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Lay accounts of depression amongst Anglo-Australian residents and East African refugees

Author

Listed:
  • Kokanovic, Renata
  • Dowrick, Christopher
  • Butler, Ella
  • Herrman, Helen
  • Gunn, Jane

Abstract

Layperson accounts of depression are gaining increasing prominence in the health research literature. This paper considers the accounts of lay people from a cross-cultural perspective. By exploring lay concepts of distress from Anglo-Australian, Ethiopian and Somali communities in Australia, we describe commonalities and divergences in understandings of depression. A total of 62 Anglo-Australians were interviewed, and 30 Somali and Ethiopians participated in focus groups and individual interviews. Anglo-Australian accounts frequently portray depression as an individual experience framed within narratives of personal misfortune, and which is socially isolating. In the accounts of distress from the Somali and Ethiopian refugees living in Australia, family and broader socio-political events and circumstances featured more frequently, and 'depression' was often framed as an affliction that was collectively derived and experienced.

Suggested Citation

  • Kokanovic, Renata & Dowrick, Christopher & Butler, Ella & Herrman, Helen & Gunn, Jane, 2008. "Lay accounts of depression amongst Anglo-Australian residents and East African refugees," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 454-466, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:2:p:454-466
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Karasz, Alison, 2005. "Cultural differences in conceptual models of depression," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(7), pages 1625-1635, April.
    5. Patel, Vikram, 1995. "Explanatory models of mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1291-1298, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Pavlish, Carol Lynn & Noor, Sahra & Brandt, Joan, 2010. "Somali immigrant women and the American health care system: Discordant beliefs, divergent expectations, and silent worries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 353-361, July.
    2. Milena Claudius & Elizabeth N. Shino & Sylvanus Job & Daniel Hofmann & Amber Gayle Thalmayer, 2022. "Still Standing Inside: A Local Idiom Related to Trauma among Namibian Speakers of Khoekhoegowab," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-26, November.
    3. Haithem Zourrig & Kamel El Hedhli, 2023. "Consumption coping strategies and well‐being among refugee consumers," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 140-170, January.

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