Mental disorders, disability and health service use amongst Vietnamese refugees and the host Australian population.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the prevalence of common mental disorders, disability and health service utilization amongst Vietnamese refugees resettled in Australia for 11 years, with data obtained from a national survey of the host population.


METHODS
A stratified multistage probability household survey of 1611 Vietnamese undertaken in the state of New South Wales was compared with data from 7961 Australian-born respondents. Measures included the CIDI 2.1 and the MOS SF-12.


RESULTS
The 12-month prevalence of anxiety, depression and drug and alcohol dependence amongst Vietnamese was 6.1% compared with 16.7% amongst Australians. Vietnamese with a mental illness reported higher disability but exhibited similar levels of mental health consultation. The overall service burden of mental disorders was lower for the Vietnamese.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that refugee groups resettled for some time in Western countries may show sound mental health adaptation and do not necessarily impose a burden on general or mental health services.
Steel
Z
Z
Center for Population Mental Health Research, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. z.steel@unsw.edu.au
Silove
D
D
Chey
T
T
Bauman
A
A
Phan
T
T
Phan
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001315:Australia; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019989:Persons with Intellectual Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012016:Reference Values; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014600:Utilization Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014744:Vietnam / Q000208:ethnology