Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Psychometric Properties of the Multidimensional Loss Scale with Refugee Women-at-Risk Recently Arrived in Australia

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Refugee women-at-risk represent a distinct and vulnerable refugee population. We investigated the psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Loss Scale (MLS) with 104 women-at-risk, recently-arrived in Australia. Cross-sectional survey included: the MLS (indexing loss events and loss distress); Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (Indexing Trauma Events and Trauma Symptoms), and; Hopkins Symptom Checklist-37 (indexing anxiety, depression, and somatization symptoms). Exploratory factor analyses of MLS loss distress revealed a six-factor model (loss of symbolic self; loss of home; loss of interdependence; loss of past aspirations; interpersonal loss, and; loss of intrapersonal integrity). Cronbach alphas indicated satisfactory internal consistency for loss events (0.83) and distress (0.88). Correlations supported convergent validity of loss distress with trauma symptoms (r = 0.41) and divergent validity with anxiety (r = 0.09), Depression (r = 0.29), and somatic (r = 0.24) symptoms. Findings support MLS use in assessment of loss and associated distress with refugee women-at-risk.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

Datasets analysed for this study are available in data repository and will be made available on request to the corresponding author.

References

  1. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: UNHCR’s Strategic directions 2017–2021. Geneva: UNHCR; 2017. http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/excom/announce/5894558d4/unhcrs-strategic-directions-2017-2021.html Accessed 17 Jan 2017.

  2. Harris DL. Counting our losses. Reflecting on change, loss, and transition in everyday life. New York: Routledge; 2011.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Oxford University Press: the Oxford English Dictionary online; Oxford University Press; 2017 http://www.oed.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/view/Entry/110192?rskey=s3LT42&result=2#eid Accessed 23 October 2017.

  4. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Conclusion on Refugee Women. No. 60 (XL). Geneva: UNHCR; 1989. http://www.unhcr.org/protection/resettlement/51de6e929/resettlement-women-risk-risk-reduced-unhcr-usa.html Accessed 19 June 2016.

  5. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Proposed executive committee conclusion on women at risk: Follow-up paper. Geneva: UNHCR; 2006. http://www.unhcr.org/excom/icm/45082362c/proposed-executive-committee-conclusion-women-risk-follow-up-paper.html Accessed 19 June 2016.

  6. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: UNHCR Resettlement Handbook. Geneva: UNHCR; 2011. http://www.unhcr.org/protection/resettlement/3d464e842/unhcr-resettlement-handbook-chapter-6-unhcr-resettlement-submission-categories.html Accessed 29 March 2017.

  7. Vromans L, Schweitzer RD, Brough M. The multidimensional loss scale: validating a cross-cultural instrument for measuring loss. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2012;200:349–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Eisenbruch M. Cross cultural aspects of bereavement. 1: a conceptual framework for comparative analysis. Cult Med Psychiatr. 1984;8:283–309.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Eisenbruch M. From post-traumatic stress disorder to cultural bereavement: Diagnosis of Southeast Asian refugees. Soc Sci Med. 1991;33:673 – 80.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3). Washington: APA; 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Green BL. Traumatic loss: conceptual and empirical links between trauma and bereavement. J Person Interperson Loss. 2000;5:1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Nickerson A, Liddell B, Maccallum F, Steel Z, Silove D, Bryant R. Posttraumatic Stress disorder and prolonged grief in refugees exposed to trauma and loss. BMC Psychiatr. 2014;14:106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Vromans L, Schweitzer RD, Brough M, Correa-Velez I, Murray K, Lenette C. Contributions of loss events to loss distress and trauma symptoms in recently-resettled refugee women-at-risk. J Loss Trauma. 2017;4:357–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Fisher S. Occupation of the womb: Forced impregnation as genocide. Duke Law J. 1996;46:91–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Bartolomei L, Eckert R, Pittaway E. (2014). “What happens there… follows us here”: resettled but still at risk: refugee women and girls in Australia. Refuge 30: 45–56.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Seguin M, Lewis R, Amirejibi T, Razmadze M, Makhashvili N, Roberts B. Our flesh is here but our soul stayed there: a qualitative study on resource loss due to war and displacement among internally-displaced women in the Republic of Georgia. Soc Sci Med. 2016;150:239–47.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Allotey P. Traveling with excess baggage: health problems of refugee women in Western Australia. Women Health. 1998;28:63–81.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Manderson L, Kelaher M, Markovic M, McManus K. A woman without a man is a woman at risk in Australian Humanitarian programs. J Refugee Stud. 1998;11:3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Eaton L, Louw L. Culture and Self in South Africa: Individualism/Collectivism Predictions. J Soc Psychol. 2000;140:210–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. James W. Principles of psychology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Mollica RF, McDonald L, Massagli M, Silove D. Measuring trauma, measuring torture: Instructions and guidance on the utilization of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma’s Versions of the Hopkins Symptom checklist-25 (HSCL-25) and the Harvard Trauma questionnaire (HTQ). Cambridge: Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma; 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Mollica RF, Caspi-Yavin Y, Bollini P, Truong T, Tor S, Lavelle J. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire. Validating a cross-cultural instrument for measuring torture, trauma, and posttraumatic stress disorder in Indochinese refugees. J Nerv Ment Dis. 1992;180:111–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Hesbacher PT, Rickels K, Morris RJ, Newman H, Rosenfeld H. Psychiatric Illness in family practice. J Clin Psychiatr. 1980;41:6–10.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Schweitzer RD, Melville FA, Steel Z, Lacherez P. Trauma, post-migration living difficulties, and social support as predictors of psychological adjustment in resettled Sudanese refugees. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2006;40:79–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Schweitzer RD, Brough MK, Vromans LP, Asic-Kobe M. Mental health of newly arrived Burmese refugees in Australia: contributions of pre-migration and post-migration experience. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2011;45:299–307.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Kaiser HF. The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educ Psychol Meas. 1960;20:141–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Cattell RB. The scree test for the number of factors. Multivar Behav Res. 1966;1:245–76.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Stevens JP. Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences. 2 Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum; 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Fabrigar LR, Wegener D: Exploratory factor analysis. Oxford University Press; 2012 https://qut.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991000894799704001&context=L&vid=61QUT_INST:61QUT&lang=en&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,exploratory%20factor%20analysis%20fabrigar%20and%20wegener&sortby=rank&offset=0. Accessed 18 May 2018.

