The relationship between trauma and forgiveness in post-conflict Sierra Leone.

Abstract

The decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone was declared over in 2002, but the psychological impact of the conflict remains. The purpose of this study was to determine if forgiveness is related to improved adjustment to trauma and for what demographic groups it is most useful in postwar Sierra Leone. Data were collected as part of the Association for Trauma Outreach and Prevention of Meaningfulworld’s humanitarian outreach mission to Sierra Leone in March of 2009. Participants were administered a sociodemographic questionnaire that included gender, age, religion, education, and employment variables. Trauma exposure and posttraumatic symptomatology were assessed using Parts 1 and 3 of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire. Forgiveness was assessed using the Enright Forgiveness Inventory, which provides scores for total forgiveness and subscores for forgiving affect, behavior, and cognition. The role of gender and age were examined, and several significant relationships between forgiveness and trauma emerged. Trauma exposure and traumatic stress were significantly correlated, although traumatic stress showed a stronger relationship to forgiveness variables. Salient differences emerged between men and women and among older and younger participants. The strongest relationship between traumatic stress and forgiveness emerged in older women.