Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada.
Département Lettres et Sciences Humaines (LSH), Université Catholique de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, Unité Universitaire à Bobo-Dioulasso (UCAO-UUB), Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
Int J Equity Health. 2017 Aug 14;16(1):143. doi: 10.1186/s12939-017-0633-8.
Poverty is known as an important determinant of health, but empirical data are still missing on the relationships between poverty, other adverse living conditions, and psychological distress, particularly in low-income countries. This study aimed to assess mental health needs and psychological distress among the poorest in rural settings in Burkina Faso where food security and access to water, electricity, schooling, and healthcare are limited.
We randomly selected 2000 individuals previously identified as indigents by a community-targeting process. Interviewers visited participants (n = 1652) in their homes and completed a questionnaire on mental health variables that included presence and intensity of anxious, depressive, psychotic, and aggressive symptoms, as well as level of psychological distress. Descriptive statistics, Spearman correlations, and logistic regressions were performed.
In all, 40.2% of the sample reported 10 or more anxious/depressive symptoms in the past 30 days, and 25.5% reported having experienced at least one psychotic symptom over their lifetime, 65.6% of whom had had those symptoms for many years. The number of anxious and depressive symptoms was significantly associated with the level of psychological distress (r = 0.423, p < .001). Predictors of distress level included: poor health condition (F(1) = 23.743, p <. 001), being a woman (F(1) = 43.926, p < .001), not having any income (F(1) = 16.185, p < .001), having begged for food in the past 30 days (F(1) = 12.387, p < .001), being illiterate, and being older (F(1) = 21.487, p < .001). Approximately one third of respondents reporting anxious/depressive or psychotic symptoms (28.2 and 30.0%, respectively) had not talked about their symptoms to anyone in their social network.
These results suggest alarmingly high levels of psychological distress and reported symptoms among the poorest in rural settings in Burkina Faso, which can be explained by their difficult living conditions. However, these results must be interpreted from a transcultural perspective to avoid decontextualized misinterpretations. Ethnographic works are needed to document the larger context within which these distress results can be analyzed.
贫困是健康的一个重要决定因素，但关于贫困、其他不利生活条件与心理困扰之间的关系的实证数据仍十分缺乏，尤其是在低收入国家。本研究旨在评估布基纳法索农村地区最贫困人口的心理健康需求和心理困扰，这些地区的食品安全以及获得水、电、教育和医疗保健的机会都很有限。
我们通过社区定位过程随机选择了 2000 名被认定为贫困人口的个体。访视员前往参与者（n=1652 人）家中，使用调查问卷评估心理健康变量，包括焦虑、抑郁、精神病和攻击症状的存在和强度，以及心理困扰的程度。采用描述性统计、斯皮尔曼相关性分析和逻辑回归进行分析。
在所有受访者中，40.2%的人在过去 30 天内报告出现 10 项或更多焦虑/抑郁症状，25.5%的人报告在一生中至少经历过一次精神病症状，其中 65.6%的人多年来一直存在这些症状。焦虑和抑郁症状的数量与心理困扰程度显著相关（r=0.423，p<0.001）。困扰程度的预测因素包括：健康状况差（F（1）=23.743，p<0.001）、女性（F（1）=43.926，p<0.001）、无任何收入（F（1）=16.185，p<0.001）、过去 30 天内讨过饭（F（1）=12.387，p<0.001）、文盲和年龄较大（F（1）=21.487，p<0.001）。约三分之一报告出现焦虑/抑郁或精神病症状的受访者（分别为 28.2%和 30.0%）没有与社交网络中的任何人谈论过自己的症状。
这些结果表明，布基纳法索农村地区最贫困人口的心理困扰和报告症状数量高得惊人，这可以用他们艰难的生活条件来解释。然而，为避免对这些困扰结果进行不切实际的解读，这些结果必须从跨文化的角度进行解释。需要进行民族志工作，以记录可以对这些困扰结果进行分析的更大背景。
