Abstract
BackgroundWith the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of up to three million Darfuris, the increasingly complex and on-going war in Darfur has warranted the need to investigate war-related severity and current mental health levels amongst its civilian population. The purpose of this study is to explore the association between war-related exposures and assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms amongst a sample of Darfuri female university students at Ahfad University for Women (AUW) in Omdurman city.MethodsAn exploratory cross-sectional study among a representative sample of Darfuri female university students at AUW (N = 123) was conducted in February 2010. Using an adapted version of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), war-related exposures and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were assessed. Means and standard deviations illustrated the experiential severity of war exposure dimensions and PTSD symptom sub-scales, while Pearson correlations tested for the strength of association between dimensions of war exposures and PTSD symptom sub-scales.ResultsApproximately 42 % of the Darfuri participants reported being displaced and 54 % have experienced war-related traumatic exposures either as victims or as witnesses (M = 28, SD = 14.24, range 0 – 40 events). Also, there was a strong association between the experiential dimension of war-related trauma exposures and the full symptom of PTSD. Moreover, the refugee-specific self-perception of functioning sub-scale within the PTSD measurement scored a mean of 3.2 (SD = .56), well above the 2.0 cut-off.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence for a relationship between traumatic war-related exposures and symptom rates of PTSD among AUW Darfuri female students. Findings are discussed in terms of AUW counseling service improvement.
Highlights
With the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of up to three million Darfuris, the increasingly complex and on-going war in Darfur has warranted the need to investigate war-related severity and current mental health levels amongst its civilian population
The main aim of the present study was to substantiate the preceding study’s findings by exploring the severity of war-related traumatic events and assessing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomology on a larger scale, and to investigate the association between war-related exposures and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among a sample of Darfuri female university students currently studying at Ahfad University for Women (AUW) in Omdurman city
Ethno-socio-demographic characteristics Approximately 70 % of the current Darfuri participants ranged in age between 15–25 years all have come to Omdurman city for the first time to pursue their education at Ahfad University for Women
Summary
With the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of up to three million Darfuris, the increasingly complex and on-going war in Darfur has warranted the need to investigate war-related severity and current mental health levels amongst its civilian population. The purpose of this study is to explore the association between war-related exposures and assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms amongst a sample of Darfuri female university students at Ahfad University for Women (AUW) in Omdurman city. Omdurman is home to Ahfad University for Women (AUW), an all female private university with an estimated 6839 students from all parts of the Sudan; these include students from conflict and post-conflict areas of the west and south. It is there to assist its female students to cope with everyday life problems, overcome academic difficulties and adjust to their environments more effectively thereby allowing the discovery and development of their own potentials for a smooth transition to university life and positive psychological mental health. There has been some mention of suicidal ideation (especially during examination time, and after a break-up of a romantic relationship), and some declaration of social and racial discrimination (especially those coming from rural communities)
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