2002 International International Biennial Scientific Meeting

HOW USEFUL IS THE CONCEPT OF SOMATISATION IN CROSS-CULTURAL STUDIES OF MATERNAL DEPRESSION? A CONTRIBUTION FROM THE MOTHERS IN A NEW COUNTRY (MINC) STUDY

Rhonda Small, Judith Lumley, Jane Yelland

Centre for the Study of Mothers' and Children's Health, School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne

r.small@latrobe.edu.au

Background: Somatisation of depression symptoms has been assumed to characterise particular cultural groups, yet evidence for this has often been anecdotal.

Objectives: The Mothers in a New Country (MINC) study aimed to explore cultural assumptions about somatisation in three groups of immigrant women who had recently given birth in Melbourne, Australia.

Methods: Physical health (SF-36 physical health dimensions and a symptom list) and depression (EPDS, SF-36 mental health dimension and self assessment) data from personal interviews with Vietnamese (n=104), Turkish (n=107) and Filipino (n=107) women, conducted in women's language of choice, six-nine months after childbirth were analysed. Comparisons with data from a state wide postal survey of Victorian women are also made.

Results: Contrary to the study hypothesis that Turkish and Vietnamese women in particular would exhibit a high degree of somatisation (leading to low depression scores on the standard measures and greater reporting of somatic symptoms), Turkish women were in fact most likely of the three groups to be assessed as depressed on the two psychological measures and by self-assessment; and to report high levels of somatic symptoms; and Vietnamese and Filipino women had a low prevalence of depression on all measures and relatively lower levels of somatic symptom reporting.

Conclusion: The study findings call into question some common cultural assumptions about depression and demonstrate the importance of designing studies that can put hypothesised cultural differences to the test.