Mental health status of internally displaced persons in the Garmian region of Kurdistan, Iraq: a cross-sectional survey.

There are an estimated 4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq, mainly settled in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and yet few studies have documented the mental health of IDPs in the region. The aims of this study were (1) to assess the prevalence of mental health disorders and trauma experiences amongst IDPs and (2) to explore associations between prior displacement and years living in the camp and mental health disorders. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with adults (N = 100) from March - July 2018. Structured surveys were used to collect sociodemographic information, and adapted measures included the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Inventory (PTSD-8), Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) and the Post-Migration Living Difficulties Checklist (PMLD). The average number of traumatic events experienced was 4.43 (SD = 2.63). The most commonly reported traumatic events included oppression due to ethnicity, religion or sect (92%) and exposure to combat situations (83%). Nearly half of the participants had experienced ill health without access to medical care, 44% lack of shelter and 43% lack of food or clean water. Thirty-two percent of respondents witnessed someone being murdered. There is a critical need for quality mental health services for IDPs in KR.

"Looking at Myself in the Future": how mentoring shapes scientific identity for STEM students from underrepresented groups.

BACKGROUND: Mentorship has been well-established in the literature as fostering scientific identity and career pathways for underrepresented minority students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Mentorship is prioritized by programs that aim to increase diversity and support future leadership in STEM fields, but in-depth understanding of mentorship in these contexts remains limited. Drawing on qualitative interview data, we sought to understand the relationship between mentoring and scientific identity among a diverse sample of 24 students in one such program, in order to inform program development. RESULTS: Qualitative analysis of the data revealed that mentorship, especially research mentorship, was common and played a role in formation of scientific identity. Students with research mentors tended to say they strongly identified as scientists, whereas those who lacked research mentorship varied in their level of scientific identity. In interviews, research-mentored students described mentors as colleagues who gave them opportunities to grow and as examples to look up to. Students valued mentors with whom they identified on the basis of demographic similarity or shared values, as well as those who challenged them in their academic and research endeavors. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis highlights how different mentoring experiences can contribute to development of future STEM leadership. We discuss implications for practice, including the need for tailored mentoring approaches and research-focused mentoring, and offer several recommendations for research and programming.