Dr Abdul Al-Qaysi
Highfield Fellow: Dr Abdul Al-Qaysi
Examining Posttraumatic Symptoms and Growth in Iraqi samples, and developing a self-help guide. A Pathway to future studies in Iraq
Professor Dr Abdulgaffar Al-Qaysi, Saad Jaber, Dr Nigel Hunt, Dr Rachel Sabin-Farrell, Professor Stephen Joseph
16.00, 19 July 2010
Two studies were conducted to assess the posttraumatic symptoms and the growth in Iraq participants. The first study examined the prevalence rate oftrauma symptoms, and the coping styles in university students, in Baghdad. In addition, it aimed to developing a self-help guide to help traumatised people to cope with traumatic stress. The other study aimed to determine the posttraumatic growth in women who lost their close relatives; specially their husbands. The self reports of participants revealed a clear prevalence of traumatic events and PTSD symptoms with coping styles, which can be consider emotion-focus coping. Also, there was a significant effect of the self-help guide in improving the coping styles and reducing the trauma symptoms. With regard to the results of posttraumatic growth study, they showed that the highest change was in the spiritual area while the lowest was in new possibilities area.