Le rôle de la culture en épidémiologie psychiatrique : examen de la recherche sur la santé mentale des Latino-Américains

Abstract

In psychiatric epidemiology, culture has often been treated in one of two ways: as a confounding variable to be controlled or as an explanation for unexpected findings. In cases where culture is presented as an explanation, there is often little detailed examination of how culture shapes responses to psychiatric interviews. In this paper, I will argue that culture plays a central role in influencing responses to psychiatric interviews in at least three ways: culture affects the way people respond to psychiatric interviews; culture influences the valuation of specific symptom items; and cultural categories are embedded in responses to psychiatric interviews. Through a review of research on the mental health of Latino populations, I will examine the roles of cultural categories in shaping responses to psychiatric epidemiology studies and will outline an alternative research approach to simultaneously exploring psychiatric diagnostic categories and cultural idioms of distress.