbrink, A. Field … (1997)

Research into the mental health of refugees has burgeoned in recent times, but there is a dearth of studies focusing specifically on the factors associated with psychiatric distress in asylum-seekers who have not been accorded residency status. Forty consecutive asylum-seekers attending a community resource centre in Sydney, Australia, were interviewed using structured instruments and questionnaires. Anxiety scores were associated with female gender, poverty, and conflict with immigration officials, while loneliness and boredom were linked with both anxiety and depression. Thirty subjects (79%) had experienced a traumatic event such as witnessing killings, being assaulted, or suffering torture and captivity, and 14 subjects (37%) met full criteria for PTSD. A diagnosis of PTSD was associated with greater exposure to pre-migration trauma, delays in processing refugee applications, difficulties in dealing with immigration officials, obstacles to employment, racial discrimination, and loneliness and boredom. Although based on correlational data derived from'a convenient' sample, our findings raise the possibility that current procedures for dealing with asylum-seekers may contribute to high levels of stress and psychiatric symptoms in those who have been previously traumatised.