Factors influencing smartphone overdependence among adolescents.

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to smartphone overdependence. Therefore, we identified the factors influencing smartphone overdependence and risk subgroups among adolescents. The current study is a secondary analysis of nationally representative data from the 2020 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The survey targeted middle- and high-school students in South Korea aged 12-18 using stratified, clustered, multistage probability sampling, and 53,457 students from 793 schools participated in this study. Complex sample data were analyzed considering the strata, clusters, and weights. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed age, gender, household economic status, anxiety, loneliness, depressive symptoms, and experience of violent treatment as significant predictors of smartphone overdependence. Adolescents with severe anxiety were at a 3.326 times higher risk of smartphone overdependence than adolescents with minimal anxiety. Decision tree analysis showed that anxiety, gender, loneliness, and depressive symptoms were important in differentiating risk subgroups, with anxiety being the most significant factor. Group 13, comprising girls with severe anxiety, had the highest risk at 52.9%. Thus, early detection and prevention of issues such as anxiety, loneliness, and depressive symptoms, as well as treatment for violence, can prevent smartphone overdependence among adolescents. Additionally, more thorough interventions for anxiety are warranted to prevent smartphone overdependence.

Armed conflicts and experience of intimate partner violence among women in Afghanistan: analysis of the 2015 Afghanistan DHS data.

OBJECTIVE: Armed conflicts and intimate partner violence (IPV) impose a burden on individual and societal well-being. Given the history of armed conflict in Afghanistan and the high prevalence of IPV, this study aims to examine the influence of armed conflicts on IPV among Afghan women. METHODS: Multilevel logistic regression models were applied to the 2015 Afghanistan Demographic and Health Survey (N=10 414 women aged 15-49). Armed conflict severity was measured using the conflict index issued by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, IPV was measured by three types of violence, including emotional, physical and sexual violence. All analyses were conducted by using STATA V.15.1. RESULTS: Over 52% of women experienced at least one type of IPV, with 33.01%, 49.07%, and 8.99% experiencing emotional, physical, and sexual violence, respectively. The regression results show that armed conflicts were significantly and positively associated with the experience of all types of IPV. In addition, the association between armed conflicts and the experience of emotional IPV was positively moderated by women's attitudes towards IPV. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that women living in high-conflict regions were more prone to experience IPV, particularly women with positive attitudes towards IPV. Promoting progressive gender roles, women's empowerment, awareness of IPV and inclusion of women in conflict resolution will help deal with the issue of IPV.

The impact of policing and homelessness on violence experienced by women who sell sex in London: a modelling study.

Street-based sex workers experience considerable homelessness, drug use and police enforcement, making them vulnerable to violence from clients and other perpetrators. We used a deterministic compartmental model of street-based sex workers in London to estimate whether displacement by police and unstable housing/homelessness increases client violence. The model was parameterized and calibrated using data from a cohort study of sex workers, to the baseline percentage homeless (64%), experiencing recent client violence (72%), or recent displacement (78%), and the odds ratios of experiencing violence if homeless (1.97, 95% confidence interval 0.88-4.43) or displaced (4.79, 1.99-12.11), or of experiencing displacement if homeless (3.60, 1.59-8.17). Ending homelessness and police displacement reduces violence by 67% (95% credible interval 53-81%). The effects are non-linear; halving the rate of policing or becoming homeless reduces violence by 5.7% (3.5-10.3%) or 6.7% (3.7-10.2%), respectively. Modelled interventions have small impact with violence reducing by: 5.1% (2.1-11.4%) if the rate of becoming housed increases from 1.4 to 3.2 per person-year (Housing First initiative); 3.9% (2.4-6.9%) if the rate of policing reduces by 39% (level if recent increases had not occurred); and 10.2% (5.9-19.6%) in combination. Violence reduces by 26.5% (22.6-28.2%) if half of housed sex workers transition to indoor sex work. If homelessness decreased and policing increased as occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the impact on violence is negligible, decreasing by 0.7% (8.7% decrease-4.1% increase). Increasing housing and reducing policing among street-based sex workers could substantially reduce violence, but large changes are needed.

Firearm Ownership and Support for Political Violence in the United States.

