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Psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a South African birth cohort study

Psychological trauma - including exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) - is highly prevalent in South Africa, and may result in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a subset of individuals. Pregnant women and new mothers are particularly vulnerable; and trauma exposure and PTSD in this sub-...

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Main Author: Koen, Nastassja
Other Authors: Stein, Dan J
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Koen, Nastassja
author2 Stein, Dan J
author_browse Koen, Nastassja
Stein, Dan J
author_facet Stein, Dan J
Koen, Nastassja
author_sort Koen, Nastassja
collection Thesis
description Psychological trauma - including exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) - is highly prevalent in South Africa, and may result in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a subset of individuals. Pregnant women and new mothers are particularly vulnerable; and trauma exposure and PTSD in this sub-group may be associated with a number of adverse maternal-child sequelae including poor birth outcomes and impaired infant neurodevelopment. Risk factors for psychological trauma exposure, and for subsequent PTSD, are likely to include environmental and genetic influences. Given the high burden of trauma and related disorders, the unique genetic ancestry, and the relative paucity of empirical data, further work in South African populations is warranted. This thesis aimed to investigate a number of questions about trauma and PTSD in the Drakenstein Child Health Study (an ongoing South African birth cohort study), including their risk factors, their impact on infant birth anthropometry and development, and their genetic correlations. This thesis includes five publications, all presenting data from the Drakenstein Child Health Study. Pregnant women were recruited from two clinics in the Drakenstein sub-district - a peri-urban community outside Cape Town, Western Cape. Sociodemographic characteristics; psychosocial risk factors (including depression, stressful life events, psychological distress and alcohol and substance misuse); trauma exposure (childhood trauma, IPV and lifetime trauma); and PTSD were assessed using validated and reliable self-reported questionnaires, as well as diagnostic psychiatric interviews.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health
publisherStr Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20264 Psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a South African birth cohort study Koen, Nastassja Stein, Dan J Ramesar, Rajkumar Psychiatry Psychological trauma - including exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) - is highly prevalent in South Africa, and may result in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a subset of individuals. Pregnant women and new mothers are particularly vulnerable; and trauma exposure and PTSD in this sub-group may be associated with a number of adverse maternal-child sequelae including poor birth outcomes and impaired infant neurodevelopment. Risk factors for psychological trauma exposure, and for subsequent PTSD, are likely to include environmental and genetic influences. Given the high burden of trauma and related disorders, the unique genetic ancestry, and the relative paucity of empirical data, further work in South African populations is warranted. This thesis aimed to investigate a number of questions about trauma and PTSD in the Drakenstein Child Health Study (an ongoing South African birth cohort study), including their risk factors, their impact on infant birth anthropometry and development, and their genetic correlations. This thesis includes five publications, all presenting data from the Drakenstein Child Health Study. Pregnant women were recruited from two clinics in the Drakenstein sub-district - a peri-urban community outside Cape Town, Western Cape. Sociodemographic characteristics; psychosocial risk factors (including depression, stressful life events, psychological distress and alcohol and substance misuse); trauma exposure (childhood trauma, IPV and lifetime trauma); and PTSD were assessed using validated and reliable self-reported questionnaires, as well as diagnostic psychiatric interviews. 2016-07-08T10:43:53Z 2016-07-08T10:43:53Z 2015 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20264 eng application/pdf Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Koen, Nastassja
Psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a South African birth cohort study
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title Psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a South African birth cohort study
title_full Psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a South African birth cohort study
title_fullStr Psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a South African birth cohort study
title_full_unstemmed Psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a South African birth cohort study
title_short Psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a South African birth cohort study
title_sort psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a south african birth cohort study
topic Psychiatry
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20264
work_keys_str_mv AT koennastassja psychologicaltraumaandposttraumaticstressdisorderinasouthafricanbirthcohortstudy