Psychological burden in female, iraqi refugees who suffered extreme violence by the “Islamic State”: the perspective of care providers
Introduction. A large number of refugees suffer from mental disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the context of a special quota project, 1100 Yazidi women from Northern Iraq who had suffered extreme violence by the so-called Islamic State (IS) were brought to Germany to receive...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
08 November 2018
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| In: |
Frontiers in psychiatry
Year: 2018, Volume: 9, Pages: 1-10 |
| ISSN: | 1664-0640 |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00562 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00562 Verlag, Volltext: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00562/full 
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| Author Notes: | Caroline Rometsch-Ogioun El Sount, Jana Katharina Denkinger, Petra Windthorst, Christoph Nikendei, David Kindermann, Viola Renner, Johanna Ringwald, Sara Brucker, Virginia M. Tran, Stephan Zipfel, Florian Junne |
| Summary: | Introduction. A large number of refugees suffer from mental disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the context of a special quota project, 1100 Yazidi women from Northern Iraq who had suffered extreme violence by the so-called Islamic State (IS) were brought to Germany to receive specialized treatment. This study aims to investigate the psychological burden and trauma-related symptoms of these female IS-victims from the perspectives of their care providers. Material and methods. Care providers with various professional backgrounds (N = 96) were asked to complete a self-developed questionnaire on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (very low) to 7 (very high) analyzing the psychological burden and trauma-related symptoms of the IS-traumatized women since their arrival in Germany. We controlled for potential confounders, namely the care providers’ personal experiences of trauma and flight, by using chi-square tests. Results. The mean psychological burden for the whole period in Germany as perceived by care providers was M = 5.51 (SD = 0.94). As the main factors of distress the care providers reported: worries about family members in Iraq (M = 6.69; SD = 0.69), worries about relatives’ possibilities to be granted asylum in Germany (M = 6.62; SD = 0.68), and uncertainties regarding their future (M = 5.89; SD = 1.02). The most prominent trauma-related psychological symptoms were nightmares (M = 6.43; SD = 0.54). The care providers reported that somatic complaints have been present among the refugees in the following manifestation: pain (M = 6.24; SD = 1.08), gastrointestinal complaints (M = 4.62; SD = 1.62), and dizziness (M = 4.40; SD = 1.59). The care providers’ personal experiences of trauma and flight had no significant influence on their response behavior. Discussion. Care providers working with IS-traumatized female refugees evaluate the psychological burden and trauma-related somatic and psychological symptom loads of their clients as very high. The results of this study provide important information about the perceptions of care providers working in a refugee-services context and may provide insights for the progression of specialized treatment programs and interventions for highly traumatized refugees and culture-sensitive training programs for their care providers. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 15.08.2019 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1664-0640 |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00562 |