Influence of post-migration living difficulties on post-traumatic symptoms in Chinese asylum seekers resettled in Italy

Little is known about mental health and resettlement difficulties of Chinese asylum seekers fleeing China due to religious persecutions.

This study explores main post-migration living difficulties (PMLD) in this population, with a focus on their role in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

A total of 67 patients (95.52% women, mean age 34.75 ± 7.63) were included in the study. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) was used to assess PTSD, the List of Migration Experiences (LiMEs) was used for pre-migration and post-migration experiences (potentially traumatic events as well as living difficulties). The t-test was used to examine the differences in pre-migration and post-migration mean scores. Logistic regression was used to test the effect of pre-migration traumatic experiences (PMTE) and most frequent PMLD on having a PTSD.

A total of 49 patients scored above the HTQ cut-off score for PTSD. As expected, traumatic experiences were concentrated in the pre-migration phase, while living difficulties were present in both phases but more frequently in the post-migration period. PMTE were significantly related to PTSD (OR 1.29, p = .01). However, three PMLD ('Feeling that you do not know where you will lend up tomorrow', 'Loneliness and boredom' and 'Not being able to find work') showed a significant interaction with PMTE, suggesting that their presence in the post-migration phase has a modulation effect by increasing the likelihood of PTSD.

This study extends to Chinese asylum seekers the previous evidence that PMLD have a significant role in the likelihood to have a PTSD after landing in the host country.