Mental health of female survivors of human trafficking in Nepal.

Little is known about the mental health status of trafficked women, even though international conventions require that it be considered. This study, therefore, aims at exploring the mental health status, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of female survivors of human trafficking who are currently supported by local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, through comparison between those who were forced to work as sex workers and those who worked in other areas such as domestic and circus work (non-sex workers group). The Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) was administered to assess anxiety and depression, and the PTSD Checklist Civilian Version (PCL-C) was used to evaluate PTSD. Both the sex workers' and the non-sex workers' groups had a high proportion of cases with anxiety, depression, and PTSD. The sex workers group tended to have more anxiety symptoms (97.7%) than the non-sex workers group (87.5%). Regarding depression, all the constituents of the sex workers group scored over the cut-off point (100%), and the group showed a significantly higher prevalence than the non-sex workers (80.8%). The proportion of those who are above the cut-off for PTSD was higher in the sex workers group (29.6%) than in the non-sex workers group (7.5%). There was a higher rate of HIV infection in the sex workers group (29.6%) than in the non-sex workers group (0%). The findings suggest that programs to address human trafficking should include interventions (such as psychosocial support) to improve survivors' mental health status, paying attention to the category of work performed during the trafficking period. In particular, the current efforts of the United Nations and various NGOs that help survivors of human trafficking need to more explicitly focus on mental health and psychosocial support.

Reliability and validity of the Bangla version of WHOQOL-BREF in an adult population in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Bangla version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) in an adult population in Bangladesh. Approximately 200 adults in the Dhaka district were interviewed using a questionnaire containing the Bangla version of the WHOQOL-BREF, as well as questions related to sociodemographic data. To assess the reliability of WHOQOL-BREF, Cronbach's alpha was calculated, and test-retest reliability was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of the first and second administrations. For comparison, approximately 200 leprosy patients were also interviewed with the questionnaire to examine the discriminant validity between groups. On the whole, sufficient validity was observed, and the Bangla version of the WHOQOL-BREF was deemed to be valid and reliable in assessing the quality of life of an adult population in Bangladesh.

Mental health, quality of life, and nutritional status of adolescents in Dhaka, Bangladesh: comparison between an urban slum and a non-slum area.

This study aims to clarify the quality of life (QOL), mental health, and nutritional status of adolescents in Dhaka city, Bangladesh by comparing non-slum areas and slums, and to find the factors associated with their mental health problems. A sample of 187 boys and 137 girls from non-slum areas, and 157 boys and 121 girls from slums, between 11-18 years old were interviewed with a questionnaire consisting of a Bangla translation of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument (WHOQOL-BREF), Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ), Youth Self-Report (YSR) and other questions. The height and weight of the respondents were measured. All significant differences in demographic characteristics, anthropometric measures, and WHOQOL-BREF were found to reflect worse conditions in slum than in non-slum areas. Contrarily, all differences in SRQ and YSR were worse in non-slum areas for both genders, except that the "conduct problems" score for YSR was worse for slum boys. Mental states were mainly associated with school enrollment and working status. Worse physical environment and QOL were found in slums, along with gender and area specific mental health difficulties. The results suggest gender specific needs and a requirement for area sensitive countermeasures.

Comparison of high-functioning atypical autism and childhood autism by Childhood Autism Rating Scale-Tokyo version.

To assess autistic symptom differences between high-functioning atypical autism (atypical symptomatology) (HAA; IQ >/= 70) and childhood autism (HCA), 53 HAA children (mean: 6.0 +/- 0.5 years) were compared with 21 HCA children (mean: 8.2 +/- 1.1 years) on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale-Tokyo version (CARS-TV). Because IQ on the Japanese version of the Stanford-Binet and CARS-TV total scores differed significantly between HAA and HCA, analysis of covariance was conducted with IQ and CARS-TV total scores controlled for. In two items of CARS-TV (relationship with people and general impressions) the HAA children were significantly less abnormal than the HCA children. Affect tended to be significantly milder in HAA than HCA. Anxiety reaction was significantly more abnormal in HAA than HCA. These findings may be useful to distinguish between HAA and HCA.