AUTHOR=Wolf Simon , Hahn Eric , Wingenfeld Katja , Nguyen Main Huong , von Poser Anita , Nguyen Thi Hoa , Hanewald Bernd , Böge Kerem , Bajbouj Malek , Dettling Michael , Nguyen Van Tuan , Ta Thi Minh Tam 

TITLE=Mental Health Determinants Among a Psychiatric Outpatient Sample of Vietnamese Migrants in Germany

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.580103

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2020.580103

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Mental health risk-factors for Asian migrants have been studied almost exclusively in the US, Canada, and Australia but not in European countries. Therefore, we aimed to identify sociodemographic, clinical, and migration-surrounding factors associated with experienced mental distress among Vietnamese migrants in Germany.</p><p><bold>Method:</bold> 305 Vietnamese migrants utilizing Germany's first Vietnamese psychiatric outpatient clinic filled out at admission the Brief-Symptom-Inventory 18 (BSI-18) as well as a questionnaire on 22 potential mental health determinants. Using a multiple linear regression model, we identified those sociodemographic, clinical, and migration-surrounding factors that were significantly related to the Global Severity Index (GSI) of the BSI-18.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> The factors <italic>unemployment</italic> (<italic>B</italic> = −6.32, <italic>p</italic> = 0.014), <italic>financial problems</italic> (<italic>B</italic> = −10.71, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), <italic>no or only little religious involvement</italic> (<italic>B</italic> = −3.23, <italic>p</italic> = 0.002), <italic>no psychiatric precontact</italic> (<italic>B</italic> = −7.35, <italic>p</italic> = 0.004), <italic>previous migration experiences</italic> (<italic>B</italic> = 8.76, <italic>p</italic> = 0.002), and <italic>perceived discrimination</italic> (<italic>B</italic> = 6.58, <italic>p</italic> = 0.011) were found to significantly increase the level of mental distress according to the BSI-GSI.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Based on these results, we were able to construct a mental health risk-profile for Vietnamese migrants in Germany, which aims to detect candidates for psychiatric problems earlier and supply them with customized prevention and therapy options.</p>