An in-depth Study on the impacts of Operation Murambatsvina 4. RESULTS 4.1 Trauma and Operation Murambatsvina In the following sections, we present the findings related to trauma prior independence to date. 4.1.1 Prevalence of psychological disorders The results of the SRQ-8 indicate an exceptionally high prevalence of psychological disorder. A total of 824 persons gave responses in the clinically significant range, 4 or more, which gave a prevalence rate of 69%. The mean score for the whole sample [n=1195] was 4.8[sd.2.5]. This is nearly 3 times higher than previous rates obtained from a general setting in Zimbabwe, and is much more in keeping with the rates obtained from populations with obvious trauma, such as refugees or victims of war. Table 2: Prevalence of psychological disorders: Comparison of sample sites. As can be seen from Table 2 Number & Percentage above, the prevalence rates were Harare [n=570] 458[80.4%] variable of the three sites, with the Bulawayo [n=386] 196[50.8%] highest prevalence being found in Mutare [n=239] 170[71.1%] Harare. Additionally, the mean scores were highest in Harare, and, together, these two indices show greater severity for this site. This supports the earlier finding by ActionAid that Harare was more severely affected by Operation Murambatsvina than other areas in Zimbabwe. As regards an estimate of how many people will need assistance, it can be conservatively estimated that about 820,000 individuals are in need of psychological assistance, but the actual figure is likely to be higher, as we only interviewed one person per household, and whole households are likely to have been as affected as the persons interviewed. 4.1.2 Types of trauma Statistical analysis indicated a number of significant relationships between psychological disorder, as measured by the SRQ-8, and trauma. Here we derived a number of different scores: a Total Trauma Score [the total number of different trauma events experienced, irrespective of time], a score for items reflective of organized violence and torture [OVT items], a score for items reflective of Operation Murambatsvina- type events [OM items], and a score for the number of different time periods in which trauma was experienced [Different years affected]. 15