Importance: Little is known about support for and willingness to engage in political violence in the United States. Such violence would likely involve firearms. Objective: To evaluate whether firearm owners' and nonowners' support for political violence differs and whether support among owners varies by type of firearms owned, recency of purchase, and frequency of carrying a loaded firearm in public. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional nationally representative survey study was conducted from May 13 to June 2, 2022, among US adult members of the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, including an oversample of firearm owners. Exposure: Firearm ownership vs nonownership. Main Outcomes and Measures: Main outcomes concern (1) support for political violence, in general and to advance specific political objectives; (2) personal willingness to engage in political violence, by severity of violence and target population; and (3) perceived likelihood of firearm use in political violence. Outcomes are expressed as weighted proportions and adjusted prevalence differences, with P values adjusted for the false-discovery rate and reported as q values. Results: The analytic sample comprised 12 851 respondents: 5820 (45.3%) firearm owners, 6132 (47.7%) nonowners without firearms at home, and 899 (7.0%) nonowners with firearms at home. After weighting, 51.0% (95% CI, 49.9%-52.1%) were female, 8.5% (95% CI, 7.5%-9.5%) Hispanic, 9.1% (95% CI, 8.1%-10.2%) non-Hispanic Black, and 62.6% (95% CI, 61.5%-63.8%) non-Hispanic White; the mean (SD) age was 48.5 (18.0) years. Owners were more likely than nonowners without firearms at home to consider violence usually or always justified to advance at least 1 of 17 specific political objectives (owners: 38.8%; 95% CI, 37.3%-40.4%; nonowners: 29.8%; 95% CI, 28.5%-31.2%; adjusted difference, 6.5 percentage points; 95% CI, 4.5-9.3 percentage points; q < .001) but were not more willing to engage in political violence. Recent purchasers, owners who always or nearly always carry loaded firearms in public, and to a lesser extent, owners of assault-type rifles were more supportive of and willing to engage in political violence than other subgroups of firearm owners. Conclusions and Relevance: In this study of support for political violence in the United States, differences between firearm owners and nonowners without firearms at home were small to moderate when present. Differences were greater among subsets of owners than between owners and nonowners. These findings can guide risk-based prevention efforts.

A social problem analysis of the 1993 Brady Act and the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

In June 2022, the U.S. federal government passed its first major firearm policy since the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA). Summative content analysis was used to explore how the social problem of firearm violence was outlined in both policies, with the goal of extracting the social issue's definition from the policies' approaches to solving it. Both policies do not outline the various types of firearm violence, nor the disproportionate effect of firearm violence on certain populations. This work informs the role of federal policy in defining and monitoring firearm violence as a public health issue, identifying both individual and structural risk and protective factors from an asset-based lens, and allocating preventative efforts in communities that are most affected.

Examining the relationship between intimate partner violence and child development program attendance in young children: A cross-sectional study.

The aim of the present study was to determine the association between different types of intimate partner violence against women and nonattendance at the Growth and Development Control Program (CRED or well-child visits) of their children under 5 years of age. This was an analytical cross-sectional study that comprised a secondary analysis of data from the Demographic and Family Health Survey (ENDES in Spanish) of Peru, 2019. Data from 19,647 mothers (aged 15-49 years) and their children under 5 years were analyzed. The independent variables were the types of intimate partner violence = emotional, physical, and sexual. The outcome variable was nonattendance at CRED in the last 6 months. The mean maternal age was 30.47 ±â€…6.66 years; 66.1% of children were between 25 and 60 months of age; the prevalence of nonattendance at CRED was 29.9%. A relationship was found between partner violence against the mother and nonattendance at CRED. Specifically, there was a higher probability of nonattendance in the children of women who experienced partner violence (sexual = aPR = 1.25 [95% CI = 1.07-1.44]; physical = aPR = 1.17 [95% CI = 1.08-1.26]; emotional = aPR = 1.12 [95% CI = 1.03-1.21]). This study showed an association indicating that children born to mothers experiencing intimate partner violence exhibit an elevated likelihood of nonattendance at CRED when compared to children of mothers not subjected to such violence. Therefore, emphasizing the promotion and monitoring of child development, especially for those with a history of maternal violence, should be a primary priority, particularly in primary care.

Engaging with immigrant students' voices in the school environment: an analysis of policy documents through school websites.

