title: The validity of posttraumatic stress disorder among Vietnamese refugees.
abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the validity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Vietnamese refugees. The study population included 74 Vietnamese refugees who had resettled in the metropolitan Boston area. The previously validated Harvard Trauma Questionnaire was used to assess traumatic events and trauma-related symptoms. The number of traumatic events experienced was positively correlated with the severity of PTSD-related symptoms in this population. Internal consistency estimates and principal components analysis provided results that generally supported DSM-IV symptom dimensions of arousal, avoidance, and reexperiencing. However, the emergence of two separate dimensions of avoidance reflected the important contribution of depression to the traumatic response.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Fawzi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: T V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ngo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Mollica
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001143:Arousal; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D001900:Boston; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D014744:Vietnam / Q000208:ethnology