Culture and epidemiology special issue: Towards an integrated study of culture and population health

Jordans

Tol

et al. 2010

Transcult Psychiatry

129

This study employs social ecology to evaluate psychosocial wellbeing in a cross-sectional sample of 142 former child soldiers in Nepal. Outcome measures included the Depression Self Rating Scale (DSRS), Child Posttraumatic Stress Scale (CPSS), and locally developed measures of function impairment and reintegration. At the child level, traumatic exposures, especially torture, predicted poor outcomes, while education improved outcomes. At the family level, conflict-related death of a relative, physical abuse in the household, and loss of wealth during the conflict predicted poor outcomes. At the community level, living in high caste Hindu communities predicted fewer reintegration supports. Ultimately, social ecology is well-suited to identify intervention foci across ecological levels, based on community differences in vulnerability and protective factors.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Ecology of Child Soldiers: Child, Family, and Community Determinants of Mental Health, Psychosocial Well-being, and Reintegration in Nepal

Jordans

Tol

et al. 2010

Transcult Psychiatry

129

“…Although these markers were salient for men, they did not reflect aspects of social support most relevant to women's well-being. Future studies can best assess this employing ethnography in mixed-methods study designs with cultural epidemiology [68].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further research is necessary to identify these features of social support, such as what members of society contribute most beneficially to women's mental health. Ethnographic research including narratives and life histories of women could elucidate these issues [68,69].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender and Anxiety in Nepal: The Role of Social Support, Stressful Life Events, and Structural Violence

CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics

Worthman

2009

“…Anthropologists and others have repeatedly shown the pitfalls in using standardized psychiatric instruments without cultural adaptation and validation (Kleinman 1988b; Summerfield 2008; Van Ommeren 2003). However, research in anthropology and mental health shows how mixed methods can have demonstrable benefit for improving public health and clinical medicine (Bolton, Tol, and Bass 2009; Kohrt, Hadley, and Hruschka 2009; Robins et al 2008). In many cases, such research has been used to improve the content, delivery, and interpretation of psychiatric questionnaires (Bolton, Wilk, and Ndogoni 2004; Flaherty et al 1988; Kaiser et al 2013; Kohrt et al 2011; Van Ommeren et al 1999; Weaver and Hadley 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilization of Standardized Mental Health Assessments in Anthropological Research: Possibilities and Pitfalls

Mendenhall

Yarris

2016

Cult Med Psychiatry

In the past decade anthropologists working the boundary of culture, medicine, and psychiatry have drawn from ethnographic and epidemiological methods to interdigitate data and provide more depth in understanding critical health problems. But rarely do these studies incorporate psychiatric inventories with ethnographic analysis. This article shows how triangulation of research methods strengthens scholars’ ability (1) to draw conclusions from smaller data sets and facilitate comparisons of what suffering means across contexts; (2) to unpack the complexities of ethnographic and narrative data by way of interdigitating narratives with standardized evaluations of psychological distress; and (3) to enhance the translatability of narrative data to interventionists and to make anthropological research more accessible to policymakers. The crux of this argument is based on two discrete case studies, one community sample of Nicaraguan grandmothers in urban Nicaragua, and another clinic-based study of Mexican immigrant women in urban United States, which represent different populations, methodologies, and instruments. Yet, both authors critically examine narrative data and then use the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale to further unpack meaning of psychological suffering by analyzing symptomatology. Such integrative methodologies illustrate how incorporating results from standardized mental health assessments can corroborate meaning-making in anthropology while advancing anthropological contributions to mental health treatment and policy.