1. Depression as seen through the eyes of rural Chinese women: Implications for help-seeking and the future of mental health care in China
- Author
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Eric D. Caine, Fengsu Hou, Marsha N. Wittink, Peiyuan Qiu, and Catherine Cerulli
- Subjects
Adult ,Mental Health Services ,Rural Population ,China ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Explanatory model ,Friends ,Social issues ,Article ,Young Adult ,03 medical and health sciences ,Help-Seeking Behavior ,0302 clinical medicine ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,medicine ,Humans ,Family ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Psychiatry ,Depression (differential diagnoses) ,Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ,Depression ,Social Support ,Middle Aged ,Patient Acceptance of Health Care ,Mental health ,Help-seeking ,030227 psychiatry ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Clinical Psychology ,Vignette ,Female ,Rural Health Services ,Rural area ,Attribution ,Psychology ,Clinical psychology - Abstract
Background As part of a larger epidemiological study of depression among rural Chinese women, we sought to understand their explanatory models of depression. We explored how participants describe depression, to what cause they attribute depression, and what sources of treatment they would recommend. Methods Participants first were assessed with the Center for Epidemiological-Depression scale (CES-D), with a cut-point of 16 or greater indicative of depression. The Short Explanatory Model Interview (SEMI), a semi-structured questionnaire, was our primary tool for exploring participants’ explanatory models relating to a vignette describing a rural Chinese woman with depression. Results Among the 416 women who consented and completed the SEMI, 277(66.6%) reported that the woman in the vignette had something wrong with her health. Among these, only 8(2.9%) women provided a specific psychiatric name for the condition, while 150(54.2%) provided non-specific psychiatric disease names or affective symptoms, and 78(28.2%)of the sample provided physical disease names. Participants attributed causes largely to internal factors (41.5%) or external factors (36.8%). In terms of help-seeking, 101(36.4%) said the woman in the vignette should see a doctor, 70(25.3%) indicated that she should solve the problem herself, and 42(15.2%) recommended seeking support from family members and friends. We did not find any differences in recognition, causal attribution, and help-seeking suggestions between women with a CES-D ≥ 16 and those with CES-D Limitations The use of a vignette to prompt discussion was not the same as talking about real-life personal situations. Conclusion Our results point to potential challenges and opportunities that lay ahead as China develops mental health services in its vast rural areas among women who may be at risk for developing depression. We found that our participants often attributed their symptoms to internal or external social causes, and preferred not speaking with family members and friends. Our findings suggest that rural Chinese women may be reticent to recognize or describe categorical concepts such as “depression” as a health problem, and they invite further consideration about how best to develop new health services in China's rural regions.
- Published
- 2018