MENTAL HEALTH OF SYRIAN REFUGEE ADOLESCENTS: HOW FAR HAVE WE COME?

• Published in: Journal of adolescent health Vol. 66; no. 2S; p. S23
• Main Authors: Akgül, Sinem, Raman, Şenel Hüsnü, Derman, Orhan, Özmert, Elif Nursel, Bideci, Aysun, Hasanoğlu, Enver
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Elsevier BV 01.02.2020
• Subjects: Adolescent girls; Anxiety; Bilingualism; Camps; Conversion; Displaced persons; Gender differences; Health status; Hostility; Intervention; Living conditions; Mental depression; Mental health; Mental health care; Political crises; Post traumatic stress disorder; Psychiatric symptoms; Psychopathology; Quality of life; Self concept; Severity; Somatization; Symptoms; Teenagers; Syria
• ISSN: 1054-139X; 1879-1972

Purpose: The political crisis in Syria and instability has resulted in Syrians fleeing to neighboring countries. Turkey currently holds the largest refugee population in the world. In order to shelter these displaced people, temporary accommodation centers (TACs) have been established in Turkey, especially near the Syrian border. In 2016, we conducted a study looking at the psychiatric symptoms of a group of Syrian refugee adolescents living in one of Turkey's TACs. The findings of that study suggested that mental health had been compromised in these teens. Since then many measures have been taken to address this problem such as better living conditions in the TACs, greater opportunities for education and more extensive healthcare options. The aim of the current study was to re-assess the psychiatric symptoms and to additionally see if there were any influences of gender, age and duration of stay at the TAC on the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSO) levels of these adolescents. Methods: A total of 76 adolescents (35F; 41M) aged between 12-18 years (M=14.2, SD=.83) received the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) which assessed their anxiety, depression. negative self-concept, somatization and hostility levels in addition to a global severity index. Results > 1.0 indicated psychopathological symptoms. Results: The duration of stay at the camps ranged between 1 - 8 years (M=5.97, SD=2.03). Out of the sample, 30% reported having experienced loss of a family member as a result of the Syrian war. All subscores decreased from 2016 to 2019 showing significant improvement in psychopathological symptoms. The most significant change was in the global severity score which decreased from 2.15 to 0.8, from 2016 to 2019 respectively. A correlation was conducted to see the relationship between age of adolescent, years of stay at the camp and the subscales of the BSI. The only significant correlation was that between years of stay at the camp and the depression subscale (r(170)=.26, p=.03). An independent samples t-test was conducted to assess gender differences on the subscales. It was found that adolescent girls reported significantly higher scores than males in anxiety (t(71 )=2.09, p=.04), depression (t(68)=2.49, p=.015), somatization (t(72)=2.66, p=.01) and the global severity index (t(60)=2.52, p=.015). Conclusions: Since the first study was conducted interventions to improve the quality of life in the TACs have been made. The conversion of tent cities into container cities is one of the most significant changes. All of the teens in our study were enrolled in school and were also bilingual (Turkish and Arabic). This study shows that the interventions designed to tackle PTSD symptomology may have been affective in improving the mental health status of these teens by transforming risk to wellness and provides a roadmap for tackling existing issues in vulnerable conditions. Additionally, females are under higher risk for psychopathology so gender targeted interventions may be necessary to deal with these issues.