Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
Department of Public Health and Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Bishop Stuart University, Mbarara, Uganda.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2023;14(2):2238583. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2023.2238583.
Alcohol and other substances use related problems among refugees is a global public health concern. Although there is substantial research on the use of alcohol and other substances among the refugees, little is known about gender and other factors that might be associated with the use of alcohol and other substances. Our study aimed to assess the prevalence of alcohol and substance use across gender and other specific associated factors among urban refugees living in Mbarara city, Southwestern Uganda.
In a cross-sectional study, 343 refugees were interviewed on the use of alcohol and other substances using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test and the Drug Abuse Screening Test. The associated factors included, age, marital status, occupation, duration (length of stay) in Uganda, educational levels, stigma and depression. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the associations between the predictor and outcome variables.
No significant gender difference in alcohol use was found, and the overall prevalence of hazardous, harmful or dependent alcohol use among our sample of refugees living in Mbarara city was 43%. There were however, statistically significant gender differences in the use of other substances, with a significantly higher percentage of men than women reporting intermediate, substantial, or severe substance use (45% among men, 37% among women). Higher levels of depression and being separated from one's spouse were associated with higher levels of alcohol and substance use. In addition, higher age and being male were associated with the use of substances other than alcohol.
Our findings indicate a high prevalence of problematic alcohol and substance use among both male and female refugees. Clinical interventions focused on the treatment and prevention of alcohol and substance use among the refugee communities may benefit from focusing on depressive symptoms as well.
酒精和其他物质的使用与难民相关的问题是全球公共卫生关注的问题。尽管有大量关于难民中酒精和其他物质使用的研究，但对于可能与酒精和其他物质使用相关的性别和其他因素知之甚少。我们的研究旨在评估居住在乌干达姆巴拉拉市的城市难民中，酒精和物质使用的性别差异以及其他特定相关因素的流行率。
在一项横断面研究中，我们使用酒精使用障碍识别测试和药物滥用筛查测试对 343 名难民进行了关于酒精和其他物质使用的访谈。相关因素包括年龄、婚姻状况、职业、在乌干达的停留时间（居住时间）、教育程度、耻辱感和抑郁。线性回归分析用于检验预测变量和结果变量之间的关系。
我们发现，难民中饮酒行为在性别上没有显著差异，在姆巴拉拉市居住的难民样本中，危险、有害或依赖饮酒的总体流行率为 43%。然而，在使用其他物质方面，存在统计学上的显著性别差异，报告中度、大量或严重物质使用的男性比例明显高于女性（男性中为 45%，女性中为 37%）。较高的抑郁水平和与配偶分离与较高的酒精和物质使用水平相关。此外，较高的年龄和男性性别与除酒精以外的物质使用相关。
我们的研究结果表明，男性和女性难民中普遍存在严重的酒精和物质使用问题。针对难民社区的酒精和物质使用治疗和预防的临床干预措施可能受益于关注抑郁症状。
