title: March of the Living, a Holocaust Educational Tour: An Assessment of Anxiety and Depression.
abstract: March of the Living (MOTL) is a 2-week international educational tour for high school seniors to learn about the Holocaust by visiting concentration/deaths camps and other Jewish historical sites in Poland, culminating in a week-long excursion in Israel. Although the trip is primarily educational, there is recent research evidence to suggest that attendees may suffer from a variety of mental health sequelae. To determine symptoms of anxiety and depression, 196 Los Angeles delegation participants voluntarily completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, composed of a trait anxiety scale (i.e., STAI-T) and a state anxiety scale (i.e., STAI-S), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Pre-MOTL, students completed an initial background questionnaire along with the STAI-T, STAI-S, and the CES-D. At end-Poland and end-Israel, the STAI-S and CES-D were administered again. Results demonstrated that depression scores increased during end-Poland and returned to baseline; however, anxiety scores mildly increased end-Poland and rose slightly more and persisted through end-Israel.
authors.affiliation: Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, 4650 Sunset Blvd., Mailstop #113, Los Angeles, CA, 90027, USA. nager@chla.usc.edu.
authors.forename: Alan L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Nager
authors.affiliation: Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Phung
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.affiliation: Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Grajower
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Gold
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D017767:Holocaust / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D007585:Jews / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011044:Poland; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Anxiety; Depression; High school students; Holocaust; Jewish education; March of the Living; Mental health