P0028 - Posttraumatic growth within war torture survivors in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Aim:

Aim of this research is to assess the level of posttraumatic growth within war torture survivors.

Method:

Research sample consisted of 128 clients who experienced war torture and who are included in multidisciplinary rehabilitation in The Center for torture victims in Sarajevo. As research instruments Sociodemographic questionnaire (CTV Sarajevo, 2006), List of stressful events (Butolo,Foa,Riggs-PSS 3) and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi and Calhoun,1996) were used.

Results:

Sociodemografic data in this study shows that average age of the sample is 56, and that 55% male examinees were included in the study. Most of them were Bosniaks, and 53,1% unemployed. The results on the List of stressful events shows that 96,9% of clients experienced physical assault by unknown person and 92,2% of them experienced ethnic cleansing. The results on total PTGI in this research shows the mean value (2,2909) which indicates that they experienced moderate change after traumatic event. The highest score (2,9531) is related to subscale of Higher appreciation of life, while the lowest score (1,7578) is obtained at the subscale of New possibilities.

Conclusion:

The results of this research shows that after being exposed to extreme traumatic events like war torture, even fifteen years after that, the level of posttraumatic growth within war torture survivors in Bosnia and Herzegovina is moderate.