Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #103985

Weeraporn Suthakorn, PhD, Dept. of Public Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 110 Intawaroros Rd., Maung, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand, 011-66-53-94-9031, lekweera@hotmail.com, Jackie Agnew, PhD, Environmental Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 North Wolfe, Baltimore, MD 21205, and Sheila T. Fitzgerald, PhD, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205.

This descriptive study was established to identify potential factors that might have important effects on mental health among Thai immigrant women in the U.S. The study population was first generation Thai immigrant women who lived in the Baltimore Washington and northern Virginia area. The exhaustive name list of Thai immigrants in this specific area was 1,084 and these were randomly selected to 600 names. Telephone calls were made to obtain 400 eligible and agreeable participants. Then they were sent self-administered questionnaires containing items on socio-demographic characteristics, psychosocial working condition, domestic responsibilities, social support, and mental health status. Psychosocial working condition was evaluated with the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), domestic responsibilities was assessed using Home Strain Scales, and mental health status was measured by Health Related Self-Report (HRSR) scales which is a Thai originated tool for assessing depressive symptoms for Thai people in the community. The response rate was 90% (539 women); however, only 346 surveys (86.4%) were used in the analyses due to incomplete data. The overall results indicated that stress from work and home demands were strongly associated with mental health status and social support was an important effect modifier for that association. Implications of the study results are to establish baseline information on major factors that seems to make important contributions to the mental health of Thai immigrant women. This information also provides justification for policy implication to implement essential intervention programs to this specific minority population group.

Learning Objectives:

After the presentation, the audience will be able to
• Discuss the major factors that might have effect to mental health among Thai immigrant women in the US
• Analyze the appropriate intervention programs to enhance mental health status of Thai immigrant women in the US based on the major findings of the study

Keywords: Immigrant Women, Mental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.