Abstract
BackgroundGlobally 70.8 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes and are at disproportionally high risk for trauma. At the time of this study, there was an estimated 1.6 million internally displaced persons (IDP) in Iraq, more than two-thirds of whom reside in private, urban settings. This study aims to understand the impact of post-displacement accommodation on mental well-being of the Yazidi minority group displaced in Iraq.MethodsMulti-stage stratified sampling was used to randomly select IDPs in camp and out of camp settlements in northern Iraq. Standardized questionnaires evaluated factors including exposure to violence and self-reported distress symptoms (measured by Impact of Event Scale-Revised). A multi-variate linear model assessed the relationship between settlement setting and distress symptoms.ResultsOne thousand two hundred fifty-six displaced Yazidi participants were included in the study: 63% in camps and 37% out of camps. After controlling for exposure to violence, social cohesion, unemployment, and access to basic services, IDPs in camps were predicted to have a 19% higher mean distress symptom score compared to those out of camps.ConclusionsThis study provides a framework to investigate post-displacement accommodation as a potential intervention to improve well-being for displaced populations. With a shift towards new models of emergency and long-term housing, it is important to understand the potential and limitations of more decentralized models, and identify effective methods to maintain access to basic services while improving living conditions for both displaced populations and their host communities.
Highlights
70.8 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes and are at disproportionally high risk for trauma
Exposure to violence and daily stressors, including those associated with the built environment and socioeconomic hardship, are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and poor mental health among these populations, suggesting that discontinuation of these stressors can be an important intervention to mitigate the consequences of trauma [4, 14, 15]
As displaced populations increasingly seek shelter in urban areas and the international community shifts away from establishing traditional camps for displaced populations, there is a need to better understand the implication of temporary settlement choices on mental health and explore how the built environment can be conceptualized as an intervention to improve mental health and long-term outcomes [11]
Summary
70.8 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes and are at disproportionally high risk for trauma. Exposure to violence and daily stressors, including those associated with the built environment and socioeconomic hardship, are associated with PTSD and poor mental health among these populations, suggesting that discontinuation of these stressors can be an important intervention to mitigate the consequences of trauma [4, 14, 15]. As displaced populations increasingly seek shelter in urban areas and the international community shifts away from establishing traditional camps for displaced populations, there is a need to better understand the implication of temporary settlement choices on mental health and explore how the built environment can be conceptualized as an intervention to improve mental health and long-term outcomes [11]
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