Recognition of depression in people of different cultures: a qualitative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many minority group patients who attend primary health care are depressed. To identify a depressive state when GPs see patients from other cultures than their own can be difficult because of cultural and gender differences in expressions and problems of communication. The aim of this study was to explore and analyse how GPs think and deliberate when seeing and treating patients from foreign countries who display potential depressive features.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The data were collected in focus groups and through individual interviews with GPs in northern Sweden and analysed by qualitative content analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the analysis three themes, based on various categories, emerged; "Realizing the background", "Struggling for clarity" and "Optimizing management". Patients' early life events of importance were often unknown which blurred the accuracy. Reactions to trauma, cultural frictions and conflicts between the new and old gender norms made the diagnostic process difficult. The patient-doctor encounter comprised misconceptions, and social roles in the meetings were sometimes confused. GPs based their judgement mainly on clinical intuition and the established classification of depressive disorders was discussed. Tools for management and adequate action were diffuse.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Dialogue about patients' illness narratives and social context are crucial. There is a need for tools for multicultural, general practice care in the depressive spectrum. It is also essential to be aware of GPs' own conceptions in order to avoid stereotypes and not to under- or overestimate the occurrence of depressive symptoms</p

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Struggling for clarity : cultural context, gender and a concept of depression in general practice

Many depressed patients attend primary health care, and minority-group patients often see general practitioners for depressive symptoms. The diagnosis and classification criteria of depression and guidelines for management are based on symptoms. However,expressions of depression can vary with culture and gender but the diagnostic tools and guidelines are not adapted to gendered or cultural context and have shown to be poorly applicable in clinical practice. The purpose of this thesis was to analyse how socio-cultural factorswith focus on gender and ethnicity and their intersections- could influence the concept of depression from the perspectives of the patient and patient descriptions, of medical experts as well as general practitioners. By viewing these different perspectives I have tried to illustrate how depressive symptoms are expressed and interpreted in different gendered socio-cultural contexts and how they become a disease entity. Furthermore, I want, in particular, to illustrate a variety of difficulties that GPs may face during the process of care when meeting and treating men and women from different countries showing symptoms which may indicate depression. Study I. The aim of the study was to explore the reasons for and patterns of attendance among Roma women in primary health care and to shed light on health problems of the Roma. Four Roma women were interviewed in-depth. The data were audiotaped and analysed according to Grounded Theory. The resuIts showed that the daily life of women was characterized by marked hierarchical order and rules formed by gender, age and the collective culture. Young women had most rules to follow and if the rules were broken it was easy to end up outside the collective and display depressive symptoms or pain. The gendered, collective culture could both construct and/or form the concept of illness among the Roma women. Study II. The aim of the study was to highlight the gendered representations of lay persons´ experiences of depression by drawing on personal stories of depression that appeared in Swedish newspapers. The data were then subjected to a Qualitative Content Analysis. The mediated accounts of depression both upheld and challenged traditional gender stereotypes. The women’s stories were more detailed, relational, emotionally oriented, and embodied. The portrayal of men was less emotional and expressive, reflecting hegemonic patterns of masculinity. The media representations of gendered healthrelated beliefs and behaviours may influence the way patients, physicians and other health care professionals understand and communicate about issues of mental health and depression. Study III. The aim of the study was to explore how authors of medical articles wrote about different symptoms and expressions of depression in men and woman from various ethnic groups as well as to analyse the meaning of gender and ethnicity for expressions of depression. Through a search in the medical database PubMed 30 scientific articles were identified and included in the analysis. The result and the discussion section of each article was analysed with Qualitative Content Analysis. The analysis showed that culture and gender formed the expressions of depression, how depression was interpreted and the diagnosis of depression. The analysis of the articles identified a western point of view, which could lead to “cultural or gender gaps” and which could also influence the diagnosis of depression. Study IV. The aim of the study was to make a qualitative analysis of medical research articles in order to get a broader view of explanations of depression in men and women in various ethnic groups. Through a search in the medical database PubMed 60 scientific articles were identified and included in the analysis. The result and the discussion section of each article was analysed with Qualitative Content Analysis. The explanations for depression in our study have a strong emphasis on socio-cultural causes with focus on depressed persons from non-western minority groups. Even so, discussion about cultural or gendered explanations for depression was almost missing. We interpreted that the view of minority groups in the articles could be described as a view of “others”. The view of “othering” increases risks for cultural and gender gaps, such as biased scientific knowledge, medicalization of social problems, cultural stereotypes, risk for misdiagnosis of men´s depression, and affects the quality and care of depressed patients. Studv V. The aim of the study was to explore and analyse how GPs think and deliberate when seeing and treating patients from foreign countries who display potential depressive symptoms. The data were collected in focus group and individual interviews with GPs in northern Sweden and analysed by Qualitative Content Analysis. The study showed that patients’ early life events of importance were often unknown which blurred the accuracy. Reactions to trauma, cultural frictions and conflicts between the new and old gender norms made the diagnostic process difficult. The patient-doctor encounter comprised misconceptions, and social roles in meetings were sometimes confused. GPs based their judgement mainly on clinical intuition. Tools for management and adequate action were diffuse. There is a need for tools for multicultural, general practice care. It is also essential to be aware of the GPs’ own conceptions to avoid stereotypes and not to under-or overestimate the occurrence of depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The concept of depression is always situated. The gendered socio-cultural norms, beliefs and behaviours can both construct the concept of illness and influence patients’ experiences and expressions of depression as well as form the patient-doctor encounter. The knowledge of medical “experts” is based on a dominating, western view of knowledge, which defines diagnosis and classification criteria of depression as well as guidelines for management. GPs are struggling for clarity between the medical and the clinical practice. The multicultural appearances of depressive symptoms are a challenge for GPs but it is a challenge for society to improve the life circumstances which can lead to a depressed mood and suffering

