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Specific Trauma Subtypes Improve the Predictive Validity of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire in Iraqi Refugees

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Abstract

Trauma exposure contributes to poor mental health among refugees, and exposure often is measured using a cumulative index of items from the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). Few studies, however, have asked whether trauma subtypes derived from the HTQ could be superior to this cumulative index in predicting mental health outcomes. A community sample of recently arrived Iraqi refugees (N = 298) completed the HTQ and measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms. Principal components analysis of HTQ items revealed a 5-component subtype model of trauma that accounted for more item variance than a 1-component solution. These trauma subtypes also accounted for more variance in PTSD and depression symptoms (12 and 10 %, respectively) than did the cumulative trauma index (7 and 3 %, respectively). Trauma subtypes provided more information than cumulative trauma in the prediction of negative mental health outcomes. Therefore, use of these subtypes may enhance the utility of the HTQ when assessing at-risk populations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mrs. Raja Yaldo for her assistance in data entry. We also thank the following organizations for assisting with recruitment: Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services/Arab Community for Health and Research, Kurdish Human Rights Watch, The Chaldean Federation of America, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and Catholic Services of Macomb County. All authors were partly supported by grant number R01MH085793 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, B. Arnetz, Principal Investigator). The content of this paper is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of NIMH. Portions of this paper were presented at the 24th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science (May 24–27, 2012) in Chicago, IL.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 3939 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA

    Bengt B. Arnetz, Carissa L. Broadbridge, Hikmet Jamil, Evone Barkho, Monty Fakhouri, Yousif Rofa Talia & Judith E. Arnetz

  2. Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Bengt B. Arnetz & Judith E. Arnetz

  3. Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA

    Carissa L. Broadbridge & Mark A. Lumley

  4. Department of Psychology, Smith College, Northampton, MA, USA

    Nnamdi Pole

Authors
  1. Bengt B. Arnetz
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  2. Carissa L. Broadbridge
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  3. Hikmet Jamil
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  4. Mark A. Lumley
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  5. Nnamdi Pole
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  6. Evone Barkho
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  7. Monty Fakhouri
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  8. Yousif Rofa Talia
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  9. Judith E. Arnetz
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Correspondence to Carissa L. Broadbridge.

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Arnetz, B.B., Broadbridge, C.L., Jamil, H. et al. Specific Trauma Subtypes Improve the Predictive Validity of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire in Iraqi Refugees. J Immigrant Minority Health 16, 1055–1061 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-9995-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-9995-9

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