Posttraumatic stress among children in Kurdistan

Author: Ahmad, A

Source: Acta Pædiatrica, Volume 97, Number 7, July 2008 , pp. 884-888(5)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $48.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Aim: To identify a posttraumatic stress disorder profile for the Child Behaviour Checklist.

Method: Checklist item scores for 806 school-aged children in Iraqi Kurdistan (201 randomly selected from the general population, 241 orphans, 199 primary medical care visitors and 165 hospital in-patients) were analysed against the Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Scale for Children (PTSS-C) scores, estimating not only stress diagnoses, but also nonstress-related, child-specific posttraumatic symptoms.

Results: Twenty checklist items, which revealed significant correlations with the stress diagnoses, formed the checklist-stress profile with acceptable reliability and validity, and significant correlation to the PTSS-C estimates.

Conclusion: A child-specific stress profile for the checklist is recommended for use as a screening instrument.

Keywords: Checklist-stress profile; Childhood stress; Kurdistan

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1651-2227.2008.00873.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Child Mental Health, College of Medicine, University of Dohuk, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Publication date: 2008-07-01