Social Science and Medicine
Volume 66, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 454-466

Lay accounts of depression amongst Anglo-Australian residents and East African refugees (Article)

Kokanovic R.* , Dowrick C. , Butler E. , Herrman H. , Gunn J.
  • a Primary Care Research Unit, Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia
  • b Division of Primary Care, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
  • c Primary Care Research Unit, Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia
  • d Australian International Health Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • e Primary Care Research Unit, Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia

Abstract

Layperson accounts of depression are gaining increasing prominence in the health research literature. This paper considers the accounts of lay people from a cross-cultural perspective. By exploring lay concepts of distress from Anglo-Australian, Ethiopian and Somali communities in Australia, we describe commonalities and divergences in understandings of depression. A total of 62 Anglo-Australians were interviewed, and 30 Somali and Ethiopians participated in focus groups and individual interviews. Anglo-Australian accounts frequently portray depression as an individual experience framed within narratives of personal misfortune, and which is socially isolating. In the accounts of distress from the Somali and Ethiopian refugees living in Australia, family and broader socio-political events and circumstances featured more frequently, and 'depression' was often framed as an affliction that was collectively derived and experienced. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Author Keywords

Australia cross-cultural Somali Depression Ethiopian Anglo-Australians

Index Keywords

self disclosure depression refugee Sub-Saharan Africa Australia Australasia human social isolation Refugees medical research coping behavior Depressive Disorder East Africa Social Conditions voluntary worker Cross-Sectional Studies interview Humans Cross-Cultural Comparison Interviews as Topic male Emigrants and Immigrants female Africa cultural factor self concept Article experience Ethiopia European Continental Ancestry Group Somalia distress syndrome politics Culture
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-36849056995&doi=10.1016%2fj.socscimed.2007.08.019&partnerID=40&md5=86649dacb54470245e933b1672ebd70f
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.08.019
ISSN: 02779536
Cited by: 45
Original Language: English