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Differences in symptom expression between Vietnamese and German patients utilizing a psychiatric outpatient service using the PHQ

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

A. Dreher ,
E. Hahn ,
T.M.T. Ta ,
M.H. Nguyen ,
A. Diefenbacher ,
R. Burian  and
M. Dettling
A. Dreher
Affiliation:
Krankenhaus Königin Elisabeth Herzberge Berlin, psychiatry psychotherapie psychosomatics, Berlin, Germany
E. Hahn
Affiliation:
Charité university hospital Berlin Campus Benjamin Franklin, psychiatry, Berlin, Germany
T.M.T. Ta
Affiliation:
Charité university hospital Berlin Campus Benjamin Franklin, psychiatry, Berlin, Germany
M.H. Nguyen
Affiliation:
Charité university hospital Berlin Campus Benjamin Franklin, psychiatry, Berlin, Germany
A. Diefenbacher
Affiliation:
Krankenhaus Königin Elisabeth Herzberge Berlin, psychiatry psychotherapie psychosomatics, Berlin, Germany
R. Burian
Affiliation:
Krankenhaus Königin Elisabeth Herzberge Berlin, psychiatry psychotherapie psychosomatics, Berlin, Germany
M. Dettling
Affiliation:
Charité university hospital Berlin Campus Benjamin Franklin, psychiatry, Berlin, Germany

Abstract

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Objective

Despite a large body of work on somatic symptom presentation among people of Asian descent, research has shown heterogeneous results. Examining symptom presentation in clinically and ethnically well-characterized populations constitutes a first step towards better understanding differing patterns symptom of presentation. This is the first larger study aiming to compare Vietnamese and German psychiatric outpatients regarding symptom presentation.

Methods

110 Vietnamese and 109 German patients seeking psychiatric treatment at two outpatient clinic services in Berlin were asked to complete the patient health questionnaire (PHQ). Comparisons of Vietnamese and German patients were conducted using independent t-tests. The somatic symptom module (PHQ-15), the depression module (PHQ-9) and the original PHQ-modules examining anxiety and psychosocial stress levels were compared for both groups using multivariate analysis. Categorical variables were evaluated using Chi2 analysis. Crohnbach's alpha was calculated separately for both groups and all PHQ modules.

Results

Vietnamese patients endorsed significantly higher levels of somatic symptoms overall and on individual somatic items, such as pain-related disturbancies. Yet, German and Vietnamese patients did not differ in terms of depression severity. Vietnamese patients with fewer German language skills showed a significantly higher tendency for somatization. While German patients showed higher total scores on the anxiety- and stress-modules of the PHQ, this difference was not statistically significant. Vietnamese and German patients showed comparable Crohnbach's alpha for all subscales.

Conclusion

As data was collected from both groups upon the first visit to an outpatient clinic, the symptoms reported could be reflective of culture related symptom awareness when feeling discomfort in the context of mental illness.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Type
e-Poster Walk: Mental health care; Mental health policies and migration and mental health of immigrants
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 41 , Issue S1: Abstract of the 25th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2017 , pp. S336
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2017
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