Mental Health Disorders in Population Displaced by Conflict in Colombia: Comparative Analysis against the National Mental Health Survey 2015

The effect of conflict-related violence intensity and alcohol use on mental health: The case of Colombia

We investigated the causal impact of conflict-related violence on individual mental health and its potential pathways in Colombia. Using data from before and after the 2016 peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), we adopted a difference-in-differences empirical design combined with instrumental variables estimation. We also used formal mediation analysis to investigate a possible mediating role of alcohol consumption in the relationship between conflict exposure and mental health. Our results did not support the hypothesis that changes in exposure to conflict violence after the peace accord causally led to any changes in individual mental health. We were unable to identify a statistically significant mediating effect of alcohol consumption in the relationship between exposure to conflict violence and mental health.

Mapping mental health care services for children and youth population in Colombia's Pacific: potential for boundary spanning between community and formal services

BACKGROUND

Conflict and violence can impact on the mental health of children and young people, who are in a crucial stage of their personal growth. Not much is known about the provision of mental health care to young people in conflict-affected areas. Community-based care can be essential, as state-led services are often scarce in conflict contexts, like Colombia's Pacific region where this research was conducted. According to the WHO, such care is ideally provided in the form of a network of interconnected services, offered by different actors beyond the formal health sector. This article describes the relationship between the formal and community mental health systems in Colombia's Pacific region, and identifies ways of improving their interaction.

METHODS

Qualitative data were collected through 98 semi-structured interviews with community organisations, schools, international organisations and state institutions. These interviews aimed to identify the strategies used to promote young people's mental health and the interactions between the different providers. Boundary spanning theory was used to analyse how different actors and forms of mental health care provision could coordinate better.

RESULTS

Community organisations and schools use a wide array of strategies to attend to the mental health of children and young people, often of a collective and psychosocial nature. State institutions offer more clinically focused strategies, which are however limited in terms of accessibility and continuity. International organisations aim to strengthen state capacity, but often struggle due to high staff turnover. Although mental health care pathways exist, their effectiveness is limited due to ineffective coordination between actors.

CONCLUSIONS

To make sure that the variety of strategies to improve young people's mental health effectively reach their beneficiaries, better coordination is needed between the different actors. Mental health care pathways should therefore integrate community organisations, while community connectors can help to manage the coordination between different actors and forms of clinical and psychosocial support.

Crisis due to war: anxiety, depression and stress in the population of 13 Latin American countries

Sustainability may be at risk in a population that has altered health, according to Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3): Health and well-being. The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine could jeopardize SDG 3, specifically the mental health of the population. The present study sought to determine the association between severe anxiety, depression and stress in population of 13 Latin American countries according to fear about the war conflict. It was a cross-sectional, analytical and multicenter study. Anxiety, depression and stress were measured with the DASS-21 test (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.97) and fear due to an armed crisis with a questionnaire already validated in Latin America (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.92), which was also adjusted for sex, age, education level and country of residence. Descriptive and analytical statistics were obtained. Of the 2,626 respondents, the main fear was that weapons of mass destruction would be used. In the multivariate models, strong associations were found between fear of a possible world-scale armed conflict and having severe or very severe levels of anxiety (aPR: 1.97; 95% CI: 1.64-2.36; value of p <0.001), depression (aPR: 1.91; 95% CI: 1.54-2.36; value of p <0.001) or stress (aPR: 2.05; 95% CI: 1.63-2.57; value of p <0.001). Sustainability linked to SDG 3, specifically mental health, is affected by this type of significant events, given the possible global war crisis that could trigger major events, even more so if added to the deterioration already experienced by COVID-19 in the Latin American region, insecurity and constant political uncertainty.

Medición de indicadores de salud mental de población en contexto de conflicto armado en Colombia: revisión de alcance

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.

Salud sexual y reproductiva de mujeres afrocolombianas víctimas del conflicto armado en Bojayá, Chocó, Colombia. Estudio de métodos mixtos, 2019

Objetivos: explorar la salud sexual y reproductiva, en interfaz con la salud mental, en las mujeres supervivientes de la masacre de Bojayá, considerando los aspectos físicos y psicológicos involucrados en el pleno ejercicio de la sexualidad y en la reproducción a partir del análisis de registros de valoraciones clínicas recolectados en 2018.Materiales y métodos: estudio descriptivo mixto, cuantitativo tipo serie de casos y cualitativo tipo narrativo de tópicos. En el componente cuantitativo participaron 44 mujeres supervivientes directas de un artefacto explosivo; en el componente cualitativo participaron 10 de ellas, que presentaban disfunción sexual. El muestreo fue por conveniencia. Las fuentes de información fueron los registros de atención. Se midieron variables sociodemográficas, antecedentes, ginecobstétricos, síntomas, signos y diagnósticos de disfunción sexual y de salud mental a partir del CIE X. Análisis epidemiológico descriptivo y análisis narrativo cualitativo, en los que se identificaron temáticas emergentes sobre problemáticas vivenciadas y priorizadas, así como eventos significativos relacionados.Resultados: la edad promedio fue 45 años; 54% presentaba sintomatología ginecológica; 32 %dificultades para acceder a planificación familiar; 23 % disfunciones sexuales; 13,63 % antecedente de violencia sexual; y 34 % violencia intrafamiliar; 61,36 % con trastorno de estrés postraumático; el componente cualitativo evidenció frecuentes vivencias de violencia de pareja, problemas familiares, y sufrimiento por sintomatología no tratada.Conclusiones: en mujeres supervivientes del conflicto armado, deben evaluarse rutinariamente posibles disfunciones sexuales, trastornos postraumáticos, y antecedentes de poli victimización. Son necesarios nuevos estudios descriptivos y analíticos, explorando estos aspectos y sus relaciones.