Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression Among Internally Displaced Persons in Mogadishu
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Date
2021Author
Mustafa, Abdulrahman A
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Background
Nearly three decades of conflict and frequent droughts and environmental hardships left 2.6 million of
Somalis in displacement camps. Even though psychological impact of war and natural disasters are well
documented, little is known about the unseen scars of psychological trauma in Internally Displaced
Persons in Somalia. The purpose of the study is to determine rates of post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) and depression amongst these internally displaced persons (IDPs), and examine association
between displacement and these psychiatric conditions.
Methodology
A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted among 406 IDPs in Mogadishu. Harvard
Trauma Questionnaire was used to determine levels of trauma exposure and PTSD, and Hopkins
Symptom Checklist-25 was used to estimate prevalence of depression. Bivariate and multivariate
analysis was conducted to analyze the association of demographic and displacement variables on
the outcomes of PTSD and depression.
Results
More than half (59%) of participants had symptom criteria for depression, and nearly one third
(32%) of respondents met symptom criteria for PTSD. The most prevalent traumatic event was
lack of food or water (80.2%). Important predictive factors in development of psychiatric
morbidity were unemployment, cumulative traumatic exposure, frequency and duration of
displacement.
Conclusion
This study revealed high levels of Depressive disorder and Post-traumatic stress disorder among
internally displaced persons in Mogadishu. Furthermore, this study provide evidence to IDPs’
susceptibility to trauma exposure and lack of essential services and goods. Study also highlighted
the importance of provision of MHPSS services in IDP camps.
Publisher
Uon
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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