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A Study of Selected Ethnic Affiliations in the Development of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Other Psychopathology After a Terrorist Bombing in Nairobi, Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

Carol S. North ,
Tatiana Dvorkina ,
Samuel Thielman ,
Betty Pfefferbaum ,
Pushpa Narayanan  and
David E. Pollio
Carol S. North*
Affiliation:
The Altshuler Center for Education & Research at Metrocare Services and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
Tatiana Dvorkina
Affiliation:
St. Matthew’s University, Grand Cayman, British West Indies
Samuel Thielman
Affiliation:
Division of Social & Community Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
Betty Pfefferbaum
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Pushpa Narayanan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
David E. Pollio
Affiliation:
The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Social Work, College of Arts and Sciences, Birmingham, Alabama
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Carol S. North, MD, MPE, The Altshuler Center for Education & Research at Metrocare Services and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, 6363 Forest Park Rd., Dallas, TX 75390-8828 USA (e-mail: Carol.North@UTSouthwestern.edu).
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Abstract

Objectives

Despite the frequency of disasters in Africa, almost nothing is known about ethnic affiliations in relation to psychopathology after such incidents. This study examined the mental health outcomes of members of 7 major ethnic groups exposed to the 1998 terrorist bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.

Methods

Approximately 8 to 10 months after the disaster, 229 civilian employees, 99 locally engaged staff workers of the US State Department and the US Agency for International Development, and 64 workers of the Kenyan Red Cross Society (total N=392) were assessed with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition). Additional data were gathered on demographic characteristics, disaster exposures and injuries, and ethnic affiliations.

Results

Disaster-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was significantly less prevalent among members of the Kikuyu group (28%) and post-disaster major depression was significantly more prevalent among members of the Meru group (64%), compared with all others in the sample. Preexisting psychopathology and disaster injury were independently associated with bombing-related psychopathology.

Conclusions

Further study of disaster-related psychopathology in relation to African ethnic affiliations is needed to better understand these associations and to assist in planning resources and interventions for African disaster survivors. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018; 12: 360–365)

Keywords

post-traumatic stress disorderpsychopathologyethnic affiliationsterrorismAfrica
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , June 2018 , pp. 360 - 365
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2017 

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