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Post-conflict struggles as networks of problems: A network analysis of trauma, daily stressors and psychological distress among Sri Lankan war survivors
- Source :
- Social sciencemedicine (1982). 190
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- A growing body of literature indicates that the mental distress experienced by survivors of war is a function of both experienced trauma and stressful life events. However, the majority of these studies are limited in that they 1) employ models of psychological distress that emphasize underlying latent constructs and do not allow researchers to examine the unique associations between particular symptoms and various stressors; and 2) use one or more measures that were not developed for that particular context and thus may exclude key traumas, stressful life events and symptoms of psychopathology. The current study addresses both these limitations by 1) using a novel conceptual model, network analysis, which assumes that symptoms covary with each other not because they stem from a latent construct, but rather because they represent meaningful relationships between the symptoms; and 2) employing a locally developed measure of experienced trauma, stressful life problems and symptoms of psychopathology. Over the course of 2009 to 2011, 337 survivors of the Sri Lankan civil war were administered the Penn-RESIST-Peradeniya War Problems Questionnaire (PRPWPQ). Network analysis revealed that symptoms of psychopathology, problems pertaining to lack of basic needs, and social problems were central to the network relative to experienced trauma and other types of problems. After controlling for shared associations, social problems in particular were the most central, significantly more so than traumatic events and family problems. Several particular traumatic events, stressful life events and symptoms of psychopathology that were central to the network were also identified. Discussion emphasizes the utility of such network models to researchers and practitioners determining how to spend limited resources in the most impactful way possible.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Warfare
Health (social science)
media_common.quotation_subject
Context (language use)
Social issues
Article
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
03 medical and health sciences
Mental distress
0302 clinical medicine
History and Philosophy of Science
medicine
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Survivors
Psychiatry
media_common
Sri Lanka
Stressor
Middle Aged
030227 psychiatry
Conceptual model
Female
Basic needs
Construct (philosophy)
Psychology
Stress, Psychological
Clinical psychology
Psychopathology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 18735347
- Volume :
- 190
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Social sciencemedicine (1982)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c49b68a4db95df2a925eb9a2de4d8eec