The DOI matches its Crossref record, with a small difference in title or year; 118 of the 119 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Measuring Trauma and Health Status in Refugees: A Critical Review
Abstract
Context Refugees experience multiple traumatic events and have significant associated health problems, but data about refugee trauma and health status are often conflicting and difficult to interpret.Objectives To assess the characteristics of the literature on refugee trauma and health, to identify and evaluate instruments used to measure refugee trauma and health status, and to recommend improvements.Data sources MEDLINE, PsychInfo, Health and PsychoSocial Instruments, CINAHL, and Cochrane Systematic Reviews (searched through OVID from the inception of each database to October 2001), and the New Mexico Refugee Project database.Study selection Key terms and combination operators were applied to identify English-language publications evaluating measurement of refugee trauma and/or health status.Data extraction Information extracted for each article included author; year of publication; primary focus; type (empirical, review, or descriptive); and type/name and properties of instrument(s) included. Articles were excluded from further analyses if they were review or descriptive, were not primarily about refugee health status or trauma, or were only about infectious diseases. Instruments were then evaluated according to 5 criteria (purpose, construct definition, design, developmental process, reliability and validity) as described in the published literature.Data synthesis Of 394 publications identified, 183 were included for further analyses of their characteristics; 91 (49.7%) included quantitative data but did not evaluate measurement properties of instruments used in refugee research, 78 (42.6%) reported on statistical relationships between measures (presuming validity), and 14 (7.7%) were only about statistical properties of instruments. In these 183 publications, 125 different instruments were used; of these, 12 were developed in refugee research. None of these instruments fully met all 5 evaluation criteria, 3 met 4 criteria, and 5 met only 1 of the criteria. Another 8 standard instruments were designed and developed in nonrefugee populations but adapted for use in refugee research; of these, 2 met all 5 criteria and 6 met 4 criteria.Conclusions The majority of articles about refugee trauma or health are either descriptive or include quantitative data from instruments that have limited or untested validity and reliability in refugees. Primary limitations to accurate measurement in refugee research are the lack of theoretical bases to instruments and inattention to using and reporting sound measurement principles.
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“Survivors of civilian trauma have often been exposed to a single traumatic event, while refugees typically have a history of multiple and prolonged traumatisation [9].”
From Treatment of trauma-affected refugees with venlafaxine versus sertraline combined with psychotherapy - a randomised study (2016) · cites this paper as [9]
In the citing paper
“They found the HTQ and HSCL-25 to be fairly well-validated, but found the majority of the remaining reviewed ratings scales to be poorly validated for refugee groups [9].”
From Treatment of trauma-affected refugees with venlafaxine versus sertraline combined with psychotherapy - a randomised study (2016) · cites this paper as [9]
In the citing paper
“Current assessment measures of PGD are largely based on North American and European conceptualizations of grief (etic i.e., from the perspective of the observer).”
From The assessment of grief in refugees and post-conflict survivors: a narrative review of etic and emic research (2018) · cites this paper as Hollifield et al., 2002
In the citing paper
“A review by Hollifield et al. (2002) found that 78% of studies relied on measures developed in the Global North to examine refugee mental health.”
From The assessment of grief in refugees and post-conflict survivors: a narrative review of etic and emic research (2018) · cites this paper as Hollifield et al., 2002
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hollifield, M., Warner, T. D., Lian, N., Krakow, B., Jenkins, J. H., Kesler, J., Stevenson, J., & Westermeyer, J.
- Affiliations
- University of New Mexico (US)
- Venue
- JAMA
- Publisher
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- Published
- 2002-08-07
- Volume
- 288
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 611
- ISSN
- 0002-9955 (ISSN-L)
- 0098-7484
- OpenAlex
- W132194030
- Cited by
- 60
- References
- 119
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 3.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- JAMA (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH 59574)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration, Identity, and Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Keywords
- refugees, trauma measurement, health status, psychological trauma, refugee health, health assessment instruments
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