Int J Environ Res Public Health
November 2022
The findings of longitudinal studies on traumatized refugees have shown that factors related to premigration, migration, and post-migration experiences determine changes in mental health over time. The primary aim of this follow-up study was to examine the potential change in the prevalence rates of probable PTSD and depression among Syrian refugees in Iraq. An unselected group of N = 92 Syrian adult refugees was recruited from Arbat camps in Sulaymaniyah Governorate in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, and then interviewed at two different time points between July 2017 and January 2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMost current research investigating traumatic stress is focused on its effects at the individual level, utilizing the implicit assumption that trauma-related disorders are mutually independent within families and communities. However, there is reason to assume that trauma-related symptoms within couples are influenced by each partner's risk factors and symptoms. Using the actor-partner interdependence model, this study aimed to test whether symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression were predicted by participants' partner's exposure to traumatic events over and above the influence of the participant's own experiences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), broadly, is one of the leading evidence-based treatments for youth with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Generally, few culturally adapted TF-CBT interventions have been examined among war trauma-affected populations in low- and middle-income countries. Using a randomized clinical trial design, a total of 48 war trauma-exposed women in Iraq, M (SD) = 32.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Since the Syrian civil war began in March 2011, more than half of the Syrian population was forced to escape from their homes, and more than 5 million of them fled their country. The aim of the present study is to estimate the psychological consequences of this conflict among the refugee population who fled to Iraq.
Method: In 2017, a team of locally trained psychologists and social workers interviewed 494 married couples (988 individuals) who were Syrian Kurdish refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Rationale: Intimate partner violence is a prevalent issue in refugee and internally displaced populations in post-war and migration settings including camps in the Middle East. In this context, partner violence has been associated with war-related trauma, camp factors, individual characteristics, and gender attitudes.
Objective: With a dual-informant survey among a sample of Iraqi couples residing in a camp for displaced people in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (N = 92) this study investigated the relationship between war-related psychopathology, attitudes towards women, and male-perpetrated partner violence.
While the factor structure of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms has been investigated among various traumatized populations in Western and high-income countries, knowledge regarding the validity of factor structure of PTSD among culturally diverse populations in low-and-middle-income countries is limited. The current study examined the factor structure and cultural invariance of PTSD in 521 Iraqi and 993 Syrian war-affected displaced people who were living in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Results from confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that alternative factor models for PTSD, including a new model derived from this population (anhedonia and affect model) resulted in a better fit than the current DSM V models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In August 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a terrorist organization, attacked the Yazidi's ancestral homeland in northwestern Iraq. Among other atrocities, they abducted thousands of women and girls and traded many of them into sexual slavery. The aim of this study is to determine the mental health of women and girl survivors of these events in relation to enslavement and experiences with genocide-related events, as well as perceived social rejection in their community.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL) is a valid and reliable self-report measure for the assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Recently the PCL was updated according to the DSM-5 criteria for PTSD. So far only a few studies have examined the psychometric properties of the PCL-5, and all of these are restricted to populations living in industrialized countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe pollution of coastal regions worldwide has been of a great concern due to the presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). These chemicals find their way to the marine environment via the sewage treatment plants (STPs). Hence, this study was designed to investigate the status and sources of EDCs and their effect on fish in Kuwait's coastal areas, from the chemical and biological perspectives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng
April 2003
Static bioassay tests for acute toxicity of four heavy metals to fry of the fish Lates calcarifer in brackishwater medium were conducted. The 96 h LC50 values of metals such as Hg, Cu, Cr, and Mn for two different size groups 11 +/- 3 mm and 24 +/- 4 mm were found to be 0.085, 1.
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