Background to the Research

• The purposes of this study were to:
  • Establish the range of experiences people had of the Troubles, and how their experiences had affected them.
    
  • Make available a comprehensive picture of the range of issues and needs that are prevalent in sections of the Northern Ireland population as a result of the Troubles to policy makers and service providers.

Research Approach

• Wards within Northern Ireland were divided into three categories:
  
  
  • Those with a high Troubles-related death rate - high intensity areas (over 7 deaths per thousand population).
    
  • Those with a medium death rate (over one but under 7 per thousand population) - medium intensity areas.
    
  • Those with a low death rate (under one per thousand copulation) - low intensity areas.
    
• In-depth interviews with 75 people were conducted on a wide range of experiences and effects of the Troubles. A questionnaire was designed on the basis of this interview data. A standard heath instrument (SF12) was also used in the questionnaire. Thirty interviewers administered the questionnaire to 1,346 people from an attempted sample of 3,000 drawn randomly from the Electoral Registers of 30 wards.

Main Findings

Socio-economic factors

• Respondents in high intensity areas reported lower incomes, higher occupancy of public sector housing, higher unemployment and more benefit dependency than either of the other two locations.

Experience of the Troubles

• Overall, respondents in HIAs reported more experience of the Troubles, followed by those in the MIA. Those in the LIA reported least experience overall.
  
• Those in HIAs, however, reported less experience of less extreme experiences, such as seeing news broadcasts related to the Troubles, and about the same level as the other two areas of medium range experiences such as getting stopped at a checkpoint.
  
• For all other intense experiences of the Troubles, those in HIAs reported low levels of experience far in excess of medium and low intensity areas. Twenty eight per cent of those in HIAs reported having their home attacked, and 10% reported having their home destroyed.

Effects of the Troubles

• Over a third of respondents in wards of highest intensity reported painful memories compared to a fifth in the middle intensity group.
  
• Over a quarter in wards of highest intensity reported dreams and nightmares compared to an eighth in the middle intensity group.
  
• A third in wards of the highest intensity reported involuntary recall compared to an eighth in the middle intensity group.
  
• Thirty per cent in wards in highest intensity felt some form of guilt at surviving compared to 11% in the middle intensity group.
  
• Almost a quarter in wards of highest intensity had taken some form of medication for such effects compared to just under an eighth in middle intensity wards.
  
• Twenty two per cent in wards of highest intensity reported an increase in alcohol consumption related to the Troubles compared to just over a four per cent in middle intensity wards.
  
• Those in high intensity wards had more severe experiences and reported more severe effects of the Troubles than those in the other two wards.
  
• Those in high intensity wards also reported more health problems than those in the other two areas.

Help and Support with the Effects of the Troubles

• Those in high intensity wards sought help more frequently than those in other wards.
  
• In all cases, help was sought primarily from friends and immediate family although some differences emerged in help sought outside the family between the three locations.
  
• Those in HIAs were less likely to seek help from their minister or priest, solicitor, psychiatrist, counsellor or community nurse than those in the other two areas.
  
• Over 40% of those who sought help in HIAs were unable to find satisfactory help, compared to 29% in MIAs and 29% in LIAs.
  
• Over 83% in HIAs believed that nothing could help them, compared to just over 4% in medium intensity and just over 12 per cent in low intensity wards.
  
• Over 23% had taken medication in high intensity wards compared to almost 12% in medium wards and just over 9% in low intensity wards.
  
• Those using medication in high intensity wards were likely to be using it for sleep disturbance, sedation or anti-depressive purposes, whereas those in low intensity wards used them for pain control rather than for anti-depressive purposes.

What is the Clearest Predicator of Need?

• There is wide variation amongst people in Northern Ireland in terms of both their experience of the Troubles and the effect on them. Above all, location whether a high, medium or low intensity area is the best predicator of the extent of the experience of the Troubles, and their effects.
  
• Males were more likely to report being involved in physical fights whereas females reported more disrupted schooling and often felt blamed for the Troubles.
  
• Catholics in all three locations had more experiences of the Troubles and also reported more effects of the Troubles on them. However, of the three key factors - gender, religion and location - locations was the most important factor.
  
• In high intensity wards:
  • There is much greater exposure to Troubles-related events, both from paramilitary organisations and the security forces - a set of experiences unmatched in the rest of Northern Ireland.
    
  • There are insecurities and fears in being outside one's own area and an acute wariness of outsiders, for example reflected in efforts to conceal where one lives.
    
  • There is a strong pattern of segregation - over a quarter of those in the highest intensity wards who were employed, worked only with members of their own community.
    
• There is no straightforward relationship between individual experience of the Troubles and the effects of the Troubles:
  
• 3.7% of the whole sample reported that they had a lot of experience of the Troubles and that it had completely changed their lives.
  
• Just over half of those with 'a lot' of experience of the Troubles indicated some change in their lives, compared to a fifth who said there had been a complete change.
  
• Most of those who reported 'a lot' quite a lot or some, most commonly reported 'some' changes in their lives.
  
• An indicator of post-traumatic stress loosely based on the diagnostic for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was constructed. 390 cases (about 30% of the entire sample) met the criteria. Only small differences were noted between men and women, but large religious differences emerged, with Catholics more stressed than Protestants. Similarly, those living in the highest intensity wards reported more stress than those in medium intensity, and those in low intensity reported less stress than either of the other two cohorts.
  
• Location and religion stand as significant factors in both the experience and the effects of the Troubles. Other factors such as segregation and levels of deprivation seem to be related to the level of exposure to Troubles related experiences, and the degree of impact of the Troubles on people's lives.