BACKGROUND: For students to feel happy and supported in school, it is important that their views are taken seriously and integrated into school policies. However, limited information is available how the voices of immigrant students are considered in European school contexts. This study generated evidence from written documents to ascertain how student voice practices are described at school websites. METHODS: Between 2 March and 8 April 2021, we reviewed the policy documents publicly available on school websites. The schools located in areas of high immigration in six European countries: Austria, England, Finland, Germany, Romania, and Switzerland. The READ approach was used to guide the steps in the document analysis in the context of policy studies (1) ready the materials, 2) data extraction, 3) data analysis, 4) distil the findings). A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches with descriptive statistics (n, %, Mean, SD, range) was used for analysis. RESULTS: A total of 412 documents (305 schools) were extracted. Based on reviewing school websites, reviewers'strongly agreed' in seven documents (2%) that information related to seeking student voices could be easily found. On the contrary, in 247 documents (60%), reviewers strongly indicated that information related to seeking student voices was missing. No clear characteristics could be specified to identify those schools were hearing students' voices is well documented. The most common documents including statements related to student voice were anti-bullying or violence prevention strategies (75/412) and mission statements (72/412). CONCLUSIONS: Our document analysis based on publicly accessible school websites suggest that student voices are less frequently described in school written policy documents. Our findings provide a baseline to further monitor activities, not only at school level but also to any governmental and local authorities whose intention is to serve the public and openly share their values and practices with community members. A deeper understanding is further needed about how listening to student voices is realized in daily school practices.

Petitions for Extreme Risk Protection Orders and Second Amendment Sanctuary Status in Colorado.

Importance: Extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs) temporarily bar individuals adjudicated as being at risk of violence (including suicide) from buying or possessing firearms. In protest, many US jurisdictions have declared themselves "Second Amendment sanctuaries" (2A sanctuaries). Many 2A sanctuaries continue to use ERPOs in low numbers, suggesting a poorly defined risk threshold at which they are acceptable. Objective: To characterize circumstances under which ERPOs are used in 2A sanctuaries, highlighting their most broadly acceptable applications. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study of civil court documents analyzed petitions for ERPOs filed in Colorado from January 2020 to December 2022. All petitions during the study period were included following de-duplication. These include petitions filed by law enforcement and family members against adults allegedly at risk of firearm violence across the state. Data were analyzed on a rolling basis between January 2020 and June 2023. Exposure: ERPO petition filed in Colorado. Main Outcomes and Measures: Seventy-seven data elements defined a priori were abstracted from all petitions and case files, including respondent demographics, petitioner types (family or law enforcement), types of threats (self, other, mass violence, combination), violence risk factors, and case outcomes (granted, denied). Results: Of a total 338 ERPOs filed in Colorado, 126 (37.3%) occurred in 2A sanctuaries. Sixty-one of these 2A petitions were granted emergency orders, and 40 were full 1-year ERPOs after a hearing. Forty ERPOs (31.7%) were petitioned for by law enforcement. Petitions in non-2A counties were more likely to have been filed by law enforcement (138 of 227 [64.9%] vs 40 of 126 [31.7%]; P < .001) and to have had an emergency order granted (177 of 227 [78.0%] vs 61 of 126 [48.4%]; P < .001) than in 2A sanctuaries. Qualitative analysis of cases in 2A sanctuaries revealed common aggravating risk characteristics, including respondents experiencing hallucinations, histories of police interaction, and substance misuse. ERPOs have been granted in 2A sanctuaries against individuals threatening all forms of violence we abstracted for (themselves, others, and mass violence). Conclusions and Relevance: In this examination of ERPO petitions across Colorado, more than a third of filings occurred in 2A sanctuaries. Nonetheless, law enforcement represent proportionately fewer petitions in these areas, and petitions are less likely to be granted. Serious mental illness, substance misuse, and prior interactions with law enforcement featured prominently in 2A sanctuary petitions. These case circumstances highlight dangerous situations in which ERPOs are an acceptable risk-prevention tool, even in areas politically predisposed to opposing them.

Contagion to unrest: Investigating the link between disease and civil unrest in Africa.

