Post‐traumatic stress reactions in children of war in Iraq

Abstract

Background:  The war in Iraq has had a tremendous impact on children. 

 Objectives: To investigate the frequency and severity of Posttraumatic Stress reactions in primary school Iraqi children who experienced school bombardments as war trauma.

 Methods: In the period from April to May 2005; 121 Children from four primary schools in Baghdad   completed self –report Child Post Traumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTSD‐RI), Arabic version, 

 Results: The children reported severe to very severe PTSD reactions were 90 (74.4%) of the total number of participants. There was a highly significant correlation between severity and subscales of avoidance, arousal and experiencing (p>0.01). There were no significant correlations between younger and older age groups, and between boys and girls. The most frequently reported symptoms are identified as traumatic(67.77%), sleep disturabances (64.46%), easily startled (61.98%) and sense of foreshadowing (62.8%)                                                                                                                   

 Conclusions: Highly frequent rates of PTSD reactions reported in Iraqi primary school children who had experienced war trauma.   Severe and very severe reactions reported by children were also high.