War can harm intimacy: consequences for refugees who escaped Syria

Journal of Global Health
Niveen Rizkalla, Steven P Segal

Abstract

Syrians seeking refuge have been exposed to atrocities and trauma beyond comprehension. This study examines how personal, interpersonal, displacement and war-related factors have impacted married refugees' intimate lives. Data included 158 married Syrian refugee individuals who live in the host communities of Jordan. Refugees reported on their personal, interpersonal, current-displacement and past-war related experiences. Traumatic impacts were assessed using the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), K6 screening scale for serious mental illness (SMI), The War Events Questionnaire (WEQ), and Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships (PAIR). Stepwise multiple regressions were used to determine the factors associated with refugees' intimacy-total score and its six dimensions. Most refugees (94.2%) experienced war events, and 34% screened positive on the PTSD-HTQ scale. Overall intimacy scores were low, scoring M (±standard deviation) = 2.4 (±1.1) of a possible five on average. Intimacy scores were lower for refugees who screened positive on the PTSD-HTQ (M = 1.95 ± 65) compared to the ones screening negative, respectively (M = 2.23 ± 66). Furthermore, the higher the PTSD symptoms reported, the lower the couples' intimacy. PT...Continue Reading

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Apr 1, 2018·Journal of Traumatic Stress·Niveen Rizkalla, Steven P Segal

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Citations

Nov 7, 2019·European Journal of Psychotraumatology·Niveen Rizkalla, Steven P Segal
Nov 18, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Niveen RizkallaSteven P Segal
Aug 2, 2020·Journal of Affective Disorders·Niveen Rizkalla, Steven P Segal
Jul 30, 2021·Journal of Transcultural Nursing : Official Journal of the Transcultural Nursing Society·Ahlam Al-NatourSamar Mohammad Al-Ostaz

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