Regina Pernice

Refugees' and Immigrants' Mental Health: Association of Demographic and Post-Immigration Factors

Several demographic and post-immigration factors related to self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression of immigrants in New Zealand were examined in a study involving a sample of 129 Southeast Asian refugees, 57 Pacific Island immigrants, and 63 British immigrants to New Zealand. A questionnaire and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) in English and in three Southeast Asian translations were administered, followed by an interview in English or with an interpreter. The findings suggest that demographic characteristics are not associated with symptom level. Post-immigration factors, such as experiencing discrimination in New Zealand, not having close friends, being unemployed, and spending most of ones time with ones own ethnic group affected anxiety and depression scores.

Relationship of Migrant Status (Refugee or Immigrant) to Mental Health

This study investigated and compared mental health levels among refugees and immigrants living in New Zealand. One hundred and twenty-nine Indochinese refugees, 57 Pacific lsland immigrants and 63 British immigrants to New Zealand were surveyed. A questionnaire and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) in English and in three lndochinese translations, were administered face-to-face. The hypothesis that migrant status (being a refugee or immigrant) affects mental health and that refugees experience more emotional distress than immigrants was only supported by the comparison with British immigrants. Both lndochinese refugees and Pacific Island immigrants experienced relatively low levels of mental health. However, the incidence of clinical depression and clinical total emotional distress tended to be higher among lndochinese refugees than in either immigrant group. ln contrast clinical anxiety occurred most often among Pacific lslanders.

The Mental Health Pattern of Migrants: Is There a Euphoric Period Followed By a Mental Health Crisis?

Sluzkis 1986 mental health model of the migratory process was tested with migrants (both refugees and immigrants), to New Zealand. Its central feature, suggesting an initial symptom free and euphoric phase after arrival in the country of settlement, followed by a crisis stage, was examined for 129 Southeast Asian refugees, 57 Pacific Island immigrants and 63 British immigrants. A questionnaire and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25, in English and in three Southeast Asian language translations, were administered face-to-face. All respondents had arrived in New Zealand within the last 15 years. The findings did not support Sluzkis model. Refugees and immigrants in the group with less than six months of residence were not symptom free. Neither did the group with six months to six years residence demonstrate a deterioration in mental health. However, mean depression levels were slightly lower for those who had lived in New Zealand for over six years, suggesting that mental health may improve the longer both refugees and immigrants reside in the host country.

Employment Status, Duration of Residence and Mental Health Among Skilled Migrants To New Zealand: Results of a Longitudinal Study

Aims: To report findings on employment, duration of residence and mental health from a longitudinal study of 107 skilled immigrants to New Zealand from the Peoples Republic of China, India and South Africa. Methods: Demographic and employment data were collected by face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire that included (as the mental health instrument) the General Health Questionnaire 12 (GHQ-12). The initial interview took place after the immigrants had been resident in New Zealand for an average of five months. Four subsequent interviews were conducted annually (1999—2002) on or about the anniversary of the first interview. Results and Conclusion: Rather than an initial euphoric period followed by a mental health crisis, the results indicated poor mental health status in the first two years irrespective of employment status. Thereafter, mental health slightly improved as did employment rates. A surprising result was that although the South Africans had the highest employment rate, there were neither substantial mental health differences among the three groups nor was there a significant improvement during the course of the longitudinal study.

On use of Student Samples for Scale Construction

This research note responds to the question of whether a convenience sample of undergraduate students may be successfully utilized in concept development and in scale construction, and in what way the results are comparable to the findings of a representative national sample. The results of a Mokken analysis in both samples support the hypothesis that convenience samples have utility in concept development and in developing measures that can also be used in representative samples.

Workplace culture analysis where people with intellectual disabilities work: A case study approach

Abstract Background Research evidence suggests that investigation of workplace culture assists in enhancing social inclusion of and job retention by people with intellectual disability. Method This research explored the potential of using Hagners (2000) Workplace Culture Survey to identify inclusive characteristics of eight New Zealand workplaces where people with intellectual disability were employed by surveying eight employers. Eight workers with intellectual disability and eight co‐workers were surveyed to assess inclusion levels in the culture of these workplaces. Results The results indicated that four workplaces had a strong workplace culture. Co‐workers were generally well included in the workplace culture, whereas only three of the workers with intellectual disability were included to a similar extent. Full‐time employment enhanced inclusion levels. Workers with higher support needs appear to be less included. Conclusion The use of Hagners Workplace Culture Survey is helpful in identifying inclusive workplaces and inclusion levels of both workers with intellectual disability and co‐workers.

Structure of attitudes toward illegal immigration: development of cross-national cumulative scales.

This research examined the possibility of developing Mokken cumulative scales measuring attitudes toward illegal immigrants in a 9-nation sample. A total of 1,407 respondents primarily from national and regional universities participated in the surveys including the 20-item Illegal Immigration Scale. The scales displayed acceptable reliability with coefficients alpha ranging from .79 to .93. A Procrustes analysis yielded coefficients of congruence with the previously established three-factor solution. The amount of variance accounted for varied between 33.1 and 54.7%, supporting the presence of other factors in attitudes toward illegal immigrants. Mokken scale analysis yielded robust and economical scales in two clusters of national samples.

Developing and validating a cross-national cumulative scale measuring attitudes toward illegal immigrants

The article reports the results of a Mokken Scale Procedure (MSP) developing a hierarchical cross-national scale gauging attitudes toward illegal immigration, and a subsequent qualitative cross-national assessment of this scale. Responses to a 20-item Likert-type-scale were collected in two national representative surveys in the Netherlands and New Zealand. The MSP analysis yielded a cumulative scale with the same four items for each with an acceptable ‘scalability’ in both samples, of H > .40. This cross-national four-item scale was evaluated by means of in-depth interviewing nine participants in the Netherlands and 15 participants in New Zealand. Analysis of the interviews shows that individually ranking the items of the scale is similar to the rank order generated by MSP, but the individual evaluation of the degree of negativity of items strongly depends on the way illegal immigrants are framed by subjects. The contribution of a mixed methods approach is discussed. It is suggested that the present quantitative measuring instruments measure a general average attitude, which may be likened to a measure of the average temperature of a country at a certain moment, while qualitative evaluations vary with the way illegal immigrants are framed by individuals, like variations in local temperature