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Veronese G, Mahamid F, Bdier D, Obaid H, Cavazzoni F. The development and validation of the Palestinian children's traumatic events checklist in a war-torn environment. BMC Psychiatry 2024; 24:254. [PMID: 38570753 PMCID: PMC10988932 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-024-05731-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Traumatic experiences in childhood can lead to trauma symptoms and impaired mental health, especially when children are exposed to war and political violence. Despite significant attention to child's exposure to traumas, few instruments to detect potentially traumatic events have been validated psychometrically. Our study aimed to develop, adapt and validate a user-friendly traumatic events checklist in Palestinian children living in three areas affected by low-intensity war and ongoing political and military violence. 965 Palestinian children (494 males and 471 females) living in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem were administered with a tailor-made Traumatic Events checklist, Children Impact of Events scale, and Strengths and Difficulties Scale. Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analysis was run to detect the factorial structure of the checklist. Furthermore, ANOVA was performed to identify statistically significant demographic differences among participants. A three factors structure emerged with Political violence-related traumatic experiences (PVTE), military violence against individuals (MVI), and military violence against individuals and families (MVF). Gaza children and adolescents resulted in being the most exposed to potentially traumatic events. The instrument can clearly portray potentially traumatic experiences in children exposed to violent events and adverse childhood experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guido Veronese
- Department of Human Sciences and Education "R.Massa", University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
| | - Fayez Mahamid
- Department of Counseling and Psychology, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
| | - Dana Bdier
- Department of Human Sciences and Education "R.Massa", University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Department of Counseling and Psychology, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine
| | - Hania Obaid
- Department of Human Sciences and Education "R.Massa", University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Federica Cavazzoni
- Department of Human Sciences and Education "R.Massa", University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
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Nieto Mora D, Valencia S, Trujillo N, López JD, Martínez JD. Characterizing social and cognitive EEG-ERP through multiple kernel learning. Heliyon 2023; 9:e16927. [PMID: 37484433 PMCID: PMC10361029 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 06/01/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Abstract
EEG-ERP social-cognitive studies with healthy populations commonly fail to provide significant evidence due to low-quality data and the inherent similarity between groups. We propose a multiple kernel learning-based approach to enhance classification accuracy while keeping the traceability of the features (frequency bands or regions of interest) as a linear combination of kernels. These weights determine the relevance of each source of information, which is crucial for specialists. As a case study, we classify healthy ex-combatants of the Colombian armed conflict and civilians through a cognitive valence recognition task. Although previous works have shown accuracies below 80% with these groups, our proposal achieved an F1 score of 98%, revealing the most relevant bands and brain regions, which are the base for socio-cognitive trainings. With this methodology, we aim to contribute to standardizing EEG analyses and enhancing their statistics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Nieto Mora
- Máquinas Inteligentes y Reconocimiento de Patrones, Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano ITM - Medellín, Colombia
| | - Stella Valencia
- Grupo de Investigación Salud Mental, Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia UDEA - Medellín, Colombia
- Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Antioquia UDEA - Medellín, Colombia
| | - Natalia Trujillo
- Grupo de Investigación Salud Mental, Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia UDEA - Medellín, Colombia
- Grupo de Neurociencias de Antioquia, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Antioquia UDEA - Medellín, Colombia
| | - Jose David López
- Engineering Faculty, Universidad de Antioquia UDEA - Medellín, Colombia
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López-López W, Rubio León DC, García-Padilla D, Cakal H, Abitbol P, Pineda C, Rocha D, Reyes Rivera MJ, Guzmán Duarte AF. Medición de indicadores de salud mental de población en contexto de conflicto armado en Colombia: revisión de alcance. UNIVERSITAS PSYCHOLOGICA 2022. [DOI: 10.11144/javeriana.upsy21.mism] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
El conflicto armado ha marcado las diferentes dimensiones de vida de la población colombiana por lo que ha sido objeto de diversos estudios, generando la necesidad de evaluar el abordaje e instrumentos utilizados para medir indicadores de salud mental de población en contexto de conflicto armado. Esta investigación pretende analizar artículos científicos que aborden dichos indicadores y que utilicen instrumentos psicométricos para tal fin. Se realizó una revisión de alcance siguiendo la metodología PRISMA y utilizando el software CADIMA. La búsqueda bibliográfica se hizo en las bases de datos Web of Science, Scielo y Scopus, usando términos claves en inglés y español. Se analizaron 21 artículos en los que se identifica el uso de 53 instrumentos, siendo los más aplicados el AUDIT y la CIDI-CAPI. La mayoría de los artículos reportaron afectaciones relacionadas con estrés postraumático, ansiedad, depresión y consumo de sustancias. Se encontraron pocos estudios de validación o construcción de instrumentos. Es necesario fortalecer el trabajo en el desarrollo y validación de pruebas para evaluar indicadores de salud mental en poblaciones víctimas del conflicto armado colombiano, con las que se posibilite una mejor valoración de las afectaciones.
