IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v68y2022i1p118-128.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceived health, adversity, and posttraumatic stress disorder in Syrian and Iraqi refugees

Author

Listed:
  • Arash Javanbakht
  • Lana Ruvolo Grasser
  • Soyeong Kim
  • Cynthia L Arfken
  • Nicole Nugent

Abstract

Background: Exposure to armed conflict and fleeing country of origin for refugees has been associated with poorer psychological health. Methods: Within the first month following their arrival in the United States, 152 Syrian and Iraqi refugees were screened in a primary care setting for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression and rated their perceived health, and perceived level of adversity of violence, armed conflict/flight. The moderating effects of psychiatric symptoms on the relation between perceived adversity and perceived health were assessed. Results: Three models based on diagnosis (PTSD, anxiety, and depression) were tested. While significant effects were found on perceived adversity negatively influencing perceived health across diagnoses, slightly different patterns emerged based on diagnosis. Discussion: Findings suggest that refugees’ perception regarding adversity of violence, armed conflict, and flight may contribute to perceived health, with a moderating role of clinically significant symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression.

Suggested Citation

  • Arash Javanbakht & Lana Ruvolo Grasser & Soyeong Kim & Cynthia L Arfken & Nicole Nugent, 2022. "Perceived health, adversity, and posttraumatic stress disorder in Syrian and Iraqi refugees," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 68(1), pages 118-128, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:68:y:2022:i:1:p:118-128
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764020978274
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764020978274
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764020978274?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Signe Nielsen & Allan Krasnik, 2010. "Poorer self-perceived health among migrants and ethnic minorities versus the majority population in Europe: a systematic review," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(5), pages 357-371, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roitblat, Yulia & Nehuliaieva, Liliia & Nedilko, Roksolana & Shashkov, Yurii & Shterenshis, Michael, 2022. "Immediate physical needs of refugees during the Ukrainian armed conflict of 2022," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(12), pages 1303-1309.
    2. Dalia Khalil & Zinah George & Thomas Templin & Elizabeth Jenuwine & Arash Javanbakht, 2023. "Perceived adversity and psychological distress in refugee married couples resettling in the United States," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(5), pages 1268-1276, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matias Reus-Pons & Eva U. B. Kibele & Fanny Janssen, 2017. "Differences in healthy life expectancy between older migrants and non-migrants in three European countries over time," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 62(5), pages 531-540, June.
    2. Emina Hadziabdic & Katarina Hjelm, 2022. "Comparison of Beliefs about Health in Migrants and Swedish-Born Persons with Type 2 Diabetes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-12, October.
    3. Kamila Hynek & Aslaug Gotehus & Fredrik Methi & Ragnhild Bang Nes & Vegard Skirbekk & Thomas Hansen, 2023. "Caregiving + Migrant Background = Double Jeopardy? Associations between Caregiving and Physical and Psychological Health According to Migrant Backgrounds in Norway," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-13, May.
    4. Simon Jean-Baptiste Combes & Nathalie Simonnot & Fabienne Azzedine & Abdessamad Aznague & Pierre Chauvin, 2019. "Self-Perceived Health among Migrants Seen in Médecins du Monde Free Clinics in Europe: Impact of Length of Stay and Wealth of Country of Origin on Migrants’ Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Fabienne Jaeger & Mazeda Hossain & Ligia Kiss & Cathy Zimmerman, 2012. "The health of migrant children in Switzerland," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 57(4), pages 659-671, August.
    6. Thomas Grochtdreis & Hans-Helmut König & Steffi G. Riedel-Heller & Judith Dams, 2022. "Health-Related Quality of Life of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Germany: a Cross-Sectional Study with Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 109-127, February.
    7. Oliver Razum & Jacob Spallek, 2014. "Addressing health-related interventions to immigrants: migrant-specific or diversity-sensitive?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 59(6), pages 893-895, December.
    8. Eleonora Trappolini & Cristina Giudici, 2021. "Gendering health differences between nonmigrants and migrants by duration of stay in Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(7), pages 221-258.
    9. Rikard Wärdig & Emina Hadziabdic & Katarina Hjelm, 2019. "Healthcare staff’s evaluation of a walk‐in centre at a healthcare centre in an immigrant‐dense area," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(9-10), pages 1473-1481, May.
    10. Nihaya Daoud & Varda Soskolne & Jennifer S. Mindell & Marilyn A. Roth & Orly Manor, 2018. "Ethnic inequalities in health between Arabs and Jews in Israel: the relative contribution of individual-level factors and the living environment," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(3), pages 313-323, April.
    11. Gabriel Kolvek & Katarina Rosicova & Jaroslav Rosenberger & Ludmila Podracka & Roy Stewart & Iveta Nagyova & Sijmen Reijneveld & Jitse Dijk, 2012. "End-stage renal disease among Roma and non-Roma: Roma are at risk," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 57(4), pages 751-754, August.
    12. Vermeulen, Lisa & Schäfer, Willemijn & Pavlic, Danica Rotar & Groenewegen, Peter, 2018. "Community orientation of general practitioners in 34 countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(10), pages 1070-1077.
    13. Bousmah, Marwân-al-Qays & Combes, Jean-Baptiste Simon & Abu-Zaineh, Mohammad, 2019. "Health differentials between citizens and immigrants in Europe: A heterogeneous convergence," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 235-243.
    14. Silvia Loi & Daniela Vono de Vilhena, 2020. "Exclusion through statistical invisibility. An exploration on what can be known through publicly available datasets on irregular migration and the health status of this population in Germany," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2020-009, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    15. Gabriella Berloffa & Francesca Paolini, 2022. "Going "beyond the mean" in analysing immigrant health disparities," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(7), pages 161-198.
    16. Manuela Ortega-Gil & Chaima ElHichou-Ahmed & Antonio Mata-García, 2022. "Effects of Immigrants, Health, and Ageing on Economic Growth in the European Union," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Josefin Wångdahl & Per Lytsy & Lena Mårtensson & Ragnar Westerling, 2018. "Poor health and refraining from seeking healthcare are associated with comprehensive health literacy among refugees: a Swedish cross-sectional study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(3), pages 409-419, April.
    18. Cecilie Dinesen & Signe Nielsen & Laust Mortensen & Allan Krasnik, 2011. "Inequality in self-rated health among immigrants, their descendants and ethnic Danes: examining the role of socioeconomic position," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 56(5), pages 503-514, October.
    19. Marleen Foets, 2011. "Improving the quality of research into the health of migrant and ethnic groups," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 56(5), pages 455-456, October.
    20. Bilecen, Başak & Vacca, Raffaele, 2021. "The isolation paradox: A comparative study of social support and health across migrant generations in the U.S," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:68:y:2022:i:1:p:118-128. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.