Centre de santé et de services sociaux de la Montagne and Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. janet.cleveland@mail.mcgill.ca
To examine the association between brief detention and psychiatric symptom levels among adult asylum seekers.
The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire and the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 were used to assess psychiatric symptoms and premigration trauma exposure in 122 detained and 66 nondetained adult asylum seekers in Montreal and Toronto.
After a mean detention of 31 days, the proportion of asylum seekers scoring above clinical cutpoints was significantly higher in the detained than the nondetained group for posttraumatic stress (?² = 4.117, df = 1, P = 0.04), depression (?² = 13.813, df = 1, P