Abstract
The present article reviews the credibility analysis procedure proposed by the UNHCR through which asylum applications are resolved, especially for unaccompanied minors. The particularities ...of these refugee minors and the general character of the credibility analysis procedure are described. Credibility indicators are analyzed together with the psychological barriers related to them. This manuscript provides evidence of the presence of trauma and resilience in the studied minors and how both influence their memories during the asylum interviews. As credibility assessment has a special focus on the evaluation of narratives through memory, memory is considered as a criterion responsible for the accuracy and credibility of underage applicants' testimony. Finally, this paper contributes with scientific psychological evidence towards the existence of multiple testimonies in asylum seekers.
The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of past traumatic war experiences on preadolescents in the Gaza Strip, which could be useful for psychological intervention with current and ...future child victims. Participants were 521 preadolescents from United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools, aged 11 and 13 years old. Sections I to IV from Iraqi Version-Arabic of Harvard Trauma Questionnaire was used to assess trauma experiences and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The results show that the preadolescents in the Gaza Strip witnessed the destruction of their homes and the murder of family members and friends. A quarter of the individuals assessed either suffered torture or witnessed others undergoing it, including sexual assaults. Almost half of them experienced a lack of food and clean water. The traumatic and torture experiences seriously affected preadolescents’ mental health as 26.29% met criteria for the diagnosis of PTSD. The data analysis revealed two PTSD modalities, with the severity of impact depending on whether social implications were involved. Further research is required to check whether these two modalities fit to PTSD and complex PTSD. Understanding the effects of past wars on preadolescents in Gaza and distinguishing between different PTSD types could enhance comprehension of the impacts of current attacks on child victims. It can also aid in determining the type of intervention needed to minimize the impact on the mental health of Palestinian youth, enhancing their resilience through psychological and social support.
The present study evaluates the quality of life of 1,139 surviving victims of the Colombian armed conflict benefited from some actions of reparation, through a brief sociodemographic and ...victimological survey and the WHO quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire, which takes into account perceived physical and mental health, social relations, and environmental factors. The results show that the quality of life of the victims of the armed conflict, once peace agreements had been reached, remained low or medium-low. The number of victimizing events suffered and the time elapsed have little effect on the quality of life, with type of trauma being more relevant. Land-related experiences, such as expropriation, had fundamentally an influence on environmental factors. Kidnappings, sexual assaults, and events where minors were involved affected mental health. Victims of sexual assault were those whose quality of life was most affected and torture victims were those with a lower index of global quality of life. Simple passing of time did not mean quality of life increase with specific interventions being needed to repair damage. To repair the damage caused, special attention should be paid to the sociodemographic characteristics of each victim, the type of aggression suffered, and their needs in the areas of physical and mental health, and economic resources.
Introduction: This paper presents a study of traumatic experiences, including torture, among refugees and migrants at the border between Croatia and Bosnia. The number of people being forcefully ...displaced is increasing and militarized border enforcement efforts have made migration a dangerous endeavour. The European Union is externalizing its borders, but migrants and refugees have not ceased arriving in Western societies despite facing violence and torture both throughout their journey, and at the gates of Europe. Method: 54 participants were assessed, 51 males and 3 females, 26 were self-declared economic migrants and 28 stated that they fled due to political or religious persecution. The Iraqi version of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) was adapted to collect traumatic and torture stressors experienced by the migrants/refugees during their stay in Western Bosnia, and more specifically during their detention and refoulement (push-backs) when attempting to cross the border between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Results: 98.14% reported experiencing multiple forms of torture, 81.5% reported having their property looted, and 70.4% stated that they had been physically harmed on the mentioned border during migratory transit. Torture experiences were associated with the migratory and confinement phases such as exposure to the rain and cold (92.6%) or lack of food, water and medical care (66.7%). Finally, 50% of participants fulfilled the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the cumulative effect of traumatic experiences. Differences were found only in the amount of traumatic experiences between economic migrants and refugees who fled for political or religious reasons. No differences were found in torture experiences and PTSD diagnosis. Conclusions: Violence perpetrated by security forces against migrants is crystallized at the border-zones. Migrants are held in conditions that would amount by themselves to torture. Traumatic experiences have an effect on migrants/refugees’ mental health and can trigger the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. Guaranteeing human rights for migrants/refugees throughout their journey is needed.
