PTSD symptom severity relates to cognitive and psycho-social dysfunctioning – a study with Congolese refugees in Uganda

dc.contributor.authorAinamani, Herbert E.
dc.contributor.authorElbert, Thomas
dc.contributor.authorOlema, David K.
dc.contributor.authorHecker, Tobias
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-24T15:28:49Z
dc.date.available2022-05-24T15:28:49Z
dc.date.issued2017-02-14
dc.description.abstractBackground: In the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), civilians have been heavily exposed to traumatic stressors. Traumatizing experiences cumulatively heighten the risk for trauma-related disorders, and with it affect cognitive and psycho-social functioning. Objectives: We aimed at investigating the association between trauma-related disorders and cognitive and psycho-social functioning and hypothesized that PTSD symptom severity would negatively correlate with executive functioning, working memory and psycho-social functioning in everyday life. Method: In total, 323 Congolese refugees (mean age: 31.3 years) who arrived in the Ugandan Nakivale refugee settlement after January 2012 were assessed regarding their exposure to traumatic events, PTSD symptom severity (posttraumatic symptom scale interview), executive functioning (Tower of London), working memory performance (Corsi block tapping task) and psycho-social dysfunctioning (Luo functioning scale). Results: Hierarchical regression analyses indicated a significant negative association between PTSD symptom severity and working memory (β = –0.32, p < 0.001), as well as executive functions (β = –0.19, p = 0.003). Furthermore, the impairment of psycho-social functioning in everyday life was positively related with PTSD symptom severity (β = 0.70, p < 0.001), and negatively with executive functioning (β = –0.15, p = 0.003). However, working memory performance was not significantly related to psycho-social dysfunctioning (β = 0.09, p > 0.05). Conclusion: Trauma survivors not only suffer from the core PTSD symptoms but also from impaired cognitive functioning. PTSD symptom severity seems furthermore to be related to impaired psycho-social functioning. Our findings suggest that trauma-related mental health problems may heighten the risk for poverty and lack of prospect and further aggravate the consequences of war and conflict.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), vivo international, and the Social Science Research Council.en_US
dc.identifier.citationHerbert E. Ainamani, Thomas Elbert, David K. Olema & Tobias Hecker (2017) PTSD symptom severity relates to cognitive and psycho-social dysfunctioning – a study with Congolese refugees in Uganda, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 8:1, 1283086, DOI: 10.1080/20008198.2017.1283086 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2017.1283086en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://ir.bsu.ac.ug//handle/20.500.12284/241
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherInforma UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis groupen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesTrauma;2;02
dc.subjectTraumatic stressen_US
dc.subjectPsycho-social functioningen_US
dc.subjectForced migrationen_US
dc.titlePTSD symptom severity relates to cognitive and psycho-social dysfunctioning – a study with Congolese refugees in Ugandaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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