ArticleTranscultural psychiatry2023
Why local concepts matter: Using cultural expressions of distress to explore the construct validity of research instruments to measure mental health problems among Congolese women in Nyarugusu refugee camp.
Article in Transcultural psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Extending the ecological model of distress to social functioning among refugees and asylum-seekers.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2026Article
- Article
- Experiences and impact of Duelo Migratorio among Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Peru: characterizing a cultural construct of distress.Conflict and health · 2025Article
- Investigative Approaches to Resilient Emotion Regulation Neurodevelopment in a South African Birth Cohort.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
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10 authors.
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Abstract
There is considerable variation in the presentation of mental health problems across cultural contexts. Most screening and assessment tools do not capture local idioms and culturally specific presentations of distress, thus introducing measurement error and overlooking meaningful variation in mental health. Before applying screening and assessment tools in a particular context, a qualitative exploration of locally salient idioms and expression of distress can help assess whether existing measures are appropriate in a specific context as well as what adaptations may improve their construct validity. We aimed to employ a mixed-methods approach to describe and measure cultural concepts of distress among female Congolese survivors of intimate partner violence in Nyarugusu refugee camp, Tanzania. This sequential study used data from 55 qualitative (free-listing and in-depth) interviews followed by 311 quantitative interviews that included assessments of symptoms of common mental disorder to explore whether the symptom constellations were consistent across these methodologies. Results from thematic analysis of qualitative data and exploratory factor analysis of quantitative data converged on three concepts of distress:
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