On the 25th of November 2025, Jeanet Karchoud will defend her PhD thesis titled: ‘Psychotrauma in Civilians: Towards Accurate Screening for PTSD Risk’, in the Agnietenkapel of the University of Amsterdam.
In this study, Jeanet and colleagues conducted the first long-term follow-up study over 10 years post-trauma in civilians, to examine the long-term impact of psychotrauma. They studied people with traumatic experiences like traffic accidents or physical assault on the streets. The team conducted a new longitudinal cohort study (via Slachtofferhulp NL) to apply external validation of prognostic machine learning models for PTSD. Aiming to improve accurate screening for PTSD risk, which can target people at high risk of developing PTSD and can benefit from preventive interventions.
Jeanet and colleagues discovered the potential long-term impact of psychotrauma in civilians. 5% of participants in their longitudinal cohort study fit the diagnostic criteria for PTSD related to the traumatic event of 12 to 15 years ago. Their symptoms are related to adverse psychological, functional and economic outcomes. Additionally the researchers found early post-trauma predictors for long-term PTSD. These predictors include: young age during the experience of trauma, greater perceived impact of prior potentially traumatic events and higher heart rate. These 1-year PTSD symptoms were related to long-term PTSD symptoms.
The main deliverable of Jeanet’s project was the development of machine learning models to extract a short screening instrument. This screening instrument was externally validated for PTSD risk one year post trauma. The screening instrument is applicable to a broad population of recently trauma-exposed civilians. This novel instrument enables timely identification of individuals at risk for PTSD following trauma.
Raising awareness
This thesis is part of the 2-ASAP consortium, which strives towards accurate screening and prevention for PTSD. This consortium involves partners form a variety of universities and health care institutions and advocacy organisations, which makes this thesis relevant both societal and scientifically.
It is very important to raise awareness of the potential long-term impact of psychotrauma in civilians after for example a traffic accident or physical assault. These findings could help policymakers focusing on prevention of traffic accidents, and to raise awareness in civilians to seek help after a traumatic experience.
More information
On the 25th of November 2025, Jeanet Karchoud will defend her PhD thesis titled: ‘Psychotrauma in Civilians: Towards Accurate Screening for PTSD Risk’, in the Agnietenkapel of the University of Amsterdam. Jeanet’s thesis is supervised by Miranda Olff, Rens van de Schoot and Mirjam van Zuiden.
