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Socio-interpersonal factors have a strong potential to protect individuals against pathological processing of traumatic events. While perceived social support has emerged as an important protective factor, this effect has not been replicated in people with intellectual disabilities (ID). One reason for this might be that the relevance of socio-interpersonal factors differs in people with ID: Social support may be associated with more stress due to a generally high dependency on sometimes unwanted support. An exploration of the role of posttraumatic, socio-interpersonal factors for people with ID is therefore necessary in order to provide adequate support. The current study aims to explore the subjective perception of social reactions to disclosure of sexual violence in four women with mild to moderate ID. The study was conducted in Austria. The women were interviewed about their perception of received social reactions as benevolent or harmful, their emotional response, and whether they perceived being treated differently due to their ID diagnosis. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. First, the interviews were coded inductively, and social reactions were then deductively assigned to three categories that were derived from general research: positive reactions, unsupportive acknowledgement, turning against. Findings on the perception of social reactions were in line with findings from the general population. Overall, participants reported that they did not feel that they were treated any differently from persons without disabilities. However, the social reactions they received included unjustified social reactions, such as perpetrators not being held accountable. A possible explanation may be a habituation and internalisation of negative societal attitudes towards women with ID. Empowerment programmes and barrier-free structural support for women with ID following trauma exposure should be improved.

Background: Diagnostic manuals provide a strict definition of the PTSD gate criterion. Research on the adequacy of this definition in people with intellectual disabilities is lacking. This study aims to test the adequacy of the gate criterion for this population. Method: Forty-nine adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities and 43 caregivers were questioned. Traumatic events included in the gate criterion definition and adverse events going beyond it were assessed. It was tested whether adverse events affect symptoms of PTSD additionally to traumatic events. Results: The current data showed ambiguous findings in self- and informant report. Informant data suggested an additional impact of adverse events on PTSD symptoms. Self-report data suggested the contrary. Conclusion: Adverse events seem to have an impact on externalizing behavioural symptoms, such as hyperarousal. Self-report assessment of more specific, intrapsychic PTSD symptoms, such as intrusions and avoidance, should be addressed in future studies.

Background: There is a lack of research on trauma in people with intellectual disabilities. This study assessed expert consensus on the traumatic potential of a broader range of adverse life events, and differences in symptom manifestation and behavioural symptom equivalents of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Method: The present authors conducted a three-step Delphi survey using a mixed-methods design. Twenty-nine expert raters participated in the survey, and 16 persisted to the final round. Consensus was calculated using the interquartile range. Results: Traumatic potential was attributed to adverse life events, particularly revolving around sexuality and autonomy. DSM-5 symptoms of PTSD were rated as partially adequate, with behavioural symptom expression being the main difference to the general population. Conclusion: The range of traumatic events should be broadened for people with intellectual disabilities. A specific subset of events need to be defined in future research. Detection of PTSD depends upon determining specific symptom correlates of challenging behaviour.

Background: The current research concept of mentalization is used in the study to clearly identify affective and cognitive abilities of the caregiver-child dyad with the aim of compensating deficits on both sides with psychologicalpsychotherapeutic strategies. Methods: The objective of this explorative, longitudinal intervention study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the psycho-social background of 30 children aged 6-12 years living in institutional or family-centered foster care. Data will be collected at three time points: before, after and 12 months after participating in the newly developed group intervention, which intends to address the particular needs of children of drug abusing parents living in foster care in the latency period. The study is conducted at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Vienna in collaboration with the Association "Dialogue" (Verein Dialog). The treatment duration spans 5 months, during which two specifically trained psychotherapists conduct 10 group sessions for children and three group sessions for foster caregivers. All statistical analyses will consider the type of data available. Therefore, the primary outcome of the study will be assessed via the Friedman test due to the ordinal dependent variable as it is the non-parametric alternative to the one-way ANOVA for repeated measures. In addition, the Mann-Whitney U test is used to compare differences between two independent groups (children living in institutional foster care vs. family foster care). To assess potential correlations regarding the child and caregivers' capacity to mentalize, Spearman correlations () are conducted. To examine the secondary outcome, apart from the methods previously outlined, we will also utilize qualitative thematic analysis. Discussion: The present study uses the current research concept of mentalization to identify affective and cognitive abilities of the caregiver-child dyad with the aim of compensating deficits on both sides with psychological-psychotherapeutic strategies. There are some limitations of the study to mention: the small sample size does not allow to generalize the results. Due to the lack of a comparison group, a randomized control study (RCT) was not conducted. The authors are aware of these limitations. However, the studies' findings, will help to deduce research questions for further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of Afghan asylum seekers and refugees come to Austria from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. While those from Afghanistan faced predominantly war-related traumatic events, those from Iran and Pakistan encountered discriminatory experiences related to the host countries. This vulnerable population's mental health is further strained by different post-migration stressors in Austria. The purpose of the present study was to explore pre-migration environmental differences and association of different sociodemographic and forced-migration related risk factors to mental health outcomes, and the mediation and moderation effects of post-migration stressors. Data were collected from 305 Afghan participants (155 asylum seekers and 150 refugees) that came from Afghanistan, Iran or Pakistan through nonrandom sampling in Austria. Of the 305 participants, 161 (52.8%) had anxiety, 176 (57.7%) depression, 32 (10.5%) ICD-11 PTSD, and 63 (20.7%) ICD-11 CPTSD. In bivariate analyses, being asylum seeker, being divorced, being Pashtun, and higher number of traumata and stressors in pre-migration and post-migration environments were associated with higher prevalence of mental health problems. Pre-migration traumata and post-migration stressors significantly predicted all mental health outcomes in multiple linear regression analyses. Post-migration stressors significantly meditated and moderated the association between pre-migration traumata and mental health symptoms. The findings support pre-migration traumata's effects and aggravating role of post-migration stressors in mental health of Afghan asylum seekers and refugees in Austria. Our findings imply the importance of implementing proactive and culturally relevant psychosocial interventions that emphasize prevention of post-migration stressors or mitigating their effects on the mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]