Abstract
Objective
To investigate African unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) living in Austria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prevalence and related symptoms, comorbidity, demographics and coping strategies.
Method
“UCLA PTSD Index and inventories” and “Scales for Children Afflicted by War and Persecution (SCWP)” were used to assess 41 African URMs.
Results
The study revealed lower PTSD rates than measured among URMs in previous studies. Girls were more likely to develop PTSD. PTSD was significantly correlated with single war-related traumatic events. The depression score for the sample was above the clinical cut-off value.
Conclusions
Trauma-specific psychopathology was less severe than reported in other studies. These findings could be explained by concepts of resilience. Other implications, such as response bias, are discussed.
Zusammenfassung
Anliegen
Unbegleitete minderjährige Flüchtlinge sind oftmals als Patienten vorstellig in kinder- und jugendpsychiatrischen Einrichtungen. Neben vorhandenen sprachlichen Barrieren existieren in der Literatur wenige Daten zu dieser heterogenen Patientenpopulation. Vorliegende Studie fokussiert die aus Afrika stammenden, unbegleiteten, minderjährigen Flüchtlinge (URMs) in Österreich und untersucht das Vorhandensein etwaiger psychischer Störungen, insbesondere jener einer posttraumatischen Belastungsstörung (PTBS) und etwaiger begleitender Symptome und Komorbiditäten. Auch werden in diesem Zusammenhang Coping-Strategien erfasst.
Methode
Bei den insgesamt 41 afrikanischen URMs, die innerhalb von Österreich rekrutiert werden konnten, wurden neben „UCLA PTSD Index und Inventare“ auch „Scales for Children Afflicted by War and Persecution (SCWP)“ als Untersuchungsinstrumente eingesetzt.
Ergebnisse
Im Vergleich mit vorhandenen Daten in der Literatur zeigten sich in vorliegender Studie niedrigere PTBS Werte. Die Vulnerabilität für PTBS war für Mädchen erhöht. Die Diagnose einer PTBS stand in einem signifikanten Zusammenhang mit einmaligen kriegsbezogenen traumatischen Ereignissen. Die Depressions-Skala für das Sample befand sich über den klinischen Cut-off Werten.
Schlussfolgerungen
Die traumaspezifische Psychopathologie war unterhalb der in anderen Studien aufgezeigten Werte. Diese Ergebnisse könnten durch eine mögliche erhöhte Resilienz erklärt werden. Weiterführende Erklärungsmodelle werden diskutiert.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to especially thank Mag. Heinz Fronek (psychologist), staff member of the membership cooperation “asylkoordination Österreich,” who has supported this study with his comprehensive knowledge and his thorough insight into the legal and organizational situation in terms of URMs in Austria.
Apart from that, we would like to thank Hubertus Adam, MD, and Fionna Klasen, PhD, for making SCWP available for the current study and for supporting the authors with helpful pieces of advice.
Conflict of interest
Völkl-Kernstock S, Karnik N, Mitterer-Asadi M, Granditsch E, Steiner H, Friedrich MH, and Huemer J report no conflict of interest.
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I have passed a lot, but, you know, I don’t want to tell anyone because it’s a lot… (Z., 16 years, Somalian unaccompanied refugee minor).
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Völkl-Kernstock, S., Karnik, N., Mitterer-Asadi, M. et al. Responses to conflict, family loss and flight: posttraumatic stress disorder among unaccompanied refugee minors from Africa. Neuropsychiatr 28, 6–11 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40211-013-0094-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40211-013-0094-2