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Objective: To determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among Vietnamese refugees who have lived in the United States for at least two months.Design: A prospective and descriptive study using the Vietnamese Depression Scale (VDS). Scores of > or = 13 on the VDS were considered indicative of depression.Setting: Ten public health clinics in four states.Patients/participants: Four hundred seventy-six consecutive adult Vietnamese refugees presenting for primary care.Interventions: The VDS, an 18-item culture-specific self-report measure, was used to screen for depressive symptoms.Measurements and Main Results: Twenty percent of these patients had scores of 13 or above. Although being female; being older; being divorced, separated, or widowed; and being poorly educated were significant univariate risk factors for screening positive, only the latter two were significant in a multivariate model. Physical complaints were common and induced considerable anxiety about health status, but psychological and emotional symptoms were even more prevalent. Patients scoring 13 or higher had a higher rate of endorsement for every item in the scale than did those scoring lower than 13.Conclusions: This study substantiates the feasibility and importance of screening for depressive symptoms among Vietnamese refugees, particularly in primary care settings where they are most likely to seek care for both medical and psychological problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A brief, culture-specific, self-report screening measure for depression, the Vietnamese Depression Scale, was used to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among 1,998 consecutive adult Vietnamese refugees who presented at 10 public health clinics within 2 months of their arrival in the United States. Of these patients, 6% met the criterion for a probable case of depression ("positive"). Being divorced, separated, or widowed and poorly educated were strongly associated with a greater likelihood of screening positive. Somatic complaints were common and induced considerable anxiety about physical health status. Nearly a third of the patients reported sadness and dysphoria; culture-specific symptoms of depression also were prevalent. Our findings document the feasibility of screening for depression using the Vietnamese Depression Scale among Vietnamese refugees, particularly in primary care settings where they are first likely to be seen by health professionals after arrival in their host country.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among Vietnamese refugees who have lived in the United States for at least two months., Design: A prospective and descriptive study using the Vietnamese Depression Scale (VDS). Scores of > or = 13 on the VDS were considered indicative of depression., Setting: Ten public health clinics in four states., Patients/participants: Four hundred seventy-six consecutive adult Vietnamese refugees presenting for primary care., Interventions: The VDS, an 18-item culture-specific self-report measure, was used to screen for depressive symptoms., Measurements and Main Results: Twenty percent of these patients had scores of 13 or above. Although being female; being older; being divorced, separated, or widowed; and being poorly educated were significant univariate risk factors for screening positive, only the latter two were significant in a multivariate model. Physical complaints were common and induced considerable anxiety about health status, but psychological and emotional symptoms were even more prevalent. Patients scoring 13 or higher had a higher rate of endorsement for every item in the scale than did those scoring lower than 13., Conclusions: This study substantiates the feasibility and importance of screening for depressive symptoms among Vietnamese refugees, particularly in primary care settings where they are most likely to seek care for both medical and psychological problems.

The authors developed a depression scale in the Vietnamese language that contains culturally consistent items describing the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of depressed individuals and items describing common clinical characteristics of depressed Vietnamese patients. After pretesting, the preliminary 43-item scale was given to 21 depressed Vietnamese patients and a matched community sample of 44. Fifteen items accounted for 96% of the variance between the two groups and were used as the final form of the Vietnamese Depression Scale. A cutoff of 13 points (of a possible 34) identified 91% of the patients and 96% of the community sample.