"We Are from Nowhere": A Qualitative Assessment of the Impact of Collective Trauma from the Perspective of Resettled Bhutanese Refugees

Background: Limited research has explored mental health concerns and collective trauma experienced by Bhutanese refugees due to their displacement from Bhutan, refugee camp life in Nepal, and resettlement to U.S. society.

Purpose: To understand how collective trauma experienced by Bhutanese refugees influences the process of resettlement and integration into U.S. society to better address mental health concerns from the community.

Methods: Qualitative data were collected through four focus groups (N=40) with Bhutanese refugee women in central Massachusetts from June to November of 2016 to discuss refugee resettlement experiences and mental health concerns.

Findings: Bhutanese refugees shared insights on their resettlement experiences where several broader themes emerged, including historical collective trauma, closed-door culture, and processing mental health stigma. The displacement from Bhutan, hardships in Nepal refugee camps, and isolation in U.S. society led to a collective trauma among the community. Participants described America as having a closed-door culture that limits their integration into society, causing unique challenges based on their context of integration. The collective trauma also poses challenges toward processing mental health stigma, yet community building offers insights on how Bhutanese refugees can address these issues in collective spaces.

Conclusions: The historical collective trauma must be considered when working with Bhutanese refugees to understand the context of their resettlement to address mental health concerns.

Navigating healthcare systems before and after resettlement: Exploring experiences and recommendations for improvement from the perspectives of a Bhutanese refugee community

Background

Though refugees often survive in refugee camps for many years, little is known about the impact of their interactions within the healthcare system during that time and how it may affect current concerns with the healthcare system after resettlement. Guiding our analysis was the Community Health Development model, which emphasizes the importance of understanding the impact of historical experiences on a community's health to identify specific current health needs, and plan solutions alongside the community to address and improve health concerns.

Objective

To better understand the healthcare system related experiences of Bhutanese refugees before and after resettlement, and describe potential solutions based on their perspectives to improve their health status.

Methods

This study used an explorative qualitative research design. Four focus group discussions were conducted with 40 female participants to examine their experiences within the healthcare system in Nepal (e.g. before resettlement) and the US (after resettlement). Focus group data were audio-recorded, translated, coded, and reported based on qualitative thematic analysis.

Results

Findings revealed that Bhutanese refugees were mistreated in the Nepalese healthcare system, often neglected from healthcare access and services because of their refugee status. Upon arrival to the United States after resettlement, study participants also reported experiencing challenges within the US health care system including cultural and linguistic barriers when interacting with medical interpreters during visits with their providers, as well as having inadequate time during the visit to fully express their concerns. Respondents’ recommendations to improve their overall health centered on their experiences with the US health care system including initiatives developing leadership skills for building community capacity towards advocating for the refuges, while increasing access to external resources.

Conclusion

The result of this study outlines an account of Bhutanese refugees’ experiences and recommendations for improving their community's health based on such past experiences and their current needs. These findings provide a starting point for future research with underserved refugee migrant groups and indicate a need for health programs to be historically and culturally sensitive in order to be more effective. Further, the understanding of refugees’ collective history should inform the development of collaborative interventions with community members in order to be effective.

Contamination of health-care workers' hands with Escherichia coli and Klebsiella species after routine patient care: a prospective observational study

OBJECTIVE

To compare the frequency of health-care worker (HCW) hand contamination by Escherichia coli versus Klebsiella species after patient care and to determine activities associated with contamination.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective observational study at two tertiary-care centres. We observed HCWs caring for patients colonized/infected with E. coli or Klebsiella. HCW hands were cultured before room entry and after patient care. Contamination was defined as detecting E. coli or Klebsiella on HCW hands. Risk factors for contamination were analysed using logistic regression. Patient-to-HCW transmission was confirmed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

RESULTS

We performed 466 HCW observations: 290 from patients with E. coli, 149 with Klebsiella, and 27 with both species. Eighty-seven per cent of observations (404/464) occurred in patients who had received chlorhexidine bathing within 2 days. HCW hand contamination rates were similar between E. coli (6.2%; 18/290) and Klebsiella (7.4%; 11/149) (p 0.6). High-risk activities independently associated with contamination were toilet assistance (OR 9.34; 95% CI 3.10-28.16), contact with moist secretions (OR 6.93; 95% CI 2.82-17.00), and hygiene/bed-bathing (OR 3.80; 95% CI 1.48-9.80). PFGE identified identical/closely related isolates in the patient and HCW hands in 100% (18/18) of E. coli and 54.5% (6/11) of Klebsiella observations.

CONCLUSIONS

We did not find a difference in HCW hand contamination rates between E. coli and Klebsiella after patient care. Hand hygiene should be reinforced after high-risk activities. Discrepancies in matching patient and HCW hand isolates occurred more frequently for Klebsiella than for E. coli; differences in species-level transmission dynamics might exist.

[Male pseudohermaphroditism. Report of a new case]

OBJECTIVE

To report a case of male pseudohermaphroditism.

METHODS

A 45 day-old infant was referred for ambiguity of external genitalia. The anatomy of the external and internal genitalia and chromosomal and gonadal sex were analyzed.

RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS

Female sex was assigned and labioscrotal reduction and orchidectomy were performed at age 6 months with good adaptation to gender role.