Introduction: This paper presents a study of traumatic experiences, including torture, among refugees and migrants at the border between Croatia and Bosnia. The number of people being forcefully ...displaced is increasing and militarized border enforcement efforts have made migration a dangerous endeavour. The European Union is externalizing its borders, but migrants and refugees have not ceased arriving in Western societies despite facing violence and torture both throughout their journey, and at the gates of Europe. Method: 54 participants were assessed, 51 males and 3 females, 26 were self-declared economic migrants and 28 stated that they fled due to political or religious persecution. The Iraqi version of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) was adapted to collect traumatic and torture stressors experienced by the migrants/refugees during their stay in Western Bosnia, and more specifically during their detention and refoulement (push-backs) when attempting to cross the border between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Results: 98.14% reported experiencing multiple forms of torture, 81.5% reported having their property looted, and 70.4% stated that they had been physically harmed on the mentioned border during migratory transit. Torture experiences were associated with the migratory and confinement phases such as exposure to the rain and cold (92.6%) or lack of food, water and medical care (66.7%). Finally, 50% of participants fulfilled the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the cumulative effect of traumatic experiences. Differences were found only in the amount of traumatic experiences between economic migrants and refugees who fled for political or religious reasons. No differences were found in torture experiences and PTSD diagnosis. Conclusions: Violence perpetrated by security forces against migrants is crystallized at the border-zones. Migrants are held in conditions that would amount by themselves to torture. Traumatic experiences have an effect on migrants/refugees’ mental health and can trigger the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. Guaranteeing human rights for migrants/refugees throughout their journey is needed.
There is a deterioration in the quality of life (QoL) of survivor victims of warlike conflicts. Because there is a need to guarantee the effectiveness of assessment tools for these populations, we ...studied the adequacy of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQoL-BREF) to assess the QoL of 1,136 surviving victims of the armed conflict in Colombia. Although this questionnaire has yielded promising results, questions remain about its psychometric suitability for specific populations. We used model modification at the item level, comparisons of models with different factor structures, and dimensionality analysis to address the psychometric problems encountered. Dimensionality analysis using a bifactor model suggests that WHOQoL-BREF total scores might be a more appropriate way of reporting results when model fit adequacy is not reached. Conclusions are offered on the psychometric properties of the WHOQoL-BREF, the evaluation of special populations, and possible strategies to address future questionnaire modifications.
The present study aims to analyse the effect of the passage of time on the phenomenological characteristics of the memory of a traumatic event of social relevance. The terrorist attack that took ...place in Barcelona (Spain) in August 2017 was taken as the traumatic event. A priori, this event meets the criteria to produce a flashbulb memory (level of surprise, consequentiality and emotional activation). A total of 364 memories from different individuals (78% women and a mean age of 20 years) were studied at five different time points, between September 2017 and December 2018, using the CCFRA/PQAM questionnaire. The results show that the memories only comply with the characteristics usually associated with flashbulb memories in the medium term (about 7 months after the events). These characteristics do not appear in a clear way immediately and are lost just over a year after the event. Therefore, the passage of time seems to have a great influence on the characteristics of memories of violent events, such as terrorist attacks. However, this influence may depend more on the relevance given to the event than on the elapsed time, as it is the relevance that determines the number of subsequent recalls, influencing the maintenance of the memory.
