Trauma survivors from ethnic minorities wanted for PTSD project

Health News - Trauma survivors from ethnic minorities wanted for PTSD project

 

Trauma survivors from non-Western cultures are being invited to take part in a unique research project at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The researchers are interested in any distressing life events, including physical assault, natural disaster, car accidents, bereavement, and relationship breakdown.

Led by Kate Gough, of the Norwich Medical School at UEA, the project is part of a wider effort to improve care for people recovering from traumatic events.

“We are investigating the theory that people from different cultures hold significantly different beliefs following a trauma,” she said. “Understanding this will help improve NHS care for people from all cultural backgrounds.”

Previous research suggests that the beliefs someone holds about a traumatic experience have a significant impact on their likelihood of developing the debilitating condition, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Understanding and modifying these beliefs can therefore be clinically benefiical.

Current treatment for trauma is based almost entirely on research conducted in Western countries, so it is unkown whether the same approaches can be applied to people from non-Western cultures. The UEA project is important because a significant number of trauma survivors globally are not from the West, and there are almost five million people in the UK who are from non-Western cultures.

Volunteers are asked to complete a confidential online questionnaire, available at www.surveymonkey.com/s/reactions-to-events. For more information, please contact Kate Gough on 07526 437848 or email k.gough@uea.ac.uk.