Conceptualization and measurement of traumatic events among refugees and other war-affected populations
Dec. 20, 2018
Andrew Rasmussen, Kenneth E. Miller and Jay Verkuilen
This chapter presents three critiques of common practices that limit the understanding of refugee and other war-affected populations’ mental health, and argues that addressing these critiques will bring models of mental health closer to refugees’ experiences. Overall, it finds that solutions should include measuring frequency and schedule of trauma exposure, conceptualizing trauma exposure as a composite variable (as opposed to a latent factor), and identifying how trauma moderates the effects of pre-existing stressors on mental health.