Zotova Natalia, Agadjanian Victor, Isaeva Julia, Kalandarov Tohir
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
SSM Ment Health. 2021 Dec;1. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmmh.2021.100011. Epub 2021 Jul 28.
The Russian Federation is a major immigrant-receiving nation and hosts large immigrant populations from post-Soviet countries including Central Asia. However, there is yet little research on their health needs, and especially on mental health of immigrant women. This study uses qualitative data from 72 interviews with women from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan conducted in two large cities in Central Russia, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, from April 2014 to February 2017. This study examines psychological distress among immigrant women and applies a gendered socioecological lens to understand its causes. We have identified intersecting factors that operate at different levels and cause distress in Central Asian immigrant women in Russia. Gendered vulnerabilities, persistent worry about their families' well-being, separation from loved ones, and limited sources of social support are key individual and interpersonal level of distress factors. Poor working and housing conditions along with economic hardships and concerns over their ability to reach the goals that guided their decisions to move to Russia reinforce experienced distress among immigrant women. Discrimination against Central Asian nationals and structural racism amplify challenges for immigrants' psychological well-being and mental health in Russia. By investigating underlying factors of psychological distress among an understudied immigrant population, this study defines configurations of Russia's risk environment and contributes to an understanding of migration as an important determinant of mental health.
俄罗斯联邦是一个主要的移民接收国，接纳了大量来自后苏联国家（包括中亚国家）的移民。然而，对于他们的健康需求，尤其是移民妇女的心理健康，目前的研究还很少。本研究采用了定性数据，这些数据来自2014年4月至2017年2月在俄罗斯中部的两个大城市喀山和下诺夫哥罗德对吉尔吉斯斯坦、塔吉克斯坦和乌兹别克斯坦妇女进行的72次访谈。本研究考察了移民妇女的心理困扰，并运用性别化的社会生态视角来理解其成因。我们确定了在不同层面起作用并导致俄罗斯中亚移民妇女困扰的交叉因素。性别化的脆弱性、对家人幸福的持续担忧、与亲人的分离以及有限的社会支持来源是困扰因素在个人和人际层面的关键所在。恶劣的工作和住房条件，以及经济困难，再加上她们对能否实现促使她们决定移民到俄罗斯的目标的担忧，加剧了移民妇女所经历的困扰。对中亚侨民的歧视和结构性种族主义加剧了俄罗斯移民在心理健康方面面临的挑战。通过调查一个研究较少的移民群体心理困扰的潜在因素，本研究界定了俄罗斯风险环境的构成要素，并有助于理解移民是心理健康的一个重要决定因素。
