Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb 9:1-10.
doi: 10.1007/s12144-023-04291-z. Online ahead of print.

PTSS in COVID-19 survivors peritraumatic stress symptoms among COVID-19 survivors in Iraq

Parzheen J Mohammad  1 , Dyari S Hama Amin  2 , Pshtiwan F Mohammed  3 , Hawkar A Hussein  4 , Omiad S Abdullah  5
Affiliations

PTSS in COVID-19 survivors peritraumatic stress symptoms among COVID-19 survivors in Iraq

Parzheen J Mohammad et al. Curr Psychol. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic became a source of psychological distress worldwide. People infected with the disease faced the possibility of losing their lives, and due to the high number of people with the disease, hospitals were overburdened. Therefore, the situation had characteristics of a traumatic event; this is especially true in Iraq since the healthcare system is on the brink of failure, and the hospitals are a place of low-quality service. Consequently, the current study aims to explore peritraumatic stress symptoms among survivors of COVID-19 in Iraq. Moreover, group differences based on several variables and the associated factors with peritraumatic stress are also investigated. The post-traumatic stress disorder checklist for DSM-5 was used as a measurement tool. A total of 370 survivors of COVID-19 from the different governorates of Iraq participated in this study; 148 females and 22 males. 51, 70, 165, and 84 participants were aged 18-25, 26-30, 31-40, and above 40, respectively. The results revealed that 31.1% of the participants had probable PTSD since they scored above the cut-off of the score of 23. Significant differences between males and females were not found. Regarding associated factors, education level was a significant predictor (i.e., no education, primary school, secondary school, diploma, bachelor's degree, and postgraduate degree). Compared to primary school education and no education, postgraduate education was significantly associated with probable PTSD. Furthermore, the longer duration of being infected with COVID-19 was associated with higher odds of having probable PTSD. This was one of the first studies in Iraq to explore peritraumatic stress symptoms following COVID-19 infection using standardized instruments and investigate the associated factors. The results have various implications for developing the healthcare system of Iraq and the need to have social workers and psychologists trained in psychological first aid available in the hospital to manage the patients' distress.

Keywords: COVID-19; Iraq; PTSS; Pandemic; Trauma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest disclosuresThe authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Abdelghani, M., Hassan, M. S., Alsadik, M. E., Abdelmoaty, A. A., Said, A., & Atwa, S. A. (2021). Post-traumatic stress symptoms among an egyptian sample of post-remission COVID-19 survivors: prevalence and sociodemographic and clinical correlates. Middle East Current Psychiatry, 28(1), 10.1186/s43045-021-00102-y.
    1. Abdullah, H. M., Ali, S. M., & Sabir, D. K. (2020). Data Suggesting That COVID-19 May Have Existed in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq at the Time of the Outbreak in Wuhan Province of China.Journal of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, 24(2).
    1. American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington.
    1. Chamberlain SR, Grant JE, Trender W, Hellyer P, Hampshire A. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in COVID-19 survivors: online population survey. BJPsych Open. 2021;7(2):1–4. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2021.3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chang MC, Park D. Incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder after coronavirus disease. Healthcare (Switzerland) 2020;8(4):1–7. doi: 10.3390/healthcare8040373. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources