Traumatic experiences, coping strategies and post traumatic growth among refugees in Oruchinga refugee settlement

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between Traumatic Experiences, Coping Strategies and Post Traumatic Growth among a random sample of 320 refugees in Oruchinga settlement using a cross sectional survey. Data was collected using a self-report questionnaire where the Life Event Checklist measured Traumatic Experiences, Brief COPE measured Coping Strategies and Post Traumatic Growth Inventory measured Post Traumatic Growth. This was analyzed using the Sta-tistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23.0). Results revealed that there was a signif-icant negative relationship between TE and PTG (p=.000 < .05). A significant negative relation-ship was also found to exist between TE and coping strategies (p=.000 < .05). More so, results in this study revealed that a significant positive relationship existed between Coping strategies and Post Traumatic Growth and the relationship between Traumatic Experiences and Post Traumatic Growth via Coping Strategies was found to be statistically significant. The results from the cur-rent study provide support that the association between refugees’ Traumatic Experiences and PTG appear to be explained through the presence of coping strategies which could be addressed in the psychotherapies and psychosocial interventions for refugees to promote positive psycho-logical change. Further studies should qualitatively explore the concepts of PTG and CS amongst similar populations in Oruchinga.