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  • Psychosocial impacts on the Christchurch Muslim community following the 15 March terrorist attacks: a mixed-methods study protocol

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Mental health
Protocol
Psychosocial impacts on the Christchurch Muslim community following the 15 March terrorist attacks: a mixed-methods study protocol
  1. Ruqayya C. Sulaiman-Hill1,
  2. Richard Porter1,
  3. Sandila Tanveer1,
  4. Joseph Boden1,
  5. Ben Beaglehole1,
  6. Philip J Schluter2,3,
  7. Shaystah Dean1,
  8. Caroline Bell1
  1. 1Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand
  2. 2School of Health Science, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
  3. 3School of Clinical Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Dr Ruqayya C. Sulaiman-Hill; ruqayya.sulaiman-hill{at}otago.ac.nz

Abstract

Introduction On 15 March 2019, a white supremacist gunman opened fire in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers, killing 51 people and injuring 40. The event was witnessed by at least 250 survivors and also live streamed on social media, leading to widespread and repeated exposure within the community. It is expected that survivors, families and community members will be at increased risk of developing mental disorders due to the scale and violence of these attacks.

This protocol describes the first phase of a proposed longitudinal study to screen and assess the long-term impacts of the terrorist attack on members of the Christchurch Muslim community, to determine clinical need and facilitate access to appropriate interventions and to gain insights into working with such a traumatised, ethnically diverse population. It has been developed in close collaboration with members of that community.

Methods and analysis A mixed-method design is described, combining self-report measures with a clinician-administered diagnostic interview. Participants include Christchurch Muslims aged 18 years and over, with a target sample size of n=200. Analyses will determine prevalence of major mental disorders, while regression analyses will model the relationship between pre-event features, trauma exposure and mental disorders. A small number of participants, stratified by exposure type, will also take part in a qualitative interview in English. All study information and self-report measures are provided in translations based on the ethnolinguistic composition of the group and are available in paper and online versions.

Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was granted by the New Zealand Health and Disability Ethics Committee 19/NTA/147. All participants provide informed consent, either written or online via REDCap software. Findings will be disseminated initially to the impacted community, then by publication in scientific journals, presentations and to government agencies.

Trial registration number The study is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12620000909921.

  • mental health
  • public health
  • psychiatry
  • international health services
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055413

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    Footnotes

    • Correction notice This article has been corrected since publication to remove supplementary file 14, at the request of the authors and the copyright holder.

    • Contributors CB, RCMS-H and RP conceived the study, and JB, BB, PJS and SD contributed to the design and study protocol. CB and RCMS-H developed the protocol and selected the measures. ST was responsible for coordinating instrument translation and setting up the online component. RCMS-H drafted the paper and all authors read, critically revised and approved the final version of the manuscript.

    • Funding The project has been funded by major grants from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC 19/907) and Canterbury Medical Research Foundation (CMRF 01/20). Full peer review process was undertaken by both institutions as part of the grant application process.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.