ARQ IVP (en)

English

Child in the shadowlands

The World Health Organization described children born of rape as at risk of being neglected, stigmatized, ostracized, or abandoned. Cases of infanticide (the killing of an infant) have also been reported. Despite such general concerns, little is known about the fate of these children. Even in the mental health domain, professional conversations hardly include their fate. Clinical case reports describe a high rate of ambivalent parent-child relationships or even abusive relationships and a high rate of serious discrimination within the societies in which these children are raised.

Children's perspectives on dealing with traumatic events

Understanding children's recovery after trauma is considered important, but existing theories are mainly based on adult research. We carried out semistructured interviews with 25 purposively sampled children (8–12 years old) exposed to single-incident trauma. The children had been affected by the event itself but also by a long aftermath with secondary stressors.

Children Following the Ghislenghien Gas Explosion: PTSD Predictors and Risk Factors

This paper describes the risk factors for the development of posttraumatic stress reactions in children after a technological disaster in Ghislenghien, Belgium in 2004. Children were assessed at five months (T1, N=128) and at fourteen months (T2, N=69). At T1 and T2 respectively, 7 % and 4 % of the responding children showed severe posttraumatic stress reactions. Of those who showed posttraumatic stress reactions at T1, 60%recovered from these symptoms at T2. One child developed severe posttraumatic stress reactions between T1 and T2.

Childhood maltreatment in adult offspring of Portuguese war veterans with and without PTSD

Background: The colonial war that Portugal was involved in between 1961 and 1974 had a significant impact on veterans and their families.

Building child trauma theory from longitudinal studies: a meta-analysis

Many children are exposed to traumatic events, with potentially serious psychological and developmental consequences. Therefore, understanding development of long-term posttraumatic stress in children is essential. We aimed to contribute to child trauma theory by focusing on theory use and theory validation in longitudinal studies. Forty studies measuring short-term predictors and long-term posttraumatic stress symptoms were identified and coded for theoretical grounding, sample characteristics, and correlational effect sizes.

Acculturation and post-disaster mental health problems among affected and non-affected immigrants: A comparative study

BackgroundIt is unknown to what extent acculturation among disaster-affected immigrants is associated with mental health problems (MHP) compared to non-affected immigrants.MethodsWe examined the associations between acculturation and post-disaster MHP among affected and non-affected immigrants in The Netherlands.ResultsAmong the affected group, keeping norms and values of original culture and limited skills to cope with the demands of the new society were independently associated with PTSD-symptomatology, anxiety, depression, hostility, and somatic problems at 18 months post-event.

A Phenomenological Analysis of Disaster-Related Experiences in Fire and Emergency Medical Services Personnel

This article explores the experiences of fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel during and immediately after a technological event using a phenomenological approach. Personnel engaged in the rescue operations during and immediately after the Ghislenghien gas explosion reflected upon their experiences in their responses to a specially designed, self-reporting questionnaire that included open-ended questions. Firefighters reported more perceived threat and direct exposure to death than did EMS personnel.

A model of resilience and meaning after militairy deployment: personel resources in making sense of war and peacekeeping experiences

The aim of the present study was to examine whether the specific personal resources of self-esteem, optimism and perceived control, combined in the latent variable called 'resilience', were associated with cognitive processing of war-zone experiences. Data were collected by questionnaires from a sample of 1.561 veterans who had participated in various war or peacekeeping operations. Structural equation modelling was performed to assess the expected relationships between the observed and latent variables.

The Effect of the Postdisaster Context on the Assessment of Individual Mental Health Scores

Many scholars question the immense variation in rates of mental health outcomes across disaster studies. This study explains this variation by putting forward 2 methodological problems that are inherent to the effect of a disaster context on mental health screening scores. The Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 was administered in a flood-affected group (n = 318) and a nonaffected group (n = 304) in Uttar Pradesh, India. The affected group showed much higher mean scores on subscales of anxiety and depression.

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