The condition of "tightness": the somatic complaints of Turkish migrant women.
This article is based on intensive interviews made with 75 Turkish migrant women living in Denmark. The interviews were conducted in the women's own homes, in their own language, and special care was taken to establish an atmosphere of confidence. The methodological problems involved in this kind of research are discussed. The purpose of the study was to obtain information on the women's own evaluation of their physical, psychological and social conditions in the host country. Only 8% of the informants reported that they were in good health. The remaining had complaints of somatic character and considered themselves as being ill. There were no cases of severe psychopathology. The background of the women's illnesses is analysed at three levels: the physical, the psychosocial and the cultural levels respectively, in an attempt to elucidate their multifactorial etiology as well as to give a more comprehensive picture of the meaning of illness in a societal context.
D000328:Adult; D003469:Culture; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000523:psychology*; D014421:Turkey / Q000208:ethnology