title: Depression and anxiety among Cambodian refugee women in France and the United States.
abstract: This study reports on Cambodian refugee data related to signs symptomatic of depression and anxiety, the tendency to worry or ruminate over past events (a culture-bound syndrome called "Khoucherang"), and differences that might be influenced by social system and cultural practice. A sample consisting of 155 women of Cambodian national origin were interviewed in their homes in the USA and France. Answers to the research questions were collected by a focused interview to elicit demographic information, and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) in the Cambodian language to elicit depression and anxiety scores. Women residing in France (87%) were significantly more likely to show signs symptomatic of depression than women residing in the USA (65%). Women in the study reported about three times as much depression as the average American woman. Large numbers of women residing in both countries were symptomatic of anxiety (82% on average). Both groups experienced extreme symptoms of the culture-bound syndrome, "Khoucherang," and appeared to be strongly influenced by the different social systems of the two countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, University of Connecticut 06269, USA.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: D'Avanzo
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Barab
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000208:ethnology*; D002160:Cambodia / Q000208:ethnology; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012036:Refugees / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014930:Women / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*