When the Pain Has Gone Beyond: Adaptive and Maladaptive Coping among Congolese Refugees

Sammanfattning: There is a lack of studies investigating PTSD in countries with a low human development index and also among refugee populations (Onyut et al., 2004; Stevens et al., 2013). The purpose of the present study was to investigate coping strategies used by Congolese refugees, a heavily traumatised population. Using a mixed-methods design, two studies were conducted on samples of Congolese refugees. Interviews (N=10) were conducted to study coping strategies. Thematic analysis generated five themes: 1) religion, 2) social coping, 3) problem-solving, 4) resignation, and 5) avoidance. Furthermore, differences in coping strategies between individuals with low (n=23) and high (n=24) PTSD symptom severity1 were examined statistically. The results showed that the low PTSD symptom severity group used significantly more adaptive coping strategies compared to the other group (p=.004). No difference was found in maladaptive coping strategies (p=ns). The results of both the qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that religious meaning-making and social coping are important in this context.