By Ryan Brown – originally published on the FHI website 10/19/2010

With midterms winding down and (slightly) cooler weather finally arriving in Durham, most Duke students welcomed last week’s Fall Break as a chance to relax, sleep, and visit with friends and family. For one cohort of Haiti Lab students and professors, however, the break brought an entirely different experience—four days in Haiti investigating post-earthquake Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Building off of nearly two months of research and preparation, professors Deborah Jenson, Kathy Walmer, and Jacques Pierre, along with undergraduates Kendra Hinton, Annie McDonough, Nadine Michel, and Jenn Denike spent their brief time in the country trying to understand the psychological scars the January earthquake left behind. Over the course of the trip, they visited four different regions and administered PTSD questionnaires to 46 earthquake survivors as part of a pilot study, staying along the way with whatever community members opened their doors—from a vodou priestess to the Catholic nuns at a local orphanage.

For Senior Kendra Hinton, a psychology and French double major who is also learning Kreyòl, the trip provided the incomparable opportunity to apply several of her passions to a real world problem. We talked with Kendra to learn more about the trip, its impact, and where the group will go from here.

How did you become a part of this trip?

This semester I am involved in an independent study through the Haiti Lab and Global Health.  Through this independent study we are involved in a project entitled,  “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Prevalence and Cultural Presentation in Post-Earthquake Leogane, Haiti.” This independent study seemed like a natural intersection between my majors and interests.  The Fall Break trip was an important way to put the independent study into perspective and to contribute to an important research project.  It was also an incredible opportunity to gain experience conducting psychological research in other countries, as well as to visit Haiti and learn more about the country and the people.

What did your days in Haiti look like?

Our time in Haiti was quite a whirlwind of experiences.  Our goal was to examine the manner in which the SPRINT E PTSD questionnaire would function in a Haitian context.  During our trip we traveled to a new city each day—Leogane, Fondwa, and Terre Noir.  In each of these towns we interviewed local community members as well as staff at the institutions run by Family Health Ministries.  During each interview we asked participants to describe their experience during the earthquake and then administered the PTSD survey.

What was the most powerful experience of the trip?

The trip was filled with many powerful moments.  Through visiting four cities we were able to see four very different ways of life.  We heard many moving testimonies of the earthquake and saw many traces of the devastation left in its wake.  The most powerful moment would probably be talking to a priest and local leader in the mountain town of Fondwa.  He was very eloquent and fluent in French, English, and Haitian Creole.  He described the earthquake as the beginning of a new life–a second life.  One particular phrase that stuck with me was, “You can treat the mental illness, but you can never cure the disease.  You must give people the means.”  This brought to light many difficult issues when treating PTSD in Haiti.  Though psychological treatment may reduce symptoms, if someone lacks a job, a home, and a family, the recovery process cannot truly be complete without regaining these things.  Psychological care is merely a piece of the recovery that must take place throughout the next few years.

What will you be doing with the work you did in Haiti now that you’re back in Durham? 

This trip was a pilot study of the SPRINT E questionnaire.  We hope to take what we learned from our interviews and adjust the translation as well as the administration methods.  This can in turn be used to gather more data on PTSD in Haiti.  Ultimately, such data can be used to begin to create a system of PTSD treatment in Haiti.

Photo: Kendra Hinton (far left) and other members of the PTSD research group meet with community members in Leogane, Haiti.