Le rôle de la culture en épidémiologie psychiatrique : examen de la recherche sur la santé mentale des Latino-Américains

En épidémiologie psychiatrique, la culture est souvent traitée, de deux choses Tune, ou comme une variable déconcertante qu'il faut contrôler, ou comme l'explication de résultats inattendus. Quand elle est présentée comme explication, on pousse généralement assez peu l'examen de l'influence qu'elle exerce sur les réponses à l'entrevue psychiatrique. J'avance ici que la culture exerce une influence centrale dans les entrevues, d'au moins trois façons: elle détermine la façon dont les gens répondent à l'entrevue; elle influence l'évaluation des items portant sur des symptômes spécifiques, et les catégories culturelles se retrouvent enchâssées dans les réponses à l'entrevue. Passant en revue la I recherche menée sur la santé mentale des populations latino-américaines, j'examine le rôle joué par les catégories culturelles dans les réponses aux études d'épidémiologie psychiatrique, et j'en esquisse une approche de recherche alternative, pour explorer simultanément des catégories du diagnostic psychiatrique et des expressions culturelles de détresse.In psychiatric epidemiology, culture has often been treated in one of two ways : as a confounding variable to be controlled or as an explanation for unexpected findings. In cases where culture is presented as an explanation, there is often little detailed examination of how culture shapes responses to psychiatric interviews. In this paper, I will argue that culture plays a central role in influencing responses to psychiatric interviews in at least three ways: culture affects the way people respond to psychiatric interviews; culture influences the valuation of specific symptom items; and cultural categories are embedded in responses to psychiatric interviews. Through a review of research on the mental health of Latino populations, I will examine the roles of cultural categories in shaping responses to psychiatric epidemiology studies and will outline an alternative research approach to simultaneously exploring psychiatric diagnostic categories and cultural idioms of distress

Clinical encounters with immigrants: What matters for U.S. psychiatrists.

About 3.2 percent of the population across the globe are migrants. Today, unprecedented numbers of people are relocating in the U.S. and more than ever, psychiatrists find themselves caring for immigrant patients. International migration is a multilayered issue that often has implications for the mental health of migrants. Thus, there is an increasing interest in understanding how the different factors associated with migration processes affect the mental health outcomes of immigrants. We group these factors into three categories: immigrant process, clinical encounter, and mental health services. When possible, we incorporate a gendered and life span perspective and suggest avenues for including what we know into the care of children, adults, and elderly psychiatric patients with immigrant backgrounds. We pay special attention to the immigrant paradox literature, which explains why some immigrants are healthier when they start their journey, and why their mental health deteriorates as they live longer in the host societies. We aim at providing psychiatrists an understanding of what to ask, assess, and consider when caring for patients who are international migrants

Acculturation and Its Discontents: A Case for Bringing Anthropology Back into the Conversation

Anthropologists’ contribution to the study of cultural change is urgent in light of the increasing number of people of different backgrounds who are migrating around the globe and settling in new communities, and the opportunities and challenges that come along with that process. By examining the anthropological literature on acculturation going back to the 1936 Memorandum by Redfield, Linton and Herskovits, this paper reviews and assesses the discipline’s perspective on acculturation, and lays out the case for why it is critical for anthropologists to re-engage the concept. Although other disciplines, particularly psychology and sociology, have dominated the field of acculturation research more recently, they mostly have done so with a narrow focus. While it is important to acknowledge the pitfalls of anthropology’s past study of acculturation, there are important features of the acculturation construct that continue to be relevant. Among these are the study of acculturation as a process that is multidimensional; the investigation of how different kinds of power affect the acculturation process; the impacts of attitudes, actions and policies of the receiving group on how acculturation proceeds; the role of “real history” in understanding processes of acculturation; and the global perspective on these processes. We suggest ways in which anthropologists can reignite the field of acculturation research by engaging with Redfield, Linton and Herskovits’ framework and subsequent anthropological literature

Clinical encounters with immigrants: What matters for U.S. psychiatrists.

About 3.2 percent of the population across the globe are migrants. Today, unprecedented numbers of people are relocating in the U.S. and more than ever, psychiatrists find themselves caring for immigrant patients. International migration is a multilayered issue that often has implications for the mental health of migrants. Thus, there is an increasing interest in understanding how the different factors associated with migration processes affect the mental health outcomes of immigrants. We group these factors into three categories: immigrant process, clinical encounter, and mental health services. When possible, we incorporate a gendered and life span perspective and suggest avenues for including what we know into the care of children, adults, and elderly psychiatric patients with immigrant backgrounds. We pay special attention to the immigrant paradox literature, which explains why some immigrants are healthier when they start their journey, and why their mental health deteriorates as they live longer in the host societies. We aim at providing psychiatrists an understanding of what to ask, assess, and consider when caring for patients who are international migrants

Acculturation and Its Discontents: A Case for Bringing Anthropology Back into the Conversation

Anthropologists’ contribution to the study of cultural change is urgent in light of the increasing number of people of different backgrounds who are migrating around the globe and settling in new communities, and the opportunities and challenges that come along with that process. By examining the anthropological literature on acculturation going back to the 1936 Memorandum by Redfield, Linton and Herskovits, this paper reviews and assesses the discipline’s perspective on acculturation, and lays out the case for why it is critical for anthropologists to re-engage the concept. Although other disciplines, particularly psychology and sociology, have dominated the field of acculturation research more recently, they mostly have done so with a narrow focus. While it is important to acknowledge the pitfalls of anthropology’s past study of acculturation, there are important features of the acculturation construct that continue to be relevant. Among these are the study of acculturation as a process that is multidimensional; the investigation of how different kinds of power affect the acculturation process; the impacts of attitudes, actions and policies of the receiving group on how acculturation proceeds; the role of “real history” in understanding processes of acculturation; and the global perspective on these processes. We suggest ways in which anthropologists can reignite the field of acculturation research by engaging with Redfield, Linton and Herskovits’ framework and subsequent anthropological literature

on the use of arima models for short term water tank levels forecasting

Abstract In this paper a statistical study on the time series of water levels measured, during 2014, in the water tank of Cesine, Avellino (Italy), is presented. In particular, the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) forecasting methodology is applied to model and forecast the daily water levels. This technique combines the autoregression and the moving average approaches, with the possibility to differentiate the data, to make the series stationary. In order to better describe the trend, over time, of the water levels in the reservoir, three ARIMA models are calibrated, validated and compared: ARIMA (2,0,2), ARIMA (3,1,3), ARIMA (6,1,6). After a preliminary statistical characterization of the series, the models' parameters are calibrated on the data related to the first 11 months of 2014, in order to keep the last month of data for validating the results. For each model, a graphical comparison with the observed data is presented, together with the calculation of the summary statistics of the residuals and of some error metrics. The results are discussed and some further possible applications are highlighted in the conclusions

Visuo-spatial cognition in Williams syndrome: Reviewing and accounting for the strengths and weaknesses in performance

Individuals with Williams syndrome typically show relatively poor visuo-spatial abilities in comparison to stronger verbal skills. However, individuals' level of performance is not consistent across all visuo-spatial tasks. The studies assessing visuo-spatial functioning in Williams syndrome are critically reviewed, in order to provide a clear pattern of the relative difficulty of these tasks. This prompts a possible explanation of the variability in performance seen which focuses on the processing demands of some of these tasks. Individuals with Williams syndrome show an atypical processing style on tests of construction, which does not affect tests of perception