Scholars, policymakers, and citizens alike remain invested in the impact of infectious diseases worldwide. Studies have found that emerging diseases and disease outbreaks burden global economies and public health goals. This article explores the potential link between measles outbreaks and various forms of civil unrest, such as demonstrations, riots, strikes, and other anti-government violence, in four central African countries from 1996 to 2005. Using a difference-in-differences model, we examine whether disease outbreaks have a discernible impact on the prevalence of civil unrest. While our findings indicate that the relationship between disease and civil unrest is not as strong as previously suggested, we identify a notable trend that warrants further investigation. These results have significant implications for health and policy officials in understanding the complex interplay between state fragility, civil unrest, and the spread of disease.

The development and validation of the Palestinian children's traumatic events checklist in a war-torn environment.

Traumatic experiences in childhood can lead to trauma symptoms and impaired mental health, especially when children are exposed to war and political violence. Despite significant attention to child's exposure to traumas, few instruments to detect potentially traumatic events have been validated psychometrically. Our study aimed to develop, adapt and validate a user-friendly traumatic events checklist in Palestinian children living in three areas affected by low-intensity war and ongoing political and military violence. 965 Palestinian children (494 males and 471 females) living in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem were administered with a tailor-made Traumatic Events checklist, Children Impact of Events scale, and Strengths and Difficulties Scale. Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analysis was run to detect the factorial structure of the checklist. Furthermore, ANOVA was performed to identify statistically significant demographic differences among participants. A three factors structure emerged with Political violence-related traumatic experiences (PVTE), military violence against individuals (MVI), and military violence against individuals and families (MVF). Gaza children and adolescents resulted in being the most exposed to potentially traumatic events. The instrument can clearly portray potentially traumatic experiences in children exposed to violent events and adverse childhood experiences.

Witnessing inter-parental violence in childhood and help-seeking behaviours in violence against women in Peru.

BACKGROUND: Violence against women (VAW) severely impacts their physical and mental health. In some cultures, women can normalize certain types of violence if they were linked to home models in childhood and, eventually, do not seek for help in adulthood. We aimed to determine, in Peruvian women, (1) the association between witnessing violence in their family of origin and VAW experienced in adulthood, (2) the extent to which women who have experienced VAW seek some help, and (3) identify VAW prevalence by Peruvian region. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of secondary data obtained from the 2019 National Demographic and Family Health Survey (ENDES). The outcome was VAW (psychological, physical and sexual violence), whereas the exposure was witnessing violence in the home of origin. Help-seeking behavior was a secondary outcome, for which VAW was the exposure. Prevalence ratios (PR) were estimated to assess both associations, unadjusted and adjusted for covariates (aPR). RESULTS: Data from 14,256 women aged 15 to 49 years were analysed. 51.5% reported having experienced VAW and 43.8% witnessed violence in the home of origin during childhood. Witnessing inter-parental violence in childhood was associated with psychological violence aPR = 1.25 (95% CI: 1.17-1.33), physical aPR = 1.52 (95% CI: 1.38-1.67), and sexual aPR = 1.99 (95% CI: 1.57-2.52). Women who have experienced both types of violence (physical and sexual) were more likely to help-seeking (aPR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.14-1.50) than women suffering only one type of violence. CONCLUSION: Women who reported having witnessed home violence in their childhood are more likely to experience Violence Against Women (VAW) by their current partner. Physical and sexual violence with a current partner was more associated with witnessing inter-parental violence in childhood, and when physical and sexual violence jointly occurred women were more help-seeking. The southern region of Peru is identified as an area of high vulnerability for women. It is crucial to promote educative and community-based programs aimed at the prevention and early recognition of VAW.

The Hamas massacre of Oct 7, 2023, and its aftermath, medical crimes, and the Lancet commission report on medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust.

