Development and Preliminary Validation of Refugee Trauma History Checklist (RTHC)-A Brief Checklist for Survey Studies

Overview

Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Environmental Health
Public Health

Date 2017 Oct 5

PMID 28976937

Citations 26

Authors

Erika Sigvardsdotter

Henrik Nilsson

Andreas Malm

Petter Tinghog

Maria Gottvall

Marjan Vaez

Fredrik Saboonchi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Methods: A pool of 232 items was generated based on pre-existing instruments. Conceptualization, item selection and item refinement was conducted based on existing literature and in collaboration with experts. Ten cognitive interviews using a Think Aloud Protocol (TAP) were performed in a clinical setting, and field testing of the proposed checklist was performed in a total sample of n = 137 asylum seekers from Syria.

Results: The proposed refugee trauma history checklist (RTHC) consists of 2 × 8 items, concerning PTEs that occurred before and during the respondents' flight, respectively. Results show low item non-response and adequate psychometric properties Conclusion: RTHC is a usable tool for providing self-report data on refugee trauma history surveys of community samples. The core set of included events can be augmented and slight modifications can be applied to RTHC for use also in other refugee populations and settings.

Citing Articles

Unrecognized grief - Prevalence and comorbidity of prolonged grief among refugees in Sweden.

Leiler A, Meurling J, Rondung E, Shahnavaz S, Andersson G, Bjarta A J Migr Health. 2024; 10:100274.

PMID: 39498266 PMC: 11533086. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmh.2024.100274.

Chronic pain and use of painkillers, healthcare services and long-term impairment among Syrian refugees: a cross-sectional study.

Standnes M, Haukenes I, Lunde A, Diaz E BMC Public Health. 2024; 24(1):2815.

PMID: 39402495 PMC: 11472554. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-20266-6.

Emotion regulation profiles in Syrian refugees and migrants in Germany: self-efficacy, resilience and well-being comparisons.

Churbaji D, Schlechter P, Nickerson A, Morina N BMJ Ment Health. 2024; 27(1).

PMID: 39299772 PMC: 11429266. DOI: 10.1136/bmjment-2024-301099.

Prevalence of physical violence against people in insecure migration status: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Innes A, Carlisle S, Manzur H, Cook E, Corsi J, Lewis N PLoS One. 2024; 19(3):e0300189.

PMID: 38536804 PMC: 10971783. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300189.

Post-migration stressors, mental health and well-being in resettled refugees from Syria: Do individuals' coping strategies matter?.

Solberg O, Nissen A, Saboonchi F Confl Health. 2023; 17(1):60.

PMID: 38124118 PMC: 10731857. DOI: 10.1186/s13031-023-00556-3.

References

Kubany E, Haynes S, Leisen M, Owens J, Kaplan A, Watson S . Development and preliminary validation of a brief broad-spectrum measure of trauma exposure: the Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire. Psychol Assess. 2000; 12(2):210-24. DOI: 10.1037//1040-3590.12.2.210. View

Evans M, Robling M, Maggs Rapport F, Houston H, Kinnersley P, Wilkinson C . It doesn't cost anything just to ask, does it? The ethics of questionnaire-based research. J Med Ethics. 2002; 28(1):41-4. PMC: 1733515. DOI: 10.1136/jme.28.1.41. View

Hollifield M, Warner T, Lian N, Krakow B, Jenkins J, Kesler J . Measuring trauma and health status in refugees: a critical review. JAMA. 2002; 288(5):611-21. DOI: 10.1001/jama.288.5.611. View

Drennan J . Cognitive interviewing: verbal data in the design and pretesting of questionnaires. J Adv Nurs. 2003; 42(1):57-63. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2648.2003.02579.x. View

Huxley P, Thornicroft G . Social inclusion, social quality and mental illness. Br J Psychiatry. 2003; 182:289-90. DOI: 10.1192/bjp.182.4.289. View

Campbell D, Fiske D . Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix. Psychol Bull. 1959; 56(2):81-105. View

Hollifield M, Eckert V, Warner T, Jenkins J, Krakow B, Ruiz J . Development of an inventory for measuring war-related events in refugees. Compr Psychiatry. 2005; 46(1):67-80. DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2004.07.003. View

Fazel M, Wheeler J, Danesh J . Prevalence of serious mental disorder in 7000 refugees resettled in western countries: a systematic review. Lancet. 2005; 365(9467):1309-14. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)61027-6. View

Mollica R, Bollini P, Truong T, Tor S, Lavelle J . The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire. Validating a cross-cultural instrument for measuring torture, trauma, and posttraumatic stress disorder in Indochinese refugees. J Nerv Ment Dis. 1992; 180(2):111-6. View

10.

Polit D, Tatano Beck C, Owen S . Is the CVI an acceptable indicator of content validity? Appraisal and recommendations. Res Nurs Health. 2007; 30(4):459-67. DOI: 10.1002/nur.20199. View

11.

Tourangeau R, Yan T . Sensitive questions in surveys. Psychol Bull. 2007; 133(5):859-83. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.133.5.859. View

12.

Steel Z, Chey T, Silove D, Marnane C, Bryant R, van Ommeren M . Association of torture and other potentially traumatic events with mental health outcomes among populations exposed to mass conflict and displacement: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 2009; 302(5):537-49. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2009.1132. View

13.

Shannon P, ODougherty M, Mehta E . Refugees' perspectives on barriers to communication about trauma histories in primary care. Ment Health Fam Med. 2013; 9(1):47-55. PMC: 3487607. View

14.

Rohlof H, Knipscheer J, Kleber R . Somatization in refugees: a review. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2014; 49(11):1793-804. DOI: 10.1007/s00127-014-0877-1. View

15.

Sigvardsdotter E, Vaez M, Hedman A, Saboonchi F . Prevalence of torture and other warrelated traumatic events in forced migrants: A systematic review. Torture. 2016; 26(2):41-73. View

16.

Sigvardsdotter E, Malm A, Tinghog P, Vaez M, Saboonchi F . Refugee trauma measurement: a review of existing checklists. Public Health Rev. 2018; 37:10. PMC: 5809946. DOI: 10.1186/s40985-016-0024-5. View

17.

Weine S, Becker D, McGlashan T, Laub D, Lazrove S, Vojvoda D . Psychiatric consequences of "ethnic cleansing": clinical assessments and trauma testimonies of newly resettled Bosnian refugees. Am J Psychiatry. 1995; 152(4):536-42. DOI: 10.1176/ajp.152.4.536. View

18.

Bland J, Altman D . Multiple significance tests: the Bonferroni method. BMJ. 1995; 310(6973):170. PMC: 2548561. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.310.6973.170. View

19.

Clarke G, Sack W, Goff B . Three forms of stress in Cambodian adolescent refugees. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 1993; 21(1):65-77. DOI: 10.1007/BF00910489. View

20.

Goodman L, Corcoran C, Turner K, Yuan N, Green B . Assessing traumatic event exposure: general issues and preliminary findings for the Stressful Life Events Screening Questionnaire. J Trauma Stress. 1998; 11(3):521-42. DOI: 10.1023/A:1024456713321. View