1. Mental Health of Romanian Women living in Spain
4th World Congress on Women´s Mental Health March Madrid, Spain
Mental Health of Romanian Women living in Spain
Andreea Catalina Brabete, María del Pilar Sánchez-López and Raquel Rivas-Diez
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Introduction
Although during the last century, mental health researchers raised the question of whether or not there was a relationship between the migration process and mental health (Achotegui, 2002; Bhugra, 2004; Collazos, Qureshi, y Casas, 2005; García-Campayo & Carillo, 2002) nowadays there is widespread agreement that the repercussions on mental health of the migration process are many and heterogenous.
Variables as length of time and social support may affect immigrants’ mental health.
On the one hand, several studies showed there is a relationship between the years passed in a country and the mental health (Finch & Vega, 2003; Hovey & Magaña, 2000; Hovey & Seligman, 2006). For instance, Kiang et al. (2010) found that recent immigrants had less mental health than their counterparts who resided in United States longer (Kiang et al., 2010).
On the other hand, immigrants’ mental health also depends on social support. Several authors sustain social support contributes to better mental health (Cohen, 2004; Kawachi & Berkman, 2001). Among immigrants, effective social support is associated with enhanced development and wellbeing (Finch & Vega, 2003; Smart & Smart, 1995).
We consider relevant to study these relationships in Romanian women living in Spain. Romanian people living in Spain are the largest but least studied population probably because of language difficulties.
Procedure
The instruments were translated from English into Romanian language following the recommendations of international regulations (Guidelines of the ITC, International Test Commission) and national ones (the norms of test evaluations (CET), Test Commission of the Official College of Psychologists).
Several organizations working with Romanian migrants helped us with the data collection. We used the “snowballing” method. In all cases the instruments were administered with a cover sheet indicating the instructions for the application. After explaining the aim of the study all women gave their informed consent for the participation. We also guarantee the anonymity of their data.
With these data the next stage was the statistical analysis, for which the SPSS version statistical passage has been used. We analyze the Pearson’ s correlation between the length of time passed in Spain and mental health and, between social support and mental health.
Results
In this sample, the relationship found between the time spent in Spain (measured in months) and mental health is very low, being not significant.
The relationship between social support and mental health is inverse. Women with more social support have better mental health while women with less social support have poorer mental health.
Objective
The aim of this study is to determine if there is any relationship between the time spent in Spain and mental health and, the self-perceived social support and mental health in a sample of Romanian women living in Spain.
Method
→ Women N = 71
→ Age range: 20-62
→ Mean age = years
→ SD = 10.79
Participants
Conclusions
The findings of our study partly support the findings made with other migrant groups. Migrant groups are very heterogeneous and accompanying processes depend on many factors.
Romanian women who perceived greater social support reported a better mental health (less depressive and anxiety symptomatology). These results are consistent with prior research implicating social supports (Masten, 2001). Possible difficulties in assuming all changes that migration involves affect mental health and the fact that these communities have few social and institutional structures available to stand in for social connections damaged by migration contributes to it.
There was no relationship between length of time and mental health as several authors found (e.g. Finch & Vega, 2003; Hovey, 1999; Hovey & King, 1997). The Romanian population started to settle in Spain about ten years ago. This variable and the small number of the sample could have affected the results.
Instruments
One question about the time participants have resided in Spain.
The General Health Questionnaire is a widely used screening instrument. It detects a wide range of psychological disorders, mainly the anxiety/depression spectrum, and has been shown to be a valid and reliable instrument across cultures. It is a 4-point Likert-type scale and contains 12 items.
The Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire measures an individual’s perception of the amount and type of personal social support. It is self-administered and consists of 11 items. The item response options are on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (much less than I would like) to 5 (as much as I would like).
References
Bhugra, D. (2004). Migration and mental health. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 109(4),
García-Campayo, J., y Carillo, C. S. (2002). Salud mental en inmigrantes: el nuevo desafío. Medicina Clinica (Barcelona), 118(5).
Hovey, J. D., & Maganña, C. G. (2000). Acculturative stress, anxiety, and depression among Mexican immigrant farmworkers in the Midwest United States. Journal of Immigrant Health, 2, 119–131.
Kiang, L., Grzywacz, J. G., Marín, A. J., Arcury, T. A., Quandt, S. A.(2010). Mental health in immigrants from nontraditional receiving sites. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Vol. 16, No 3,