This study evaluates contributors to the mental health status of Palestinians, Syrians, and nonrefugee residents of Lebanon's Shatila Refugee Camp. Primary health care clinic patients in Shatila were screened for mental illness between 2012 and 2013 using the K6, the Primary Care Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and the Modified Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Logistic regressions enabled the consideration of potential contributors to participants' positive mental illness screens. The sample (n = 254) included 63.4% Palestinians, 18.5% Syrians, and 18.1% nonrefugees. People lived in the camp for 21.1 years (±17), 63% had stable housing and 78% had war event exposure. Mental illness prevalence was 51.6% in total (34.8% serious mental illness [SMI] alone, 5.1% PTSD alone, 11.4% comorbid SMI/PTSD, and 0.08% comorbid psychotic spectrum disorder SMI/PTSD). For Palestinians and nonrefugees, respectively, stable housing accounted for a 79% and a 98% reduction in positive SMI screen risk. For Syrians, access to paid employment accounted for a 66% risk reduction. Stable living situations and economically productive employment for those trapped in a refugee situation, even in the face of war trauma, seem most important for ensuring reduced mental disorder risk. Copyright © 2017 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

social psychiatry risk factors psychopathology Refugees Epidemiology

battle injury refugee war exposure Syrian Arab Republic human clinical assessment Refugees middle aged war psychosis statistics and numerical data health status Aged housing Arab ethnology Arabs mini international neuropsychiatric interview Mental Disorders screening mental disease Young Adult Lebanon Humans psychology Adolescent male female Aged, 80 and over Psychotic Disorders very elderly risk factor Risk Factors Armed Conflicts refugee camp Refugee Camps prevalence sensitivity and specificity Article major clinical study Syrian adult posttraumatic stress disorder Syria Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic Palestinian risk reduction employment primary health care