ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological status of Russian immigrants who have recently come to the United States. AIMS: The project included creation of a Russian version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) in order to identify anxiety and depression in members of the Russian-speaking immigrant population. METHODS: Translation and adaptation included (a) cross-cultural adaptation; (b) translation; (c) pre-testing; and (d) analysis of validity, reliability and internal consistency. Seventeen Russian-speaking patients at a Russian psychiatric clinic were recruited for the study and were compared with a sample of 42 Russian-speaking members of the community. RESULTS: The instrument showed internal consistency when evaluated with coefficient alpha. Clinic patients had significantly higher anxiety and depression symptom scores than community subjects. Russian immigrants' scores on the anxiety and depression scales were less than comparative data for the United States and notably less than similar measures for Russian immigrants to Israel. CONCLUSIONS: Recent Russian immigrants to the United States appear to have low prevalences of anxiety and depression.
Subject(s)
Anxiety/diagnosis , Depressive Disorder/diagnosis , Emigration and Immigration , Stress, Psychological , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Female , Health Surveys , Humans , Language , Male , Middle Aged , Psychometrics/methods , Reproducibility of Results , Stress, Psychological/epidemiology , USSR/ethnology , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
This project examined psychometric properties of a Russian translation of the 12-item Short-Form health survey questionnaire (SF-12) to assess physical and mental health status in members of the Russian-speaking refugee population. Translation and adaptation included (a) cross-cultural adaptation; (b) translation; (c) pre-testing; and (d) analysis of validity, reliability, and internal consistency. Seventeen Russian-speaking patients at a Russian psychiatric clinic were recruited for the study and were compared to a sample of 42 Russian-speaking members of the community. The instrument showed internal consistency when evaluated with coefficient alpha. As compared with community subjects, clinic patients had significantly lower scores, reflecting poorer physical and mental well being.