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  Vol. 300 No. 23, December 17, 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Measuring Mental Health in Child Soldiers—Reply

Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

In Reply: Dr Tsai's comments reflect a desire to hold epidemiological research in settings of political violence and human rights abuses to the highest standard. We agree with this goal because only through rigorous research can evidence-based interventions be developed with the most effective and appropriately targeted use of resources.

We share Tsai's concern regarding possible unobserved covariates associated with preexisting differences between child soldiers and never-conscripted children. Although we used matching, it is a partial solution. An alternative would be the use of propensity score matching with large sample sizes. However, we caution against researching violence and human rights solely with epidemiological approaches dependent on large samples, which could also misdirect funding in resource-poor settings and potentially overestimate disorder rates without well-funded validation studies.1

Many important questions in this field should also be explored through qualitative research to complement epidemiology.2 Our study included a longitudinal qualitative component. It suggested . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Brandon A. Kohrt, MA
brandonkohrt@gmail.com
Department of Anthropology
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia

Mark J. D. Jordans, MA
HealthnetTPO
Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Carol M. Worthman, PhD
Department of Anthropology
Emory University



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RELATED ARTICLE

Comparison of Mental Health Between Former Child Soldiers and Children Never Conscripted by Armed Groups in Nepal
Brandon A. Kohrt, Mark J. D. Jordans, Wietse A. Tol, Rebecca A. Speckman, Sujen M. Maharjan, Carol M. Worthman, and Ivan H. Komproe
JAMA. 2008;300(6):691-702.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

RELATED LETTER

Measuring Mental Health in Child Soldiers
Alexander C. Tsai
JAMA. 2008;300(23):2729.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  






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