Gender and offender status predicting treatment success in refugees and asylum seekers with PTSD

Figures & data

Table 1 Sociodemographic and clinical information of 54 refugees and asylum seekers with PTSD who had completed treatment and 6 months follow-up after treatment

	Participants (n=54)
Demographic information
Age M (SD)	35.7	(10.2)
Gender M (SD)
Men	36	(67%)
Women	18	(33%)
Level of completed education, N (%)
No education	5	(9%)
Primary school	19	(35%)
Secondary school	13	(24%)
Vocational school	5	(9%)
University	12	(22%)
Months in exile, M (SD)	60.1	(56.9)
Region of origin, N (%)
Afghanistan	8	(15%)
Iraq	17	(31%)
Middle East (remaining countries)	6	(11%)
Africa	15	(28%)
Other	8	(15%)
Asylum seekers at pretreatment, N (%)	19	(35%)
Refugees at pretreatment, N (%)	35	(65%)
Change of asylum status during study (%)
No change	45	83%
Change from asylum seeker to granted asylum	6	11%
Change from asylum seeker to denied asylum	3	6%
Clinical data at pretreatment
Number of traumatic events (CAPS), M (SD)	8.2	(2.6)
CAPS Score, M (SD)	83.7	(16.1)
HAM-D Score, M (SD)	20.3	(6.2)
Randomized to treatment
Narrative exposure therapy	33	(61%)
Treatment as usual	21	(39%)

CAPS = Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale; HAM-D = Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression.

Table 2 Refugees and asylum seekers treated for PTSD (N=54): non-responders (N=10) compared to all treatment responders (N=44)

		Non-responders (N=10)	Therapy responders (N=44)
Gender	Women	0	18	(p=0.002*)
	Men	10	26
Torture status	Torture survivor	6	20	(p=0.49)
	Not tortured	4	24
Offender status	Offender	4	2	(p=0.009*)
	Non-offenders	6	41
Depression (HAM-D score)	Mean	20,8	20,3	(p=0.49)
	SD	5.1	6.5
Anger	Mean	4.9	5.1	(p=0.47)
	SD	1.1	1.7

Differences in gender, torture, and offender status were calculated by Exact Unconditional Homogeneity/Independence Tests for 2X2 Tables. Differences in levels of depression and anger were calculated with t-tests. P<0.05 marked by *.