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
. 2024 Dec;61(6):915-927.
doi: 10.1177/13634615241272982. Epub 2024 Aug 31.

The Somali Distress and Resilience Scale: Development of a novel measure for Somali adults

Alec Terrana  1 , William Bruno  2 , Najla Ibrahim  3 , Bonnie N Kaiser  4 , Jenny Wei  5 , Wael Al-Delaimy  6
Affiliations

The Somali Distress and Resilience Scale: Development of a novel measure for Somali adults

Alec Terrana et al. Transcult Psychiatry. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Although resilience has been identified as an important mediator of negative mental health outcomes among refugee populations, there are few culturally specific measures of resilience among such communities and no such measure among Somalis. In this study we aimed to develop a culturally appropriate measure of resilience specific to Somali adults in San Diego, as an example of a vulnerable refugee community. A community-based, exploratory sequential mixed method investigation was conducted via focus group discussions (n = 4), cognitive interviews (n = 4), and iterative survey adaptation. Somali refugee adults in San Diego (N = 183) were surveyed with this novel scale, a standardized measure of resilience, and assessments of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Results were analyzed via correlation coefficients and multivariate linear regression modeling. Qualitative findings supported the inclusion of items addressing both barriers and facilitators of good mental health, which resulted in the development of the Somali Distress and Resilience Survey (SDRS). Linear regression analysis revealed that the SDRS demonstrated significant associations with symptoms of depression and PTSD, while the standardized measure of resilience did not demonstrate associations with any of the mental health outcomes assessed. The SDRS identified obstacles to resilience among Somali individuals, placing them at risk of developing negative mental health outcomes. Our novel measure also demonstrated more robust relationships with these outcomes than a standardized measure of resilience, suggesting greater utility of the adapted scale. However, the SDRS's development raises larger questions about the limitations of developing and comprehensively evaluating novel resilience measures in a community-based setting.

Keywords: Somali; mental health; qualitative; refugee; resilience; scale development.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Ali G. C., Ryan G., De Silva M. J. (2016). Validated screening tools for common mental disorders in low and middle income countries: A systematic review. PLOS ONE, 11(6). 10.1371/journal.pone.0156939 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Atilola O. (2015). Cross-cultural child and adolescent psychiatry research in developing countries. Global Mental Health, 2, Article e5. 10.1017/gmh.2015.8 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berthold S. M., Mollica R. F., Silove D., Tay A. K., Lavelle J., Lindert J. (2019). The HTQ-5: Revision of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire for measuring torture, trauma and DSM-5 PTSD symptoms in refugee populations. European Journal of Public Health, 29(3), 468–474. 10.1093/eurpub/cky256 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Betancourt T., Abdi S., Ito B., Lilienthal G., Agalab N., Ellis H. (2015). We left one war and came to another: Resource loss, acculturative stress, and caregiver–child relationships in Somali refugee families. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 21(1), 114–125. 10.1086/498510 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Betancourt T., Khan K. (2008). The mental health of children affected by armed conflict: Protective processes and pathways to resilience. International Review of Psychiatry, 20(3), 317–328. 10.1080/09540260802090363 - DOI - PMC - PubMed