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Organised Violence and the Stress of Exile

Predictors of Mental Health in a Community Cohort of Vietnamese Refugees Three Years after Resettlement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Edvard Hauff  and
Per Vaglum
Edvard Hauff*
Affiliation:
Dikemark Hospital, Oslo, Norway, and Psychosocial Centre for Refugees, University of Oslo, Norway
Per Vaglum
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, and Professor, Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway
*
Dr Hauff, Dikemark Hospital, Ullevålsveien 2, N-0165 Oslo, Norway
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Abstract

Background

The prevalence and course of mental disorders among Vietnamese refugees were studied, using a model including variables from different research traditions.

Method

A consecutive community cohort of 145 Vietnamese boat refugees aged 15 and above were personally interviewed on their arrival in Norway and three years later.

Results

Three years later, there was, unexpectedly, no decline in self-rated psychological distress (SCL-90-R), almost one in four suffered from psychiatric disorder and the prevalence of depression was 17.7% (Present State Examination). Female gender, extreme traumatic stress in Vietnam, negative life events in Norway, lack of a close confidant and chronic family separation were identified as predictors of psychopathology.

Conclusions

The effects of war and persecution were long-lasting, and compounded by adversity factors in exile. A uniform course of improvement in mental health after resettlement cannot be expected in all contexts. The affected refugees need systematic rehabilitation.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 166 , Issue 3 , March 1995 , pp. 360 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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