Being a long-term refugee undermines the confidence to overcome this legal status. As time passes people might feel trapped in time and in space and both factors contribute to their learned ...helplessness. What can they do to be relieved from it? Resilience elements might be buffers to deal with it. This exploratory study focuses on the evaluation of the degree of resilience in a sample of people residing in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf (Algeria). Twenty-nine women and thirteen men, with an average age of 34.50 years were assessed. At the time they were evaluated, they had been living in a protracted refugee condition for a mean of 30.71 years. They were interviewed using a specific designed clinical questionnaire and the Resilience Scale by Wagnild and Young (1993). According to the data, 38.09% of the refugees scored a low level of resilience; 33.33% a medium level; and 28.57% a high level. Being born in a refugee camp and having little hope for the future depicted a negative correlation with coping strategies. Moreover, 50% of the participants cited fears and insecurities associated with the political situation that keeps them as refugees whereas 54.8% of them expressed hope for a positive future. No gender and age differences were found in the resilience capacity. This research contributes to the literature and shines a light on the emotional well-being of those most marginalised populations.
The present study is an initial exploration of psychological disorders in long-term refugee women living at the Sahrawi camps in Tindouf (Algeria). Thirty-one women with an average age of 43.32 years ...(SD=12.34) were evaluated through personal interviews, applying Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and one personal clinical interview created for this purpose. In this manner, health professionals were interviewed on the situation of the refugee women in Tindouf. The results show that 80.64% of the interviewed women had received psychological assistance, 100% rated positively on somatization, 90.3% on obsessive-compulsive, 93.5% on interpersonal sensitivity, 96.8% on depression, 93.5% on anxiety, 77.4% on hostility, 87.1% on phobic anxiety, 90.3% on paranoid ideation and 90.3% on psychoticism. The results from the interviews show 32% of the interviewees do not know the meaning of mental health, and 35.48% of them have used traditional medicine even when they admit that they have access to the psychological services at the refugee’s camp (61.29%). The loss of hope for the future represented 41.93% of the opinions of the survey and 64.52% expressed feeling scared for the situation of their families living in the Western Sahara, among other results. Interviews with the health professionals reveal there is a growing demand for psychological treatment due to the recent introduction of psychological services in the wilayas (provinces). In spite of this, the rejection and social stigma around mental health disorders in Tindouf contribute to concealing pathologies or using the traditional medicine as a first option.
En el presente estudio se realizó una exploración inicial de trastornos psicológicos de las mujeres en desplazamiento forzoso a largo plazo residentes en el campamento saharaui de Tinduf (Argelia). Se evaluó a 31 mujeres con una edad media de 43.32 años (DT=12.34), mediante entrevistas personalizadas, la aplicación del Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) y un instrumento diseñado al efecto de confeccionar una historia clínica personalizada. Así mismo, se entrevistó a personal sanitario de los campamentos sobre la situación de las mujeres residentes en Tinduf. Los resultados muestran que el 80.64% de las mujeres evaluadas habían recibido asistencia psicológica, el 100% puntuaron positivamente en somatizaciones, 90.3% en trastornos obsesivo-compulsivos, 93.5% en suspicacia interpersonal, 96.8% en depresión, 93.5% en ansiedad, 77.4% en hostilidad, 87.1% en ansiedad fóbica, 90.3% en ideación paranoide y 90.3% en psicoticismo. Los resultados de las historias clínicas muestran un desconocimiento del significado de la salud mental para un 32% de las entrevistadas y que un 35,48 % habían recurrido a medicina tradicional incluso admitiendo tener acceso a los servicios de atención psicológica de los campamentos (61.29%). La pérdida de esperanza en el futuro representó un 41.93% de la opinión de las encuestadas y un 64.52 % expresaron sentir miedo por la situación de sus familiares en el Sahara Occidental, entre otros resultados. De las entrevistas con el personal sanitario se concluye una creciente demanda de tratamientos psicológicos debido a la reciente implantación de atención psicológica en las wilayas, a pesar de que el rechazo y la estigmatización social de los trastornos mentales en Tinduf contribuyan a ocultar las mismas o a hacer uso de la medicina tradicional como primera opción.
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