Experiences of well-being among Sami and Roma women in a Swedish context

Artikkel basert på intervju med eldre samiske kvinner og middeladrende Rom kvinner i Sverige.Our aim was to explore the experiences of well-being and lack of well-being among middle-aged and older women belonging to two national minority groups in Sweden. Interviews from nine older Sami women and four middle-aged Roma women were analyzed using grounded theory with the following categories identified: contributing to well-being (with the subcategories belonging to a healthy family, being spiritual, cultural norms as health promoting, and having had a life of one's own); and contributing to lack of well-being (with the subcategories living subordinate to the dominant society, living in a hierarchical family, and living in the shadow of tuberculosis)

Experiences and explanations of mental ill health in a group of devout Christians from the ethnic majority population in secular Sweden : a qualitative study

Objective: To explore existential meaning-making in an ethnic-majority subgroup with mental ill health and to increase knowledge about the importance of gaining access to such information in mental healthcare. Design: Qualitative study using in-depth interviews and systematic text condensation analysis. Participants: 17 devote Christians with an ethnicSwedish background, 12 women and 5 men, 30-73 years old, from different congregations across Sweden, having sought medical care for mental ill health of any kind. Setting: The secular Swedish society. Results: A living, although asymmetric, relationship with God often was seen as the most important relationship, giving hope and support when ill, but creating feelings of abandonment and fear if perceived as threatened. Symptoms were interpreted through an existential framework influenced by their view of God. A perceived judging God increased feelings of guilt, sinfulness and shame. A perceived merciful God soothed symptoms and promoted recovery. Existential consequences, such as being unable to pray or participate in congregational rituals, caused feelings of ` spiritual homelessness'. Participants gave biopsychosocial explanations of their mental ill health, consonant with and sometimes painfully conflicting with existential explanations, such as being attacked by demons. Three different patterns of interaction among biopsychosocial and existential dimensions in their explanatory systems of illness causation were identified: (a) comprehensive thinking and consensus; (b) division and parallel functions and (c) division and competitive functions. Conclusions: Prevailing medical models for understanding mental ill health do not include the individual's existential experiences, which are important for identifying risk and protective factors as well as possible resources for recovery. The various expressions of existential meaning-making identified in this devout religious subgroup illustrate that existential information cannot be generalised, even within a small, seemingly homogenous group. The three identified patterns of interactions formed a typology that may be of use in clinical settings

Enhanced Capacity to Act : Managers' Perspectives When Participating in a Dialogue-Based Workplace Intervention for Employee Return to Work

Purpose: To explore if and how a dialogue-based workplace intervention with a convergence dialogue meeting can support a return to work process from the managers' perspective. Methods: Individual interviews were conducted with 16 managers (10 women and 6 men) who had an employee on sick leave because of stress-induced exhaustion disorder. The manager and employee participated in a dialogue-based workplace intervention with a convergence dialogue meeting that was guided by a healthcare rehabilitation coordinator. The intervention aimed to facilitate dialogue and find concrete solutions to enable return to work. The interviews were analyzed by the Grounded Theory method. Results: A theoretical model was developed with the core category enhancing managerial capacity to act in a complex return to work process,where the managers strengthened their agential capacity in three levels (categories). These levels werebuilding competence, making adjustments, andsharing responsibilitywith the employee. The managers also learned to navigate in multiple systems and by balancing demands, control and support for the employee and themselves. An added value was that the managers began to take preventive measures with other employees. When sick leave was caused only by personal or social issues (not work), workplace actions or interventions were difficult to find. Conclusions: From the managers' perspective, dialogue-based workplace interventions with a convergence dialogue meeting and support from a rehabilitation coordinator can strengthen managerial competence and capacity to act in a complex return to work process.Published online: 31 July 2020</p

Metodstöd ADA+ : ArbetsplatsDialog för Arbetsåtergång : planering, uppföljning och stöd

Strukturerad metod för hälso- och sjukvård, som främjar dialog mellan arbetsgivare och patient för att förbättra återgång i arbete vid psykisk ohäls

Metodstöd ADA+ : ArbetsplatsDialog för Arbetsåtergång : planering, uppföljning och stöd

Strukturerad metod för hälso- och sjukvård, som främjar dialog mellan arbetsgivare och patient för att förbättra återgång i arbete vid psykisk ohäls

Empathy as a silent art - a doctor´s daily balancing act : a qualitative study of senior doctors’ experiences of empathy

Empathy in the doctor-patient relationship is of great importance and has long been considered a true professional virtue for doctors. Despite the general agreement concerning the importance of empathy, there is no consensus regarding the definition of empathy in medical research. While several quantitative studies, measuring empathy as an individual trait, show a decline in empathy among medical students, other studies have shown that empathy is influenced by contextual factors as well as the availability of role models. Therefore, further studies about the transition from medical school to clinical work also including the perspective of senior doctors are needed. The study presented in this article aims to better understand the clinical conditions for empathy through interviews with senior doctors about their lived experience of empathy. Twelve senior doctors, from different specialities were interviewed using a semi-structured approach. The data was analysed using content analysis. The analysis resulted in the main theme: Empathy as a silent art–a doctor‘s daily balancing act. This main theme comprised three categories: “A tacit, yet language-dependent process”, “A daily balancing act” and “An unsupported path towards mastery”. Doctors face many challenges in their daily balancing act between individual and structural conditions that may affect empathy. In order to maintain and further develop empathy, doctors need working conditions allowing for collegial reflection and conversations that promote empathy