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Baez S, Trujillo N, Hurtado E, Ortiz-Ayala A, Calvache MR, Quishpe RC, Ibanez A. The Dynamics of Implicit Intergroup Biases of Victims and Ex-combatants in Post-conflict Scenarios. JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE 2022; 37:NP9295-NP9319. [PMID: 33336601 DOI: 10.1177/0886260520983258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Strong group identities arise in intergroup conflict scenarios and perpetuate sectarian violence even in post-conflict scenarios. In particular, out-group negative implicit associations are predictors of decreased intergroup forgiveness, as well as increased distrust and aggression against the out-group. Thus, the presence of implicit intergroup (i.e., ex-combatants and victims) biases seems to be a relevant factor in post-conflict scenarios. Here, we aimed to explore whether negative biases toward the out-group are boosted by (a) previous exposure to conflict violence or (b) identification with an armed violent group. One hundred and twenty-eight participants, 65 ex-combatants from Colombian guerrillas and 63 victims of the armed conflict, were assessed with a modified version of the implicit association test (IAT). Our results revealed that the victim group showed a significant negative bias against ex-combatants. However, no bias toward the out-group (i.e., victims) or in-group favoritism was observed in the ex-combatant group. Similarly, we found that IAT scores were not associated with sociodemographical variables (i.e., sex, years of education, or type of dwelling), the levels of combat exposure, victimization armed-conflict-related experiences, or child abuse antecedents. Our results showed an unexpected lack of in-group bias in ex-combatants, potentially triggered by the effect of current demobilization and reintegration processes. Thus, negative associations with the out-group will persist in the framework of societal condemnation of the out-group. In contrast, these negative biases will tend to be abolished when entering in conflict with larger societal reintegration processes. The results reinforce the idea that reintegration may benefit from interventions at the societal level, including all actors of the conflict. In addition, our findings highlight the importance of implementing victim interventions aimed at reducing stigma and revengeful actions in spaces of collective disarmament.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Natalia Trujillo
- GISAME, Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA), Medellín, Colombia
| | | | | | | | | | - Agustin Ibanez
- Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Universidad Autónoma del Caribe, Barranquilla, Colombia
- Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago de Chile, Chile
- Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), CA, United States
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Giebel C, Zuluaga MI, Saldarriaga G, White R, Reilly S, Montoya E, Allen D, Liu G, Castaño-Pineda Y, Gabbay M. Understanding post-conflict mental health needs and co-producing a community-based mental health intervention for older adults in Colombia: a research protocol. BMC Health Serv Res 2022; 22:253. [PMID: 35209878 PMCID: PMC8867455 DOI: 10.1186/s12913-022-07645-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Older adults in Colombia have seen a number of stressful life events – including the Colombian armed conflict, forced misplacement and recently COVID-19. These events likely have had and are having a substantial impact on people’s mental health and well-being, whilst mental health care provision in Colombia is not sufficient and often access is limited and unaffordable. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand the impact of stressful life events on the mental health of older adults living in Colombia, and co-produce, pilot, and evaluate a community-based mental health intervention in Turbo. Methods This 3-year international mixed-methods study comprises of three phases: Phase I will explore the impact of stressful life events on the mental health of older adults living in Colombia, and their mental health needs, via quantitative needs assessments and qualitative interviews and focus groups; Phase II will involve synthesising the findings from Phase I as well as conducting a systematic review and qualitative interviews with experts into implementing mental health interventions in LMICs to co-produce a community-based mental health intervention with older adults and