TY - JOUR
T1 - Torture, War Trauma, and Mental Health Symptoms of Newly Arrived Karen Refugees
AU - Shannon, Patricia J.
AU - Vinson, Gregory A.
AU - Wieling, Elizabeth
AU - Cook, Tonya
AU - Letts, James
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2015/11/2
Y1 - 2015/11/2
N2 - This article documents frequencies of torture, war trauma, and associations with mental health distress reported by Karen refugees during their initial public health screening in the United States. A total of 179 Karen refugees completed a demographic questionnaire and 25-item mental health screening tool scored on a 4-point Likert scale. Frequencies of primary and secondary torture were 27.4% and 51.4%, respectively. War trauma was reported by 86% of the participants. Torture, older age, and female gender were significantly associated with increased total distress, posttraumatic stress, depression, and somatic complaints. Recommendations are reviewed for discussing mental health symptoms with Karen refugees.
AB - This article documents frequencies of torture, war trauma, and associations with mental health distress reported by Karen refugees during their initial public health screening in the United States. A total of 179 Karen refugees completed a demographic questionnaire and 25-item mental health screening tool scored on a 4-point Likert scale. Frequencies of primary and secondary torture were 27.4% and 51.4%, respectively. War trauma was reported by 86% of the participants. Torture, older age, and female gender were significantly associated with increased total distress, posttraumatic stress, depression, and somatic complaints. Recommendations are reviewed for discussing mental health symptoms with Karen refugees.
KW - Karen refugees
KW - mental health screening
KW - refugee mental health
KW - torture
KW - war trauma
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84943169828&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84943169828&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/15325024.2014.965971
DO - 10.1080/15325024.2014.965971
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84943169828
SN - 1532-5024
VL - 20
SP - 577
EP - 590
JO - Journal of Loss and Trauma
JF - Journal of Loss and Trauma
IS - 6
ER -