RESEARCH ARTICLE


Expulsion from the Motherland: Association between Depression & Health-Related Quality of Life for Ethnic Rohingya Living with Refugee Status in Bangladesh



K M Amran Hossain1, Lori M. Walton2, S. M. Yasir Arafat3, Nidiorin Maybee4, Rubel Hossen Sarker5, Shahoriar Ahmed6, *, Feroz Kabir7
1 Department of Physiotherapy, Bangladesh Health Professions Institute (BHPI), Savar Union, Bangladesh
2 Departmnt of Physiotherapy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE
3 Department of Psychiatry, Enam Medical College and Hospital, Savar Union, Bangladesh
4 Department of Physiotherapy, Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Dhaka, Bangladesh
5 Department of Rehabilitation, Rohingya Humanitarian Responses, Handicap International (Humanity and Inclusion), Dhaka, Bangladesh
6 Department of Physiotherapy, Bangladesh Physiotherapy Association (BPA), Dhaka, Bangladesh
7 Department of Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation, Jashore University of Science & Technology (JUST), Jeshore, Bangladesh


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Creative Commons License
© 2020 Hossain et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Physiotherapy, Bangladesh Physiotherapy Association (BPA), Dhaka, Bangladesh; Tel: +8801794859401; E-mail: physio.shahoriar@gmail.com


Abstract

Background:

The Rohingyas are an ethnic minority group from Myanmar who have experienced severe forms of violence such as murder, rape, humanitarian defilement and forcible expellation from their motherland. Exposure to trauma has a long-lasting impact on psychological well-being and Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL).

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of depression and association with HRQoL for Rohingya displaced persons.

Methodology:

This was a prospective, cross-sectional study in two refugee camps in Southern Bangladesh, with a structured and language validated questionnaire.

Results:

The study indicates the prevalence of depression was 70% (n=150 respondents), with 8.7% reporting “severe depression” in PHQ-9. WHOQOL-BREF scores were inversely associated with symptoms on the depression scale with a strong and significant correlation (r= 0.652; p<0.01) in total and physical health; psychological (r= 0.757, p<0.01), social relationship (r= 0.479, p<0.01), environment (r= 0.443, p<0.01), increasing age (r= 0.272, p<0.01), severity of depression (r= 0.489, p<0.01). Furthermore, there was a statistically significant correlation with overall quality of life with same variables subsequently (r =0.600, 0.309, 0.482, 0.170, 0.103, 0.272, 0.339; p<0.01), also correlation was observed between married individuals and severity of depression in PHQ (r= 0.346), physical state (r= 0.353), psychological state (r= 0.358), and with social relationship (r= 0.435), with statistical significance (p= <0.01).

Conclusion:

There are higher incidence rates of moderate to severe depression than the population norms and low health-related quality of life than published population norms for Rohingya displaced persons living in refugee camps. Depression rates were inversely associated with HRQoL for Rohingya displaced persons living in refugee camps. Future research may consider the prevention of related medical issues for long term program implementation.

Keywords: Rohingya, Refugee, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), WHO-QOL BREF, Depression, Psychological state.