Post-traumatic stress disorder among Palestinian university students following the May 2021 war

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common disorder among survivors of war combat. This study aimed to assess the level of PTSD among university students following the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip in May 2021. In this cross-sectional study, 1183 students completed the Impact Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) between November and December 2021. The results revealed that 88.7% showed severe symptoms of PTSD. The mean for the IES-R score was 2.55. The highest mean of IES-R domains related to “Intrusion” (mean=2.77) followed by “Avoidance” (mean=2.28) and “Hyper-arousal” (mean=2.01). This level of PTSD shows the need for special intervention programs to diminish the level of stress and trauma among these students after the war.