Subjective quality of life in war-affected populations

BMC Public Health

Stefan Priebe⁸  Matthias Schützwohl³  Mihajlo Popovski^1,10  Nexhmedin Morina⁷  Dusica Lecic-Tosevski¹  Abdulah Kucukalic⁴  Gian Maria Galeazzi⁹  Tanja Franciskovic⁵  Dean Ajdukovic⁶  Marija Bogic⁸  Domenico Giacco⁸  Aleksandra Matanov² 

[1] Belgrade University School of Medicine, Belgrade, Serbia;Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Cherry Tree Way, London E13 8SP, United Kingdom;Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany;School of Medicine, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina;School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia;Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia;Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom;Department of Psychiatry, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy;Faculty of Philosophy, University of Skopje, Skopje, FYR Macedonia

关键词: Refugees;    Post-conflict Settings;    War Trauma;    Subjective Quality of Life;   

Others  :  1162058
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-13-624

 received in 2012-12-03, accepted in 2013-05-02,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Exposure to traumatic war events may lead to a reduction in quality of life for many years. Research suggests that these impairments may be associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms; however, wars also have a profound impact on social conditions. Systematic studies utilising subjective quality of life (SQOL) measures are particularly rare and research in post-conflict settings is scarce. Whether social factors independently affect SQOL after war in addition to symptoms has not been explored in large scale studies.

Method

War-affected community samples were recruited through a random-walk technique in five Balkan countries and through registers and networking in three Western European countries. The interviews were carried out on average 8 years after the war in the Balkans. SQOL was assessed on Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life - MANSA. We explored the impact of war events, posttraumatic stress symptoms and post-war environment on SQOL.

Results

We interviewed 3313 Balkan residents and 854 refugees in Western Europe. The MANSA mean score was 4.8 (SD = 0.9) for the Balkan sample and 4.7 (SD = 0.9) for refugees. In both samples participants were explicitly dissatisfied with their employment and financial situation. Posttraumatic stress symptoms had a strong negative impact on SQOL. Traumatic war events were directly linked with lower SQOL in Balkan residents. The post-war environment influenced SQOL in both groups: unemployment was associated with lower SQOL and recent contacts with friends with higher SQOL. Experiencing more migration-related stressors was linked to poorer SQOL in refugees.

Conclusion

Both posttraumatic stress symptoms and aspects of the post-war environment independently influence SQOL in war-affected populations. Aid programmes to improve wellbeing following the traumatic war events should include both treatment of posttraumatic symptoms and social interventions.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Matanov et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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