| Popis: |
The Syrian crisis has entered its tenth year with incessant conflicts in many locations across Syria. Much of the population have been impacted including children who suffer the direct and indirect war effects of war. To date there has been no large scale study examining the mental health and academic impacts of the war of children in Syria. This large-scale cross-sectional study aims to evaluate the psychological profile of school students in Damascus Syria examining PTSD, anger and general mental health and examine their relationships with work, smoking and academic performance. The study included 1369 students from seven different schools. Surveys included assessment of mental and physical well-being using a measure of health related quality of life (SF8), Posttraumatic stress disorder (CRIES-13), problematic anger (DAR5) smoking, working habits, social support and academic grades. The study found that more than half of the children suffered from PTSD (53%), problematic anger (62%) with this being associated with poorer SF-8 (quality of life) scores in both mental and physical domains and more time watching TV and Internet. Around 46% declared fair or worse general health and 61% having moderate or severe mental health. War variables had an impact on PTSD, anger, and SF-8, but not an impact on grades. Worse HRQL was associated with war variables and smoking. Social support was negatively correlated with SF-8, PTSD, DAR-5 anger and declarations of close friends being the main source of support. This is the largest study of children is Syria to date that reports on the psychological ramification of war. The study demonstrates the severe impact on children across both mental health and physical health. Although direct war effect could not be observed, the high burden of PTSD and anger distress is a strong reflection of the chronic mental trauma. School students have had to work and face many hurdles in a young age which has left them severely impacted. |
