Trauma, Reparation, and Quality of Life in Victims of Armed Conflict after Peace Agreements

The present study evaluates the quality of life of 1,139 surviving victims of the Colombian armed conflict benefited from some actions of reparation, through a brief sociodemographic and victimological survey and the WHO quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire, which takes into account perceived physical and mental health, social relations, and environmental factors. The results show that the quality of life of the victims of the armed conflict, once peace agreements had been reached, remained low or medium-low. The number of victimizing events suffered and the time elapsed have little effect on the quality of life, with type of trauma being more relevant. Land-related experiences, such as expropriation, had fundamentally an influence on environmental factors. Kidnappings, sexual assaults, and events where minors were involved affected mental health. Victims of sexual assault were those whose quality of life was most affected and torture victims were those with a lower index of global quality of life. Simple passing of time did not mean quality of life increase with specific interventions being needed to repair damage. To repair the damage caused, special attention should be paid to the sociodemographic characteristics of each victim, the type of aggression suffered, and their needs in the areas of physical and mental health, and economic resources.