PSYCHO-SOCIAL IMPACT OF ARMY PUBLIC SCHOOL TERRORIST ATTACK ON HIGH SCHOOL CHILDREN IN DISTRICT PESHAWAR, KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the psycho-social impact of Army Public School Terrorist attack on high school children in district Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in government and private high school children from March to August 2015. Four hundred and twenty children were equally selected from both government and private high schools through stratified random sampling. The data was collected using psychometric tools, including Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire (SDQ). Pearson's chi-squared test was used to determine the association between the age, gender and psychological and social problems.
RESULTS: Total 420 students in the age group of 13 to 16 years were included in the study, in which 210 (50%) were males and 210 (50%) were females. Out of the 420, 59 (14%) showed avoidance, 46 (11%) intrusion and 38 (9%) had hyper-arousal. Scores of >33 were shown by 59 (14%) children that mean 14% of the children had some sort of psychological problem. Social problems were shown by 17 (4%) children while 21 (5%) were at risk of developing such problems.
CONCLUSION: High school children in district Peshawar Pakistan, had both psychological and social problems along with risk of developing such problems after the tragic event, which suggested a need of psycho-social relief activities in the schools, in order to bring back the students to their normal life.
KEY WORDS: Psycho-social Impact (Non-MeSH); High School Children (Non-MeSH); Adolescent (MeSH); Terrorism (MeSH); Pakistan(MeSH); Army Public School Terrorist attack (Non-MeSH).
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