Article Sidebar
Published:
Sep 20, 2017Keywords:
Article Details
The author(s) retain copyright on work published by AOSIS unless specified otherwise.
Licensing and publication rights
Author(s) of work published by AOSIS are required to grant AOSIS the unlimited rights to publish the definitive work in any format, language and medium, for any lawful purpose. AOSIS requires journal authors to publish their work in open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
The authors retain the non-exclusive right to do anything they wish with the published article(s), provided attribution is given to the applicable journal with details of the original publication, as set out in the official citation of the article published in the journal. The retained right specifically includes the right to post the article on the authors’ or their institution’s websites or in institutional repositories.
Previously published work may have been published under a different licence. We advise the community that if they would like to reuse the work to consult the applicable licence at article level.
Note: If you need to comply with your funding body policy, you can apply for the CC BY license after your manuscript is accepted for publication.
Main Article Content
Reported exposure to trauma among adult patients referred for psychological services at the Free State Psychiatric Complex, Bloemfontein
Abstract
Background: Information regarding lifetime exposure to potentially traumatic events is critical in the management of various psychiatric disorders. Recent South African research suggests high levels of trauma exposure in the general population, however, the prevalence and type of potentially traumatic events among tertiary psychiatric patients are unknown.
Objective: The study aimed to explore and describe the extent and nature of reported potentially traumatic events and associated variables in adult patients referred for psychological services at the Free State Psychiatric Complex (FSPC), Bloemfontein.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, demographic information, diagnostic morbidity and co-morbidity, and presence and type of reported trauma exposure reported by patients during the initial assessment were obtained from files of adult patients seen during a oneyear period (2010) at the out-patient unit and the in-patient affective ward at the FSPC. Data were captured on data record forms by the researchers and analysed by means of descriptive statistics, univariate analysis and logistic regression (SAS version 9.1).
Results: Of the 192 adults (71.9% White and 67.2% female) referred for psychological services, 75.5% were diagnosed with mood disorders, 17.2% with anxiety disorders, 22.4% with substance-related disorders and 20.9% with cluster B personality disorders or traits. A total of 145 (75.5%) reported past trauma exposure. The most frequently reported types of trauma exposure were traumatic death/injury of a loved one (37.0%), physical assault (24.5%), witnessed/threatened violence (19.3%), and sexual assault (17.7%). Women were more likely to have been exposed to trauma than men (OR 4.02, 95% CI 1.87e8.62), in particular to traumatic death of a loved one (OR 3.13), physical assault (OR 4.08), or sexual assault (OR 5.43).
Conclusions: The findings of this study contribute to current data regarding the prevalence of exposure to trauma and its possible association with mental illness. The importance of comprehensive trauma exposure screening in routine psychiatric interviewing practices is highlighted.
Keywords: Trauma exposure, Mental illness, Screening, Post-traumatic stress disorder
