Because the aim of the original data collections was not to investigate respondents’ health, no validated measurement of any diagnosis such as PTSD or depression was included in the data collection. For the analysis here, six items included in NorAQ were summarized and the resulting measurements should not be understood as diagnostic of any disease but rather as self-reports of symptoms indicating psychological ill health among victims. Three questions had a general character and asked if respondents, during the previous 12 months, for a long time and to such an extent that they found it difficult to cope with their daily life, had suffered from 1) anxiety, 2) depression, 3) insomnia.
Three questions had a general character and asked if respondents, during the previous 12 months, for a long time and to such an extent that they found it difficult to cope with their daily life, had suffered from 1) anxiety, 2) depression, 3) insomnia. Three questions concerned symptoms of PTSD and asked if respondents during the previous 12 months had: 4) experienced unpleasant recollections that disturbed them and that they could do nothing about; 5) avoided situations in order not to have unpleasant recollections or feelings, and whether this had interfered with what they wanted to do; 6) felt as if their feelings were numb for a long period.
Possible answers to each question were: a) No; b) Yes, but rarely; c) Yes sometimes; and d) Yes, often. To test if the questions pertained to one underlying construct, an explanatory factor analysis was conducted.