Objective: This study aims to explore the traumatic experiences and to estimate prevalence and predictor factors for PTSD, depression and general psychiatric morbidity amongst Palestinian adults living in the Gaza Strip. Method: A total of 500 Palestinian adults were recruited from four areas of the Gaza Strip using a snowball sampling. The same sample was used for both quantitative studies. Four scales were employed to identify predictors for trauma, PTSD, depression and general mental health. Participants were divided into three age groups: young adults (18 to 25 years), adults (26 to 49 years) and older adults (50 to 65 years). The third qualitative study was aimed at exploring the traumatic experiences of adults living in the Gaza Strip to expand upon the outcomes from the quantitative studies. Results: For Studies 1 and 2, the prevalence rate of PTSD symptoms was 90% and 36.7% met the criteria of DSM-IV for PTSD. Study 2 found depression was 38.4%, and general mental health comorbidity was 67.1%. Study 2 revealed significant differences in PTSD between age groups. Novel results were found amongst adults and older adults on the re-experiencing subscale for PTSD. Participants who lived in Gaza City scored significantly higher on the PTSD subscale for hyperarousal compared to those living in the middle Gaza region. Study 3 expanded on the psychometric data through interviewing members of the Gaza community. When analysed five main themes were identified: Siege related stressors; war related trauma; psychological negative effects; re-experiencing initial event and coping strategies. Conclusions: The findings indicated that blockade was the predominant cause of the increased prevalence rate of PTSD. These studies found that the Palestinian adult participants in Gaza had been exposed to a variety of traumatic events on an ongoing basis that was having a detrimental impact on their mental health.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:715933 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | El-Deeb, Talal |
| Contributors | Dovey, T. ; Wydell, T. ; Price, M. ; Marshall, T. ; Hein, A. |
| Publisher | Brunel University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/14829 |
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