The article written by Park, Nisch, and Baptiste discusses the relationship between the mental health and the length of stay in the U.S. in immigrant population. This research subject is a rather complicated one to analyze, since it exists within the overlap of scientific fields. Nevertheless, the article contains a hypothesis, is researching a certain population, involves both dependent and independent variables and their conceptual definitions.
The study’s hypothesis suggests that a link exists between the length of stay in the U.S. and the psychological distress exhibited by Hispanic, Caribbean, and Asian immigrants. It is built on the analyses of daily social processes that immigrants go through throughout their experience. Social resilience refers to the creation and maintenance of interpersonal connections, the accumulation of social capital, and the growth of social networks, all of which are thought to have a favorable influence on mental health. These interactions offer ways to deal with and fix the inherent interruptions and disconnections that come with migration. Forms of social exclusion, such as discrimination and opportunity restriction, are thought to have a negative impact on mental health because they impede immigrants’ ability to integrate into a new environment, access resources equally, and develop a sense of self as valued in relation to the larger community.
For the contextual purposes, the term psychological distress in this case can be defined as levels of anxiety, depressed conditions, angry state of mind, and irritability. It his case, the independent variable is represented by the number of years spent in the U.S., whereas the level of psychological distress is a dependent variable. Both the number of years spent in the State by participants and the levels of their current mental health status might be counted or observed. The period of stay in the U.S. is measured in years, while the psychological distress levels can be estimated with the usage of scales. The hypothesis, however, is later disproven, as empirical analysis of the collected survey data does not indicate any substantial differences between the groups.
The question of the mental health issues within the immigrant population is a prevalent but complex one. According to research on immigrant groups ‘ health and mental health, most physical and mental health outcomes are better for first-generation immigrants than for their U.S.-born peers. This initial benefit is known as the “immigrant paradox” because it is assumed that immigrants’ lower socioeconomic disadvantage should be reflected in poorer health. The second category of immigrants is referred to as the “1.5 generation” to characterize people who are foreign-born but came in the United States at an early age and have lived the bulk of their lives in the host nation. Second-generation immigrants are children of one or both foreign-born parents who were born in the host nation. When compared to the first generation, both of these latter generations had a worse health condition, implying what is known as the acculturation hypothesis.
In regards to the population studied, it has already been specified that the immigrants researched were of Caribbean, Asian, or Hispanic background. The sampling occurred among the students of an urban college through a set of self-administrated questionnaires. It is therefore evident that the results might have been a subject to non-responsive bias. The age range of the participants lied between 18 and 25, with 19 being the mean. Out of 194 surveyed students, over 60% of the participants were women.
A hypothesis might be developed that individuals with HIV experience higher levels of abandonment issues, loneliness, anxiety, and overall social stress. It relies on the existing social stigma against sexually transmitted diseases overall and HIV in particular. Existing studies indicate that patients with HIV are more likely to develop mental health symptoms, which might have a detrimental impact on their HIV therapy. Mental health issues in HIV-positive people might have a negative impact on public health. Psychopathology, such as depression and drug misuse, can lead to risky sexual behavior and, with it, an increased risk of HIV transmission. As a result, developing an appropriate treatment strategy for HIV-infected individuals with mental health issues is critical.
The population observed for the research included the persons with a HIV diagnosis that is officially registered within a qualified medical facility. In this study, the HIV status of a population member is an independent variable, since it is not affected by any other observable elements of the study, but is instead a separate fact. It can be observed via examining the medical records of the study participants and verifying them in the hospital facilities if necessary. The mental health issues identified within the participants are a dependent variable in this case, since the study examines the cases in which they stem from or are intensified by a participant’s VHI diagnosis. Once again, they can be measured with the use of the medical records, although a reasonable level of self-diagnosed conditions might be also taken into account.
It is important to identify mental health concerns in HIV-positive persons; but, far too frequently, these disorders go undetected and untreated. This is due to a variety of factors, all of which must be addressed. People may be afraid of stigma and discrimination if they reveal their psychological condition to health-care workers, and health-care workers may lack the skills or training to detect psychological symptoms, or may fail to take the necessary steps for further assessment, management, and referral if symptoms are detected. People living with HIV with mental health difficulties have complicated medical, psychological, and social requirements should obtain better access to prevention, testing, treatment, and care. Considering the mental health consequences when designing the HIV programs reduces new HIV infections and enhances the health and well-being of HIV-positive and HIV-affected individuals.
The hypothesis expects the most prevalent diagnoses in the group to be depressive disorders, accompanied with widespread regular drug use. It is known that when compared to non-infected depressed men, HIV-infected men with a depressive illness exhibited no change in depression symptoms or sleep disruption. HIV-positive individuals, on the other hand, displayed greater symptoms such as anxiety, rage, and guilt. Suicide attempts were not more common among HIV-infected individuals, despite the fact that they had considerably higher suicidal thoughts. Finally, HIV-positive depressed patients used significantly more drugs than HIV-negative depressive patients.
A study for this hypothesis would involve qualitative interviews with HIV-positive individuals who have given their informed consent to participate. Due to the delicate nature of such research, additional precautions would have to be implemented to protect the identities of the patients. The sampling procedure would aim to represent the real percentage distribution of sociological characteristics within the patient demographic. Consecutively, higher numbers of LGBT+ people, sex workers and POC are to be expected.
References
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George, U., Thomson, M., Chaze, F., & Guruge, S. (2015). Immigrant Mental Health, A Public Health Issue: Looking Back and Moving Forward. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health, 12(10), 13624-13648. doi:10.3390/ijerph121013624
Zimmerman, M. S. (2018). Information horizons mapping to assess the health literacy of refugee and immigrant women in the USA. Information Research, 23(4), 1–21.
Evangeli, M. (2018). Mental health and substance use in HIV-infected adolescents. Current Opinion In HIV And AIDS, 13(3), 204-211. doi: 10.1097/coh.0000000000000451
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