local community group leaders and care providers; Phase III will involve the piloting and evaluation of the mental health intervention via quantitative and qualitative assessments. Co-production and public involvement underpin each element of this project. Discussion Appropriate mental health care is as important as physical health care, but this study also looks at how we might integrate these findings into community-level public health initiatives for application both within Colombia and more widely in both LMICs and more developed countries. This study protocol will act as a guide for the development and adaptation of psychosocial mental health interventions in different cultures and contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clarissa Giebel
- Department of Primary Care & Mental Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. .,NIHR ARC NWC, Liverpool, UK.
| | | | | | - Ross White
- Department of Primary Care & Mental Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Siobhan Reilly
- Centre for Applied Dementia Studies, Faculty of Health Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK.,NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire & Humber, Leeds, UK
| | - Erica Montoya
- Public Health Faculty, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
| | | | | | | | - Mark Gabbay
- Department of Primary Care & Mental Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.,NIHR ARC NWC, Liverpool, UK
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Trujillo S, Giraldo LS, López JD, Acosta A, Trujillo N. Mental health outcomes in communities exposed to Armed Conflict Experiences. BMC Psychol 2021; 9:127. [PMID: 34452647 PMCID: PMC8394205 DOI: 10.1186/s40359-021-00626-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2020] [Accepted: 08/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Populations exposed to Armed Conflict Experiences (ACE) show different levels of impact in their mental health (i.e. clinical and positive components); however, there is limited evidence related to mental health of general population (civilians not classified as victims) exposed to ACE. Government guided mental health assessments exclude this population. The use of a newly validated Extreme Experiences Scale (EX2) seems appropriate to classify victims, ex-combatants, and civilians for their mental health assessment.
Methods Here, we propose a novel approach to identify relationships between individuals classified with different levels of ACE exposure—independent of their legal role in the armed conflict, and mental health outcomes. According to the cut-off points derived from the scores of EX2, we classified the sample in low and high exposure to ACE. Results The high-level ACE group (scores > 2.5) included 119 subjects, and the low-level ACE was constituted by 66 subjects. Our results evidence that people with high exposure to ACE experiment higher odds to present anxiety disorders, risk of suicide, or post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as increased cognitive empathy (i.e., fantasy dimension). Conclusion These findings allowed us to identify the influence of ACE on mental health outcomes beyond the conventional frame (victim or ex-combatant), and to discuss effective interventions and implementation of mental health strategies in these communities. We expect to help the health system to focus on key vulnerable subjects by including civilians not recognized as victims, which are neglected from most of the public health screening, assessment, and interventions. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-021-00626-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Trujillo
- GISAME, Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, calle 62 Nº 52 - 59, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Luz Stella Giraldo
- GISAME, Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, calle 62 Nº 52 - 59, Medellín, Colombia
| | - José David López
- SISTEMIC, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, calle 70 No 52-21, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Alberto Acosta
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Mind, Brain and Behaviour Research Center (CIMCYC), Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Natalia Trujillo
- GISAME, Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, calle 62 Nº 52 - 59, Medellín, Colombia. .,National School of Public Health, University of Antioquia UdeA, Street 62 No. 52-59, Medellín, Colombia.
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