BACKGROUND: The report of the Lancet Commission on medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust, released in November 2023, calls for this history to be required for all health professions education, to foster morally courageous health professionals who speak up when necessary. MAIN BODY: The report was released a month after Hamas' October 7 invasion of Israel, with the accompanying massacre of over 1200 people, taking of civilian hostages, and gender-based violence. These acts constitute crimes against humanity including genocide. Post-October 7, war in Gaza resulted, with a legitimate objective of Israel defending itself within international law. The authors discuss an accompanying Statement to the report condemning Hamas crimes and denouncing the perpetrators' use of their own civilians as human shields, including in healthcare facilities, and with the Hamas attack unleashing immense and ongoing suffering in Israel and beyond. With some exceptions, the medical literature shows a marked absence of condemnation of Hamas atrocities and includes unsubstantiated criticisms of Israel's military. A significant surge in global antisemitism including on university campuses since October 7, 2023, has occurred; and health professionals, according to the Commission, have a special responsibility to fight antisemitism and discrimination of all kinds. In this context, the authors discuss the controversy and criticism regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion education programs ("DEI") including such programs failing to protect Jews on campuses, especially as the U.S. President Biden's "The U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism," released in May 2023, calls for the inclusion of issues of antisemitism and religious discrimination within all DEI education programs. The authors support an evidence-based approach to the Hamas massacre, its aftermath and its relevance to health professionals both within medicine and their global citizenship, including refuting the international community accusations and anti-Israel libel. CONCLUSIONS: The report of the Lancet Commission on medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust has striking relevance to the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023 and its aftermath. This is further conveyed in an accompanying Statement, that describes the report's implications for contemporary medicine, including: 1) provision of skills required to detect and prevent crimes against humanity and genocide; (2) care for victims of atrocities; (3) upholding the healing ethos central to the practice of medicine; and (4) fostering history-informed morally courageous health professionals who speak up when necessary.

Who is killing South African men? A retrospective descriptive study of forensic and police investigations into male homicide.

Not much is known about the perpetrators of male homicide in South Africa, which has rates seven times the global average. For the country's first ever male homicide study we describe the epidemiology of perpetrators, their relationship with victims and victim profiles of men killed by male versus female perpetrators. We conducted a retrospective descriptive study of routine data collected through forensic and police investigations, calculating victim and perpetrator homicide rates by age, sex, race, external cause, employment status and setting, stratified by victim-perpetrator relationships. For perpetrators, we reported suspected drug and alcohol use, prior convictions, gang-involvement and homicide by multiple perpetrators. Perpetrators were acquaintances in 63% of 5594 cases in which a main perpetrator was identified. Sharp objects followed by guns were the main external causes of death. The highest rates were recorded in urban informal areas among unemployed men across all victim-perpetrator relationship types. Recreational settings including bars featured prominently. Homicides clustered around festive periods and weekends, both of which are associated with heavy episodic drinking. Perpetrator alcohol use was reported in 41% of homicides by family members and 50% by acquaintances. Other drug use was less common (9% overall). Of 379 men killed by female perpetrators, 60% were killed by intimate partners. Perpetrator alcohol use was reported in approximately half of female-on-male murders. Female firearm use was exclusively against intimate partners. No men were killed by male intimate partners. Violence prevention, which in South Africa has mainly focused on women and children, needs to be integrated into an inclusive approach. Profiling victims and perpetrators of male homicide is an important and necessary first step to challenge prevailing masculine social constructs that men are neither vulnerable to, nor the victims of, trauma and to identify groups at risk of victimisation that could benefit from specific interventions and policies.

A participatory and comprehensive intervention to improve violence prevention in two high-risk occupations: effect and process evaluation of a stepped wedge cluster randomised trial.

BACKGROUND: Work-related violence committed by clients, patients, and customers represents a major occupational health risk for employees that needs to be reduced. METHODS: We tested a comprehensive violence prevention intervention involving active participation of both employees and managers in the Prison and Probation Service (PPS) and on psychiatric wards in Denmark. We used a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial design. We measured the degree of implementation of the intervention by registration of fidelity, reach, and dose and used a mixed-effects regression analysis to estimate the effects of the intervention. RESULTS: We recruited 16 work units for the intervention, but three work units dropped out. The average implementation rate was 73%. In the psychiatric wards, the intervention led to statistically significant improvements in the primary outcome (an increase in the degree to which managers and employees continuously work on violence prevention practices based on their registration and experiences), but none statistically significant improvements in any of the secondary outcomes. In the PPS units, the intervention did not lead to a statistically significant improvement in the primary outcome, but to statistically significant improvements in three secondary outcomes. CONCLUSION: Most work units were able to carry out the intervention as planned. The intervention showed mixed results regarding the primary outcome. Nevertheless, the results indicate improvements also in the sector where a change in the primary outcome was not achieved. The results point at that a participatory and comprehensive approach could be a viable way of working with violence prevention in high-risk workplaces. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN86993466: 20/12/2017.

