Health-related quality of life of Palestinian preschoolers in the Gaza Strip: a cross-sectional study

Table 2 Frequency of child exposure to traumatic events¹ in the Gaza Strip, 2007 based on mother report, (N = 350)

Experience	Study Sample (N = 350)%	Study sample excluding those from Beit Hanoun (N = 315)%	Beit Hanoun (N = 35)%	P-value
Heard sonic sounds of jetfighters	94	94	94	0.94
Watched mutilated bodies or injured people on TV	93	93	94	0.83
Heard shelling by artillery	84	83	100	0.007
Witnessed signs of shelling on ground	50	45	97	< 0.001
Witnessed bombardment at houses	42	36	97	< 0.001
Witnessed assignation of people by rockets	28	23	77	< 0.001
Deprived of food, water and electricity during incursion	25	19	86	< 0.001
Witnessed firing on houses	24	16	97	< 0.001
Detained in house during incursion	23	17	86	< 0.001
Heard of killing of a close relative	23	20	46	0.001
Heard of a killing of a friend	16	15	31	0.01
Witnessed of firing on your house	13	8	60	< 0.001
Prevented from using toilet and getting out of his room during incursion	12	7	54	< 0.001
Destruction and stealing of his personal things by soldiers	7	2	54	< 0.001
Exposed to firing in an attempt to scare him	6	4	26	< 0.001
Injured due to bombardment of his house	5	4	17	< 0.001
Was beaten during incursion	5	3	17	< 0.001
Threatened of killing one of family members during incursion	4	2	23	< 0.001
Used as a barrier in the process or arresting a neighbor	2	2	6	0.15

¹: Based on the 22-item-Gaza Traumatic Event Checklist [20]
²: Significant differences between Beit Hanoun and the rest of the study sample based on one-way Anova

ISSN: 1471-2458