Chimoriya Ritesh, Mohammad Yaser, Thomson Russell, Webster Cheryl, Dunne Rachel, Aibangbee Michaels, Ip David, Slewa-Younan Shameran
School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, Australia.
Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, Australia.
Int J Ment Health Syst. 2023 May 3;17(1):11. doi: 10.1186/s13033-023-00580-z.
Arabic-speaking refugee and migrant populations form a significant proportion of Australia's population. Despite high levels of psychological distress among Arabic-speaking populations, low uptake of mental health services has been demonstrated. Evidence suggests poor levels of mental health literacy (MHL) and high levels of stigmatising attitudes among Arabic-speaking populations, which may act as barriers to help-seeking behaviours. This study aimed to explore the relationships between measures of mental illness stigma, socio-demographic factors and psychological distress, as well as to determine the factors associated with MHL (i.e., correct recognition of mental illness and knowledge of causes) among Arabic-speaking refugee and migrant populations in Australia.
Participants were recruited from non-government organisations in Greater Western Sydney that provided support services to Arabic-speaking migrants and/or refugees. As this study is nested within an interventional pilot study evaluating a culturally tailored MHL program, only the pre-intervention survey responses for 53 participants were utilised. The survey measured key aspects of MHL (i.e., recognition of mental illness, knowledge of causes), levels of psychological distress (using K10 scale), and stigmatising attitudes towards mental illness (using Personal Stigma Subscales and Social Distance Scale).
The Personal Stigma subscale of 'Dangerous/unpredictable' was strongly positively correlated with participants' K10 psychological distress scores and strongly negatively correlated with years of education completed. There were moderate negative correlations between two Personal Stigma subscales ('Dangerous/unpredictable' and 'I-would-not-tell-anyone') and the length of stay in Australia. Being female was associated with an increase in personal stigma demonstrated by higher scores for 'I-would-not-tell-anyone' subscale than males. Similarly, increase in age was associated with a decrease on scores of the personal stigma 'Dangerous/unpredictable'.
While future research with larger sample size are needed, the study findings can be considered as adding to the evidence base on mental illness related stigma in Arabic-speaking populations. Further, this study provides a starting point in developing the rationale for why population sub-group specific interventions are required to address mental illness stigma and improve MHL among Arabic-speaking refugee and migrant populations in Australia.
讲阿拉伯语的难民和移民群体在澳大利亚人口中占相当大的比例。尽管讲阿拉伯语的人群心理困扰程度较高，但已表明他们对心理健康服务的利用率较低。有证据表明，讲阿拉伯语的人群心理健康素养（MHL）水平较低，且存在高度的污名化态度，这可能成为寻求帮助行为的障碍。本研究旨在探讨精神疾病污名化测量指标、社会人口学因素与心理困扰之间的关系，并确定澳大利亚讲阿拉伯语的难民和移民群体中与心理健康素养（即对精神疾病的正确认知和病因知识）相关的因素。
参与者从大悉尼地区的非政府组织招募，这些组织为讲阿拉伯语的移民和/或难民提供支持服务。由于本研究嵌套在一项评估文化定制的心理健康素养项目的干预性试点研究中，因此仅使用了53名参与者的干预前调查回复。该调查测量了心理健康素养的关键方面（即对精神疾病的认知、病因知识）、心理困扰程度（使用K10量表）以及对精神疾病的污名化态度（使用个人污名子量表和社会距离量表）。
“危险/不可预测”的个人污名子量表与参与者的K10心理困扰得分呈强正相关，与完成的教育年限呈强负相关。两个个人污名子量表（“危险/不可预测”和“我不会告诉任何人”）与在澳大利亚的停留时间之间存在中度负相关。女性与个人污名增加相关，表现为“我不会告诉任何人”子量表的得分高于男性。同样，年龄的增加与个人污名“危险/不可预测”得分的降低相关。
虽然需要进行更大样本量的未来研究，但研究结果可被视为增加了关于讲阿拉伯语人群中与精神疾病相关污名的证据基础。此外，本研究为制定为何需要针对特定人群亚组的干预措施以解决精神疾病污名化并提高澳大利亚讲阿拉伯语的难民和移民群体的心理健康素养提供了一个起点。
