CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITY OF SCREENING FOR EXPOSURE TO TORTURE

Using an in-depth psychological assessment as reference, the aim of th e study was to validate adult Middle Eastern refugees' own testimonies of their possible previous exposure to torture. The study group compr ised 31 male and 43 female refugees, who accepted participation in a s tructured interview with closed questions and a following blinded in-d epth psychological interview. According to the psychological interview , 30% (55% of males, 12% of females) had been exposed to torture. The sensitivity and the specificity of the structured interview in identif ying previous torture was 82% and 92%, respectively, without significa nt differences concerning the refugee's gender. It is concluded that r efugees' own testimonies of torture appear fairly valid. This enables anamnestic torture prevalence estimation in refugee groups, based on p re-structured interview techniques.