International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, Borgergade 13, P.O. Box 9049, 1022 Copenhagen K., Denmark.
South African Institute for Traumatic Stress, 302 Ideal Village, 30 Hannaben Street, Johannesburg 2198, South Africa.
Int J Ment Health Syst. 2010 Jun 18;4:16. doi: 10.1186/1752-4458-4-16.
Torture continues to be a global problem and there is a need for prevention and rehabilitation efforts. There is little available data on torture survivors from studies designed and conducted by health professionals in low income countries. This study is a collaboration between five centres from Gaza, Egypt, Mexico, Honduras and South Africa who provide health, social and legal services to torture survivors, advocate for the prevention of torture and are part of the network of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT).
Socio-demographic, clinical and torture exposure data was collected on the torture survivors attending the five centres at presentation and then at three and six month follow-up periods. This sample of torture survivors is presented using a range of descriptive statistics. Change over time is demonstrated with repeated measures analysis of variance.
Of the 306 torture survivors, 23% were asylum seekers or refugees, 24% were socially isolated, 11% in prison. A high level of traumatic events was experienced. 64% had suffered head injury whilst tortured and 24% had ongoing torture injury problems. There was high prevalence of symptoms of anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress as well as medically unexplained somatic symptoms. The analysis demonstrates a modest drop in symptoms over the six months of the study.
Data showed that the torture survivors seen in these five centres had high levels of exposure to torture events and high rates of clinical symptoms. In order to provide effective services to torture survivors, health professionals at torture rehabilitation centres in low income countries need to be supported to collect relevant data to document the needs of torture survivors and to evaluate the centres' interventions.
酷刑仍然是一个全球性问题，需要开展预防和康复工作。来自低收入国家的卫生专业人员设计和开展的研究中，有关酷刑幸存者的数据很少。这项研究是来自加沙、埃及、墨西哥、洪都拉斯和南非的五个中心之间的合作，这些中心为酷刑幸存者提供健康、社会和法律服务，倡导预防酷刑，并作为国际酷刑受害者康复理事会（IRCT）网络的一部分。
在呈现时，对参加五个中心的酷刑幸存者收集社会人口统计学、临床和酷刑暴露数据，然后在三个月和六个月的随访期间进行收集。使用一系列描述性统计数据呈现酷刑幸存者的样本。使用重复测量方差分析来展示随时间的变化。
在 306 名酷刑幸存者中，23%是寻求庇护者或难民，24%社会孤立，11%在监狱中。他们经历了高度创伤事件。64%在遭受酷刑时头部受伤，24%持续存在酷刑伤害问题。焦虑、抑郁、创伤后应激和无法解释的躯体症状的发生率很高。分析表明，在研究的六个月中，症状略有下降。
数据显示，这些五个中心看到的酷刑幸存者经历了高度的酷刑事件暴露和高比例的临床症状。为了向酷刑幸存者提供有效的服务，低收入国家酷刑康复中心的卫生专业人员需要得到支持，以收集相关数据，记录酷刑幸存者的需求，并评估中心的干预措施。
