Psychopathology of white mentally ill immigrants to Jamaica

OBJECT: To test the hypothesis that white immigrants to a predominantly black country have a different pattern of psychopathology from the native population. METHOD: The psychopathology (DM 111-R) of white immigrants to Jamaica seen in the author's private practice between 1979 and 1990 was compared with the psychopathology of a control sample of native Jamaicans matched with the immigrant sample for age sex, and social class. RESULTS: There was not statistical difference in the major diagnoses mood disorder (35 percent), anxiety states (27 percent), and schizophrenia (20 percent) between the immigrant and control groups. White immigrants to this black country did not develop schizophrenia at higher rates that native born. White mentally ill immigrants to Jamaica move into social class positions at a significantly higher level (p < 0.005) than those of their parents with whom they grew up in their home country. This was significantly different (p < 0.005) from their Jamaican controls. Two case studies are presented to illustrate these findings. CONCLUSIONS: The political/economic situation which exists in black postcolonial countries like Jamaica provides a protective social environment for white immigrants, which buffers them from the etiological conditions that engenders schizophrenia in immigrants to other countries with predominantly white populations. (AU)

Distribution of refractive errors in patients from Dominica, West Indies

A total of 779 consecutive private patients requiring spectacles for correction of refractive errors were categorized according to age, sex, occupation and type of refractive error. Virtually all patients (97.1 percent) were black. The relationship between age, sex, occupation and refractive error was determined and showed that refractive errors were approximately equally distribibuted between the sexes, but myopia was more common among those with near-point occupations. Data also showed that more of the elderly were hyperopic than myopic in contrast to the younger patients who were more often myopic.(AU)

The effect of demographic factors on serum lipids in diabetics of Trinidad and Tobago: possible association with ischaemic heart disease

This study was undertaken in order to investigate the effect of race, sex, weight, activity level and residential area on serum lipoprotein patterns, and to determine how this could possibly relate to the incidence ofischaemic heart disease (IHD). Seven hundred (700) diabetics attending outpatient clinics at Sangre-Grande and Port-of-Spain hospitals were screened. There were 132 males and 249 females of African descent; 99 males and 163 females of East Indian extract, and 19 males and 38 females of other ethnic origins. The average age of the population studied was 50 years (+/-15). The results obtained from this study indicate that diabetes mellitus is apparently more common in women than in men, particularly in those women who have borne children, and the incidence rises markedly after menopause. East Indians have higher triglyceride (TG), very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), but lower high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentrations than their counterparts of African origin. TG, LDL-C and total serum cholesterol (TC) concentrations are highest in overweight-obese patients while HDL-C concentrations are highest in the lower weight division. The domestic working class, as well as those who were in retirement, have higher TG, LDL-C and TC than members of other occupational status. The fractions mainly affected by a residential area are TG, HDL-C and LDL-C. Moreover, diabetes mellitus and its consequent impact on lipoprotein homeostasis imposes a greater predilection to IHD, especially among members of the East Indian community.

Psychiatric assessment of 30 chronic users of cannabis and 30 matched controls

A study done in Jamaica of 30 chronic cannabis smokers (use for at least seven years) and 30 matched controls revealed no significant differences between the two groups in the incidence of mental illness or of abnormalities of mood, thought, or behavior. Nor did the groups differ significantly with regard to criminal records, use of other drugs, or upward or downward movement in social or economic position.(AU)

Racial, occupational, and environmental factors in relation to emphysema in Jamaica

A postmortem study of the lungs of native Jamaicans has showed little differences in frequency or severity of panacinar emphysema between Negro, Chinese, East Indians, and white racial groups. However centrilobular emphysema and simple dust pneumoconiosis occurred more frequently in East Indians, and less frequently in Chinese, than in Negro and white persons. The difference was statistically significant. No differences were detected between workers in different occupations although women showed significantly less emphysema. No differences were detected between rural and urban dwellers. These findings would appear to stress the importance of factors within the individuals environment, such as cigarette smoking, rather than more vague factors as racial differences and generalized atmospheric pollution. (AU)

The professional socialization of the student nurse: a sociological study of two schools of nursing in Jamaica

Part 1 of the report examines professions in general and the present status and future prospects of nursing among the professions. Then it traces historically the interplay of social and cultural features of Jamaican society as they have shaped the organizational contours of Jamaica's nursing service. This section receives fairly detailed treatment because of its value as a broad socio-cultural background for the rest of the study, and its historical significance to the understanding of nursing in Jamaica today. Furthermore, the relative scarcity of any collective historical report on nursing in Jamaica, makes this exercise useful in terms of its value as a source of reference material. Part 2 includes analysis of the student's perception of occupational roles and self-image. It reviews a number of role relationships in which the student is involved, and the implications of such relationships for her professional socialization. The report sometimes suggests or implies certain policy guidelines relevant to the field of nursing, though it has not been possible to address all of the important problems and issues that confront contemporary nursing. (AU)

Psychiatric disorder in the children of West Indian immigrants

The clinical characteristics of fifty-five children, born of West Indian parents, who had been referred to a Child Guidance Clinic over a period of three years, are described. The children are compared with fifty-five other children matched for age and sex. Roughly equal numbers of West Indian boys and girls were referred, although there is a considerable preponderance of boys in the rest of the clinic population. The two groups did not differ in social class or family size, nor was there a high rate of current separation amongst the parents of West Indian children. However, the West Indian children had suffered more separations from parent figures in their early years. West Indian boys showed less neurotic disorder and West Indian girls more antisocial disorder than the controls. All groups showed a severe degree of reading retardation. Caution is expressed about generalizing these findings to the population from which the children are drawn, but there is felt to be a clear cause for concern in the frequent and sometimes traumatic separations that the current migration imposes on West Indian family life (Summary)