Prevalence of vicarious trauma, depression, anxiety, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, and resilience among the Tigrayan diaspora in Australia: A cross-sectional study following the Tigray conflict

Abstract

Ethiopia's Tigray in 2020. This war has had a detrimental impact on the mental health and overall wellbeing of Tigrayans living in other countries and abroad. The present study investigated the state of mental health and wellbeing among Tigrayan diaspora living in Australia, many of whom are migrants, but most are refugees.

Methods

We employed a cross-sectional survey gathered through Qualtrics-designed hybrid data collection techniques. We assessed vicarious trauma using the secondary traumatic stress scale (STSS), depression, anxiety, and stress using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), PTSD using PTSD Checklist- Civilian Version (PCLC), and resilience using the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10). We calculated the psychometric properties of these tools among the population. We employed binary logistic regression analysis to identify factors associated with the outcomes of interest.

Findings

241 people participated in the survey. Intrusion symptoms of vicarious trauma were prevalent among 85.6 % (172/201) of participants, avoidance symptoms of vicarious trauma among 87.6 % (176/201) of participants, and arousal vicarious trauma among 83.6 % (168/201) of participants. Extremely severe depression was prevalent among 38.2 % (81/212) of participants, extremely severe anxiety among 47.6 % (101/212) of participants, and extremely severe stress among (26.9 % (57/212) of participants. PTSD symptoms were prevalent among 75 % (151/204) of participants. Resilience was reduced among 67.5 % (135/200) of participants.

Interpretation

The study implies that conflict occurring in one's home country can have a profound impact on the mental wellbeing of individuals residing abroad.