title: Factor structure of PTSD symptoms among West and Central African refugees.
abstract: Although trauma is widespread in Africa, Africans are unrepresented in the literature on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The authors used confirmatory factor analysis of responses to the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire to model PTSD symptom structure in a sample of African refugees presenting at a U.S. torture treatment clinic. They tested four models that are proposed in the literature and one based on their clinical experience in which some symptoms of hyperarousal were integrated into intrusion. Their findings support a preference for a 4-factor aroused intrusion model. Discussion focuses on interpretation of models, the role of numbing and avoidance, and the limitations of Euro American symptoms in non-Euro American populations.
authors.affiliation: Bellevue Hospital, New York, NY 10016, USA. rasmua01@med.nyu.edu
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.forename: Hawthorne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Allen S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Keller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000350:Africa, Central; D000354:Africa, Western; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D014104:Torture / Q000523:psychology*