The Predictive Utility of Trauma Subtypes in the Assessment of Mental Health Outcomes for Persons Resettled as Refugees

This study investigated the predictive utility of trauma subtypes in the assessment of refugee mental health. Multiple regression was used to determine whether cumulative trauma or trauma subtypes explained more variance in depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom scores in 70 Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Subtype models performed better than cumulative trauma models for PTSD (cumulativeR2 = 0.138; subtypeR2 = 0.32), anxiety (cumulativeR2 = 0.061; subtypeR2 = 0.246), and depression (cumulativeR2 = 0.041; subtypeR2 = 0.184). Victimization was the only subtype significantly associated with PTSD (p <  0.001;r2 = 0.210), anxiety (p <  0.001;r2 = 0.162), and depression (p = 0.002;r2 = 0.140). Cumulative trauma was predictive of PTSD symptoms only (p = 0.003;r2 = 0.125). Trauma subtypes were more informative than cumulative trauma, indicating their utility for improving predictive efforts in research and clinical contexts.
Source: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research