Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
18th International Congress of ESCAP, Vienna, Avusturya, 30 Haziran - 02 Temmuz 2019, ss.122
Aims: Since
2011, Turkey has accepted an average of 3,5 million refugees, about half of whom
are under 18 years of age. Refugee children are faced with traumatic events,
loss, and intense feelings of uncertainity about their future. Additionally,
they experience many adverse events such as stigmatization, improper housing,
and hardships in reaching education and health facilities. Furthermore they are
commonly dealing with victimization and bullying encountered in schools or
other social areas.. In this study, we aimed to evaulate the impact of peer
bullying on pschosocial wellbeing of refugee children.
Method: Data were gathered from temporary educating centers and public
schools in Istanbul. The Victimization Scale (VS), Children’s Revised Impact of
Event Scale (CRIES-8), the self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ),and the War Trauma
Questionnaire (WTQ) were administered.
Results: The study sample consisting of 154 children (78 girls and 76 boys,
mean age 12.98±1.39 years). Of these children, 6.5% (n=10) had a score that
above the cut-off point of SDQ and 52.6% had posttraumatic stress disorder
symptoms according to CRIES-8 cut-off scores. Significant correlation were
found among SDQ score and VS (p=0.001, r=.294), CRIES-8 (p=0.05, r=.256), WTQ
(p<0.001, r=.351) scores.
Conclusion: For
refugee children, peer bullying and victimization may be considered as a
substantial risk factor regarding psychopathology in post migration process, as
important as that previous trauma exposure.