A Latent Profile Analysis of Moral Injury Appraisals in Refugees

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

Joel Hoffman, Belinda Liddell, Richard A. Bryant & Angela Nickerson

https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1686805

Background: Refugees often exhibit reactions to traumatic events that may be conceptualized as moral injury (i.e. the impact of events that violate important moral values). There have been two types of moral injury appraisals found in refugees: transgressions by others and transgressions by oneself.

Objective: To examine whether these types of moral injury appraisals co-occur or whether one form is usually predominant. Additionally, to investigate what types of events (trauma, living difficulties) and outcomes (PTSD, depression, anger, suicidality) were associated with each moral injury appraisal profile.

Method: Participants included 221 refugees and asylum seekers residing in Australia. Data was collected online, and via pen and paper. A latent profile analysis was used to identify profiles of moral injury appraisals.

Results: Results indicated a three-profile solution: Moral Injury-Other (MI-O; 37.8%), Moral Injury Other + Self (MI-OS; 35.2%), and no moral injury (No-MI; 26.9%). MI-O and MI-OS were predicted by both trauma experience and living difficulties. MI-O and MI-OS were also associated with greater psychopathology across all outcome variables compared to No-MI. MI-OS was also associated with greater anger and depression, compared to the MI-O profile.

Conclusions: The association between the moral injury appraisal profiles and traumatic events, living difficulties and psychopathology, will have important clinical implications.

Keywords: moral injury; PTSD; depression; refugees; appraisals

Received 06 May 2019, Accepted 03 Oct 2019, Published online: 11 Nov 2019