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IKG Blog
Veröffentlicht am
3. März 2023
Kategorie:
Allgemein
New Publication
Led by Pascal Schlechter (University of Cambridge, England) and together with Nexhmedin Morina (University of Münster), Jens Hellmann (IKG) has co-authored a recently published article in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology, entitled “Self-efficacy and locus of control as transdiagnostic factors in Middle Eastern refugees”. The article is published open access and can be found here.
Abstract:
Background: Many refugees report high levels of psychopathology. As a countermeasure, some psychological interventions aim at targeting mental health difficulties in refugees transdiagnostically. However, there is a lack of knowledge about relevant transdiagnostic factors in refugee populations.
Objective: To inform intervention efforts empirically, we investigated whether self-efficacy and locus of control are transdiagnostically associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, somatisation, psychological distress, and a higher-order psychopathology factor (‘p’) in Middle Eastern refugees residing in Germany.
Method: In total, 200 Middle Eastern refugees took part in this cross-sectional study, comprising 160 male and 40 female refugees. Participants were, on average, 25.56 years old(SD= 9.19), and 182 (91%) originally came from Syria, while remaining refugees were from Iraq or Afghanistan. They completed measures of depression, anxiety, somatisation, self-efficacy, and locus of control.
Results: In multiple regression models adjusting for demographic factors (gender and age), self-efficacy and external locus of control were transdiagnostically related to depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms, psychological distress, and a higher-order psychopathology factor. Internal locus of control had no detectable effect in these models.
Conclusions: Self-efficacy and external locus of control appear critical in the mental health of refugees and may be important mechanisms in overcoming posttraumatic stress and resettlement stressors. Our findings support the need to target self-efficacy and external locus of control as transdiagnostic factors of general psychopathology in Middle Eastern refugees.
Dr. Jens Hellmann
Abstract:
Background: Many refugees report high levels of psychopathology. As a countermeasure, some psychological interventions aim at targeting mental health difficulties in refugees transdiagnostically. However, there is a lack of knowledge about relevant transdiagnostic factors in refugee populations.
Objective: To inform intervention efforts empirically, we investigated whether self-efficacy and locus of control are transdiagnostically associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, somatisation, psychological distress, and a higher-order psychopathology factor (‘p’) in Middle Eastern refugees residing in Germany.
Method: In total, 200 Middle Eastern refugees took part in this cross-sectional study, comprising 160 male and 40 female refugees. Participants were, on average, 25.56 years old(SD= 9.19), and 182 (91%) originally came from Syria, while remaining refugees were from Iraq or Afghanistan. They completed measures of depression, anxiety, somatisation, self-efficacy, and locus of control.
Results: In multiple regression models adjusting for demographic factors (gender and age), self-efficacy and external locus of control were transdiagnostically related to depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms, psychological distress, and a higher-order psychopathology factor. Internal locus of control had no detectable effect in these models.
Conclusions: Self-efficacy and external locus of control appear critical in the mental health of refugees and may be important mechanisms in overcoming posttraumatic stress and resettlement stressors. Our findings support the need to target self-efficacy and external locus of control as transdiagnostic factors of general psychopathology in Middle Eastern refugees.
Dr. Jens Hellmann