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Queen's University Belfast

The psychometric properties of the Brief COPE and the impact of war related parental post-traumatic stress on family functioning

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This systematic review sought to explore the association between war or civil conflict related parental post-traumatic stress and family functioning from the perspective of the family unit (parent and offspring). Electronic searches of CINAHL, PsychINFO, Web of Science and PubMed as well as grey literature and hand searches were carried out. The search procedure identified 9 studies that met the eligibility criteria of the present review. Given heterogeneity between studies existed, a narrative synthesis was employed. All included studies reported that parental PTSD was associated with impaired family functioning with small to large effect size differences between groups where effect sizes were reported. Specific dimensions of family functioning found to be associated with parental PTSD across studies included emotional responsiveness, cohesion, communication and problem solving. Through identifying key difficulties in family functioning associated with parental PTSD, the present review provides tentative insights for clinicians and researchers in the development and implementation of interventions for families. Tailored interventions may be necessary as family functioning can be affected on different levels depending on the severity of parental PTSD. Further, separate intervention approaches for parents and children may be appropriate given parents tend to perceive family functioning as more impaired than their offspring. This review also highlights the paucity of literature on the association between civil conflict related parental PTSD and family functioning.

Degree

thesis:*
Name dc:type.qualificationname
Doctor of Philosophy
Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
Doctoral Thesis
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
Queen's University Belfast
Year dc:date.issued
2019

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • O'Donnell, Katie
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Hanna, Donncha

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

Language dc:language
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Identifier
oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/8112da82-8054-4fcd-b223-4c48ce216c5a
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/8112da82-8054-4fcd-b223-4c48ce216c5a

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Queen's University Belfast
Base URL
pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/oai
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

O'Donnell, Katie. The psychometric properties of the Brief COPE and the impact of war related parental post-traumatic stress on family functioning. Doctoral Thesis thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2019. https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/8112da82-8054-4fcd-b223-4c48ce216c5a