Traumatic bereavement, symptoms of post-traumatic stress, and exposure to community violence among Guatemalan aid workers

Prevalence rates of PTSD in Mexico and Central America have been found to be higher than those in the United States and Canada. Traumatic bereavement has been identified as one of the most common factors of community violence that can result in PTSD. The present study used the Grief Screening Scale (GSS) to measure prevalence of traumatic bereavement, the Los Angeles Symptom Checklist (LASC) to measure symptoms of post-traumatic stress and the Survey of Children's Exposure to Community Violence (SCECV) to measure exposure to community violence among a sample of 41 non-governmental aid workers at the Guatemala City dump. Results indicate that the prevalence rate of traumatic bereavement is 41.5%. Significant differences were not found in rates of post traumatic symptoms or exposure to community violence among those who had experienced a traumatic loss and those who had not Potential reasons for the similar rates reported between groups are discussed.