Tsutsumi Atsuro, Izutsu Takashi, Poudyal Amod K, Kato Seika, Marui Eiji
Juntendo University, School of Medicine, Department of Public Health, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
Soc Sci Med. 2008 Apr;66(8):1841-7. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.12.025. Epub 2008 Feb 14.
Little is known about the mental health status of trafficked women, even though international conventions require that it be considered. This study, therefore, aims at exploring the mental health status, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of female survivors of human trafficking who are currently supported by local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, through comparison between those who were forced to work as sex workers and those who worked in other areas such as domestic and circus work (non-sex workers group). The Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) was administered to assess anxiety and depression, and the PTSD Checklist Civilian Version (PCL-C) was used to evaluate PTSD. Both the sex workers' and the non-sex workers' groups had a high proportion of cases with anxiety, depression, and PTSD. The sex workers group tended to have more anxiety symptoms (97.7%) than the non-sex workers group (87.5%). Regarding depression, all the constituents of the sex workers group scored over the cut-off point (100%), and the group showed a significantly higher prevalence than the non-sex workers (80.8%). The proportion of those who are above the cut-off for PTSD was higher in the sex workers group (29.6%) than in the non-sex workers group (7.5%). There was a higher rate of HIV infection in the sex workers group (29.6%) than in the non-sex workers group (0%). The findings suggest that programs to address human trafficking should include interventions (such as psychosocial support) to improve survivors' mental health status, paying attention to the category of work performed during the trafficking period. In particular, the current efforts of the United Nations and various NGOs that help survivors of human trafficking need to more explicitly focus on mental health and psychosocial support.
尽管国际公约要求考虑被贩运妇女的心理健康状况，但目前对这方面的了解甚少。因此，本研究旨在通过比较被迫从事性工作的妇女和从事家政及马戏团工作等其他领域工作的妇女（非性工作者组），探索尼泊尔首都加德满都目前由当地非政府组织提供支持的女性人口贩运幸存者的心理健康状况，包括焦虑、抑郁和创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）。使用霍普金斯症状清单-25（HSCL-25）评估焦虑和抑郁，并使用创伤后应激障碍清单平民版（PCL-C）评估创伤后应激障碍。性工作者组和非性工作者组中，焦虑、抑郁和创伤后应激障碍的病例比例都很高。性工作者组的焦虑症状（97.7%）往往比非性工作者组（87.5%）更多。在抑郁方面，性工作者组的所有成分得分均超过临界值（100%），且该组的患病率显著高于非性工作者组（80.8%）。性工作者组中创伤后应激障碍得分高于临界值的比例（29.6%）高于非性工作者组（7.5%）。性工作者组的艾滋病毒感染率（29.6%）高于非性工作者组（0%）。研究结果表明，应对人口贩运的项目应包括干预措施（如心理社会支持），以改善幸存者的心理健康状况，同时要关注贩运期间所从事的工作类别。特别是，联合国和各非政府组织目前帮助人口贩运幸存者的工作需要更明确地关注心理健康和心理社会支持。
