 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
|
| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Dabney P Evans, MPH, CHES, David Buxton, BA, Charles Raison, MD, and Dawa Ngodhup. Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1525 Clifton Road, Office 108, Atlanta, GA 30322, 404-727-3061, devan01@sph.emory.edu
In 1949, the People’s Republic of China began the occupation of Tibet. Since that time, more than 100,000 refugees have fled Tibet to seek refuge in India and Nepal. In 2002, over 3,000 Tibetans came to India as refugees; Over 1,000 of these were children under the age of 18. Amnesty International reported a worsening of human rights conditions in Tibet in 2001 including arbitrary detention, torture and executions. Additionally, refugees fleeing Tibet, face many dangers on the treacherous journey from Tibet into exile. In 2002, administrators at the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) asked investigators to identify the prevalence of trauma, anxiety and depression among adolescent refugees enrolled at two school locations in Northern India. Demographic information as well as information on perceptions of human rights in Tibet was gathered using an original instrument. In addition, two psychiatric instruments, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist 25 (HSCL-25) were used in the current study. The surveys were translated and back translated before being beta-tested among a sample group. Data were collected over a three week period in August 2002. 526 Tibetan adolescent refugees participated in the study. Data were collected from adolescents born in Tibet (78.1% of the sample) and adolescent Tibetans born in India (2.5%) or Nepal (17.8%). Ages ranged between 13 and 24 years of age with an average age of 18. In this session, outcome data from the HTQ and HSCL-25 will be presented as will implications and suggestions for public health interventions.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Human Rights, Refugees
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.