The Impact of War Trauma and Housing Environment on Mental Wellbeing of Syrian Refugees in Jordan: A Comparison between In-Camp and Urban Populations

Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare mental wellbeing and levels of post-trauma distress between Syrian refugees who live inside camps and those who live outside camps in Jordan through a survey-based cross-sectional design, where data were collected from 240 adult Syrian refugees in Jordan. The Arabic versions of the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF), and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) were used to quantitatively measure variables through descriptive statistics and multiple comparative analysis tests. Despite having no significant correlation with residence, findings of the MHC-SF showed significance for mental wellbeing with employment status and income. Whereas IES-R showed that camp refugees fared significantly better in terms of trauma effect than urban refugees. It can be concluded that Syrian refugees living inside camps were disadvantaged in terms of mental wellbeing but slightly less affected by war in comparison to those living in urban areas. Improved programs and policies are needed to uplift the mental wellbeing of Syrian refugees in Jordan and to minimize the destructive traumatic effects of the Syrian war on their wellness.