The effects of opioid blockade and GnRH administration upon luteinizing hormone secretion in patients with anorexia nervosa during the stages of weight loss and weight recovery

OBJECTIVE

We examined the functional status of the hypothalamic-opioid system involved in LH secretion and the pituitary LH sensitivity and reserve in patients with anorexia nervosa were studied during body weight loss and weight recovery. We measured the temporal relationship between weight recovery, expression of hypothalamic-opioid activity and pituitary GnRH responsiveness, and resumption of ovulatory cycles.

DESIGN

Five patients with anorexia nervosa were prospectively studied during weight loss and amenorrhoea, subsequently when they reached their ideal body weight but still remained amenorrhoeic and thereafter every 6 months until resumption of ovulatory cycles; one patient was studied only during weight loss, two during ideal body weight and amenorrhoea and one during ideal body weight and ovulatory cycles. Blood was sampled every 10 minutes over a 16-hour period on two alternate days. On study day 1 (control day), patients received two sets of saline infusion every 6 hours and one saline bolus at the beginning of the seventh hour; on study day 3 (experimental day), they received a saline infusion during the first 6 hours, an intravenous bolus of naloxone (20 mg) at the beginning of the seventh hour and then a continuous naloxone infusion (1.6 mg per hour) during the ensuing 6 hours. Pituitary LH sensitivity and reserve were assessed on both study days by the subsequent administration of 5 and 95 micrograms of GnRH 4 hours before the completion of each sampling period. Patients in ideal body weight and ovulatory cycles as well as five normal menstruating women included in the study for comparative purposes, were studied during the midluteal phase of a cycle.

MEASUREMENTS

LH, oestradiol and progesterone were determined by radioimmunoassay. Areas under the LH curve were calculated by the trapezoid method; LH pulse detection was carried out by the program Cluster.

RESULTS

Naloxone administration to patients with anorexia nervosa in the weight loss phase, did not significantly modify their serum LH levels nor the characteristics of its pulsatile secretion. Administration of the opioid blocker induced a significant increase in serum LH concentrations only in those patients in ideal body weight and amenorrhoea who resumed ovulatory cycles within the 6 months following the last study as well as in patients with an ideal body weight and ovulatory cycles and in normal controls. All patients and subjects who responded to naloxone administration exhibited significant increases in the area under the LH curve, mean LH pulse amplitude and peak area. Patients in ideal body weight and amenorrhoea who did not resume ovulatory cycles within the 6 months following the study days, did not respond to naloxone administration. There were no significant correlations between the magnitude of LH response to naloxone administration and the baseline levels of serum oestradiol and progesterone. All patients exhibited significant pituitary LH responses to both GnRH doses, regardless of the stage of the disease; however, the pituitary responsiveness shown by patients in ideal body weight was significantly higher than that presented by patients in weight loss. There were no significant differences between the responses to GnRH exhibited by patients in ideal body weight and amenorrhoea who responded to naloxone administration and those shown by patients in the same clinical condition but who were insensitive to opioid blockade.

CONCLUSIONS

The re-establishment of hypothalamic-opioid inhibitory activity involved in LH secretion in patients with anorexia nervosa during the phase of weight gain predicts imminent restoration of ovulatory cycles. Pituitary LH response to exogenous GnRH during weight recovery does not accurately predict the outcome of the disease regarding reinitiation of menstrual cycles; however, it might be an indicator that the normal function of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis is being restored.

[Systemic-psychodynamic model for family evaluation]

In this paper a family evaluation instrument called systemic-psychodynamic family evaluation model is described. Also, the second stage of the validation study of this instrument is presented (which deals with the inter-observers variation). Twenty families were studied. They were assessed always by the same interviewers designated as experts. They are all family therapy specialists and their assessment was used as the evaluation reference standard or "gold standard". The observers were psychiatrists without previous training in family therapy. For the purpose of the interview, both experts and observers were blind to the medical diagnosis of the patients. During the first stage of the validation study the observers did not have a reference guide which resulted in a low concordance rating. For the second stage, a 177 item guide was used and a considerable increase in the concordance rating was observed. Validation studies like the one used here are of considerable value to increase the reliability and further utilisation of evaluation instruments of this type.

[Anorexia nervosa: endocrine function during the phases of body weight loss and recovery]

In the present study, we investigated the endocrine status of patients with anorexia nervosa during weight loss (WL), as well as, after weight recovery (WR). A comparison between our findings and those obtained from other populations previously described was made. We studied 12 female patients during WL; 7 of them were reevaluated after WR. Stimulation tests with LRH, TRH, ACTH and insulin-induced hypoglycemia were performed in all cases. During the WL phase, basal serum levels of LH and estradiol, as well as the LH response to LRH, were diminished in comparison with normal values. Basal serum levels of FSH were low or normal. The function of the hypothalamic pituitary-ovarian axis was recovered in all patients restudied; six out of seven returned to ovulation within the first 4 months after WR. The remaining patient presented hypothalamic amenorrhea because of excessive physical activity. Four patients exhibited basal low T3 and T4 levels with normal TSH and a retarded response to TRH during WL. At WR some patients completely recovered their thyroid function while others developed clinical hypothyroidism. Six months after WR all patients were euthyroid. Prolactin response to TRH was unaffected in 10 patients. One patient had basal hyperprolactinemia and hyperesponsiveness to TRH, and the remaining one had only a PRL hyperesponsiveness; this latter finding persisted in one of these patients during the WR phase. This abnormality was attributed to changes in the dopaminergic tone secondary to stress. Although serum growth hormone concentrations were normal in all patients during WL, two of them had basal hypersecretion and hyperesponsiveness to hypoglycemia during WR, which was attributed to protein deficiency.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)