Psychometric properties of a Haitian Kreyòl version of the trauma symptom checklist.

BACKGROUND: In this study, the first to examine psychometrics of a Haitian Kreyòl version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 (TSC-40), we investigated trauma symptoms in survivors of Haiti's 2010 earthquake who reside in Haiti's Cité Soleil slum, a violent neighborhood where non-partner sexual violence (NPSV) is rampant and whose residents are historically underrepresented in research. METHODS: 233 women and 280 men 18 years or older completed the TSC-40. Differential Item Function (DIF) analysis was performed on the TSC-40 responses for women and men. We examined symptom counts by gender, between NPSV victims and non-victims, and by interaction between gender and NPSV experience. RESULTS: We identified a reduced pool of 17-items that exhibited no gender bias. This 17-item index showed acceptable internal consistency reliability (α = 0.87). Employing this index, average symptom counts for women (x¯â€¯= 11.3) did not differ from men (x¯= 11.1). Average symptom counts for NPSV victims was greater (x¯â€¯= 12.5) than for non-victims (x¯= 10.7). The gender by experience of NPSV interaction indicated that women victims had the highest symptom counts (x¯=14.0). LIMITATIONS: We used non-probability sampling, and data were from self-reports collected in a cross-sectional survey. CONCLUSIONS: Observed differences in trauma burden are likely to be misleading if instruments are administered without regard to DIF. We contribute a Haitian Kreyòl Trauma Symptom 17-item index, which offers clinicians/practitioners in Haiti the opportunity to use a valid and reliable measure of enduring trauma symptoms validated in Haiti.

Correlates of picuriste use in a sample of health-seeking Haitian immigrants and adult children of immigrants in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

OBJECTIVES: We explored covariates of the use of picuristes (traditional health workers with no formal medical training who provide intramuscular, subcutaneous, and intravenous injections, typically with nonsterile needles) in the Haitian community of Miami-Dade County, Florida. METHODS: We surveyed a community-based sample of 205 Haitian immigrants and adult children of Haitian immigrants. Through logistic regression analysis, we sought to corroborate the correlates of picuriste use identified in previous qualitative interviews of picuristes and their clients. RESULTS: Picuriste injections had been obtained by 17.6% of our respondents. After control for demographic characteristics, we found that participants who reported that a trusted person recommended a picuriste were 3.9 times as likely as participants without a recommendation to have used a picuriste. Similarly, participants who believed that the benefits associated with picuriste use were worth any resulting problems were 4.5 times as likely as those without this belief to have patronized a picuriste. CONCLUSIONS: A significant minority of our sample patronized picuristes. Our data identified factors associated with picuriste use and shed light on a frequently hidden cultural health behavior.

Prevalence of smoking and drinking among older adults in seven urban cities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In 2000, a representative sample of the elderly population (60 years or older) was selected from seven urban cities in Latin America and the Caribbean: Buenos Aires (Argentina), Mexico City (Mexico), Santiago (Chile), Havana (Cuba), Montevideo (Uruguay), Bridgetown (Barbados), and Sao Paulo (Brazil). A face-to-face interview was uniformly administered in the respective official languages. A total of 10,577 older adults were included in this study. The elderly in Havana had the highest prevalence of smoking (46.5% of men and 21.5% women). The highest prevalence of daily drinking was in Buenos Aires (19%). In contrast, only 1.5% of respondents in Mexico City and 2.3% of respondents in Havana consumed alcohol daily. Smoking and daily drinking were highly prevalent among older adults. As the older adult population grows steeply, the health behavior of this population starts carrying important implications for health care systems.