Male perspectives on intimate partner violence: A qualitative analysis from South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects one in four women globally and is more commonly enacted by men than women. Rates of IPV in South Africa exceed the global average. Exploring the background and context regarding why men use violence can help future efforts to prevent IPV. METHODS: We explored adult men's perspectives of IPV, livelihoods, alcohol use, gender beliefs, and childhood exposure to abuse through a secondary analysis of qualitative interviews that were conducted in South Africa. The setting was a peri-urban township characterized by high unemployment, immigration from rural areas, and low service provision. We utilized thematic qualitative analysis that was guided by the social ecological framework. RESULTS: Of 30 participants, 20 were residents in the neighborhood, 7 were trained community members, and 3 were program staff. Men reported consumption of alcohol and lack of employment as being triggers for IPV and community violence in general. Multiple participants recounted childhood exposure to abuse. These themes, in addition to culturally prescribed gender norms and constructs of manhood, seemed to influence the use of violence. CONCLUSION: Interventions aimed at reducing IPV should consider the cultural and social impact on men's use of IPV in low-resource, high-IPV prevalence settings, such as peri-urban South Africa. This work highlights the persistent need for the implementation of effective primary prevention strategies that address contextual and economic factors in an effort to reduce IPV that is primarily utilized by men directed at women.

Race, disadvantage, and violence: A spatial exploration of macrolevel covariates of police-involved homicides within and between US counties.

Efforts to explore the macrolevel determinants of police-involved homicides have expanded in recent years due in part to increased scrutiny and media attention to such events, and increased data availability of these events through crowdsourced databases. However, little empirical research has examined the spatial determinants of such events. The present study extends the extant macrolevel research on police-involved homicides by employing an underutilized spatial econometric model, the spatial Durbin model (SDM), to assess the direct and indirect county effects of racial threat, economic threat, social disorganization, and community violence on police killings within and between US counties from 2013 through 2020. Results indicate a direct inverse relationship between racial threat and police-involved homicides, no support for economic threat, and a direct positive association with two measures of social disorganization. Additionally, we find firearm availability exhibits significant direct and indirect spatial dependence on focal county police-involved homicides, reflecting spatial spillover processes. In essence, as firearm availability in neighboring counties increases, police-involved homicides within a focal county increase. The implications of these findings for racial threat, economic threat, social disorganization, and community violence are discussed.

Post-traumatic stress disorder and associated factors among internally displaced persons in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Internally displaced people (IDPs), uprooted by conflict, violence, or disaster, struggle with the trauma of violence, loss, and displacement, making them significantly more vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the prevalence and associated factors of PTSD among IDPs in Africa. METHODS: A comprehensive search of electronic databases was conducted to identify relevant studies published between 2008 and 2023. The search included electronic databases such as PubMed, CABI, EMBASE, SCOPUS, CINHAL, and AJOL, as well as other search sources. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. Data were extracted using Microsoft Excel, and analysis was performed using STATA 17 software. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the JBI quality appraisal tool. A random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of PTSD and its associated factors. The funnel plot and Egger's regression test were used to assess publication bias, and I2 test statistics was used to assess heterogeneity. The protocol for this review has been registered with PROSPERO (ID: CRD42023428027). RESULTS: A total of 14 studies with a total of 7,590 participants met the inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of PTSD among IDPs in Africa was 51% (95% CI: 38.-64). Female gender (OR = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.65-2.32), no longer married (OR = 1.93, 95% CI: 1.43-2.43), unemployment (OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.17-2.67), being injured (OR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.50-1.50), number of traumatic events experienced [4-7(OR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.16-3.01), 8-11 (OR = 2.09, 95% CI: 2.18-4.12), 12-16 (OR = 5.37, 95% CI: 2.61-8.12)], illness without medical care (OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.41-2.29), being depressed (OR = 2.97, 95% CI: 2.07-3.86), and frequency of displacement more than once (OR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.41-2.85) were significantly associated with an increased risk of PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this systematic review and meta-analysis highlight the alarming prevalence of PTSD among IDPs in Africa. Female gender, marital status, number of traumatic events, ill health without medical care, depression, and frequency of displacement were identified as significant risk factors for PTSD. Effective interventions and the development of tailored mental health programs are needed to prevent PTSD among IDPs, focusing on the identified risk factors.