Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39784482›Full record

SynthesisTranscultural psychiatry2025

Explanatory models of common mental disorders among South Asians in high-income countries: A systematic review.

Ruchika Jain, Ritsuko Kakuma, Daisy R Singla, Kirsty Andresen, Khawater Bahkali, Abhijit Nadkarni

Abstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Transcultural psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Ruchika JainDepartment of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-5619-9122
Ritsuko KakumaDepartment of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Daisy R SinglaCampbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.
Kirsty AndresenDepartment of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Khawater BahkaliDepartment of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Abhijit NadkarniDepartment of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-5832-5236

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mental health service use by individuals of South Asian origin living outside of South Asia is influenced by cultural factors such as endorsing psycho-social-spiritual over biological explanations, somatisation, and stigma. The aim of this review is to synthesise the evidence about (a) explanatory models of common mental disorders (CMDs) among people of South Asian origin residing in high-income countries, and (b) their help-seeking for CMDs, including formal and informal care. The systematic review protocol was registered a priori on Prospero (registration number CRD42021287583). We ran extensive searches on explanatory models and help-seeking of people of South Asian origin across five databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), PsycINFO, and Global Health). We extracted the data and conducted a narrative synthesis. We included 33 reports and 29 studies (9,030 participants). The participants in the included studies viewed CMDs through a psychosocial rather than a biological lens (e.g., resulting from family issues vs. neurotransmitters). Causal attributions included life stressors and attitudinal and religious/spiritual factors. Commonly used help-seeking strategies included private coping (i.e., crying or praying), speaking to friends and family, and visiting their General Practitioner. We can conclude that cultural factors play an important role in how South Asian individuals experience and understand CMDs. To cope, they use pluralistic help-seeking strategies. Implications for clinical practice and policy include increasing research on the explanatory models of CMDs, involving family in services, and developing community-based interventions for individuals who do not engage with formal care.

Indexed as

Mental DisordersPatient Acceptance of Health CareSouth Asian PeopleAsiaDeveloped CountriesHumansMental Health Servicescultureexplanatory modelmental healthqualitative researchSouth Asiansystematic review

Identifiers

PMID39784482
PMCPMC12130613

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.