Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Associated Factors Among Help-Seeking Sexual Assaulted Female During Wartime, Southern Wollo, Ethiopia,

Abstract

Background: As a sequel, the overwhelming negative impact of sexual assault and trauma, such as rape, commonly results in short-term and long term psychological and physical health consequences. These include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the past few years the northern part of Ethiopia went through a devastating conflict which exposed numerous women to rape and other related traumas. In the Tigray, Amhara and Afar region numerous females have suffered sex based violence’s. These raise the necessary question of studying to determine the prevalence of PTSD plus associated factors. Objective: To assess the prevalence of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder and its associated factors among help-seeking raped female during wartime, Southern Wollo, Ethiopia, 2023 Methods: This study was conducted in Southern Wollo, North Ethiopia, from January 1, 2023, to January 30, 2023 GC, 1 year after the assault. South Wollo is located 390 kilometers from Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. There are around 20, whereas in the zone, this study focused on four weirdos & two towns at the southern wollo border, including Were Ilu (wereda and town), Jama (wereda and degolu town), Wogidi & Legehadi wereda with a total female population of 16,723 and among them around 512 help seeking rape victims reported for assessment and further assistance. A facility-based cross-sectional study design was used by means of the quantitative method. The study involved 274 participants, and 248 responded, with a 90.5 % response rate. Data was collected from the raped women at the respective wereda health centers by face-to-face and telephone interviews using structured Amharic questionnaires; then the data were coded and entered into Epi-data version 4.6 and exported to IBM SPSS statistics version 25.0 for analysis. Work plan and budget: The study was conducted from January 1, 2023 to January 30, 2023; with a total budget of 24484.90 ETB. The results: The findings of this study showed that the prevalence of chronic PTSD is 43.95% with a 95% CI and in the multivariable analysis, history of mental illness, history of displacement, higher frequency of displacement, history of child abuse, physical violence, and poor social support had a statistically significant association with PTSD at a p value less than 0.05. For instance, the odds of developing PTSD were 7.61 and 9.6 times higher among participants who had a history of mental illness and poor social support respectively. Conclusion: Based on our finding the prevalence of PTSD in rape victims was 43.95 %. The results of this study have demonstrated that, while not all victims of sexual assault experience PTSD, the majority does. There are also associated factors that increase the probability of developing PTSD. Knowing the magnitude of this burden and its major contributing factors is pivotal in formulating intervention approaches.