  30. Rosbrook B, Schweitzer RD. The meaning of home for Karen and Chin refugees from Burma: an interpretative phenomenological approach. Eur J Psychother Counsel. 2010;12:159–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Lenette C. ‘I am a widow, mother and refugee’: narratives of widowhood: lived experiences of two refugee women in Brisbane. J Refugee Stud. 2014;27:403–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Lenette C. Mistrust and refugee women who are lone parents in resettlement contexts. Qualit Social Work. 2015;14:119–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Triandis H. Collectivism and individualism as cultural syndromes. Cross Cult Res. 1993;27:155–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Bruce EJ, Schultz CL. Nonfinite loss and grief: a psychoeducational approach. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes; 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Shear KM, Smith-Caroff K. Traumatic loss and the syndrome of complicated grief. PTSD Res Quart. 2002;13(1):1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Boss P. Ambiguous loss: learning to live with unresolved grief. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Doran G, Hansen D. Constructions of Mexican American family grief after the death of a child: an exploratory study. Cult Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol 2006; 12:199 – 21.

  38. Herman J. Recovery from psychological trauma. Psychiatr Clin Neurosci. 1998;52:S98-S103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Rando T. Treatment of complicated mourning. Champaign, IL: Research Press; 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Krause N, Shaw BA, Carney J. A descriptive epidemiology of lifetime trauma and the physical health status of older adults. Psychol Aging. 2004;19:637–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Doka K. Challenging the paradigm: new understandings of grief. Grief Matters. 2001;4:31–3.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Worden W. Grief counselling and grief therapy. A handbook for the mental health practitioner. 4. London: Routledge; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Rosenblatt P, Jackson D, Walsh P. Grief and mourning in cross-cultural perspective. Med Anthropol. 1978;9:18–9.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Fava GA, Sonino N. Psychosomatic assessment. Psychother Psychosom. 2009;78:333–41.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

Funding was provided by Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant, ACCESS Community Services, and Australian Catholic University (Grant No. LP140100609).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, QLD, 4059, Australia

    Lyn Vromans, Robert D. Schweitzer & Kate Murray

  2. School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, QLD, 4059, Australia

    Mark Brough & Ignacio Correa-Velez

  3. School of Social Sciences, Forced Migration Research Network, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Caroline Lenette

Authors
  1. Lyn Vromans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Robert D. Schweitzer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mark Brough
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ignacio Correa-Velez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kate Murray
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Caroline Lenette
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lyn Vromans.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vromans, L., Schweitzer, R.D., Brough, M. et al. Psychometric Properties of the Multidimensional Loss Scale with Refugee Women-at-Risk Recently Arrived in Australia. J Immigrant Minority Health 21, 271–277 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-018-0750-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-018-0750-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation