BACKGROUND: Higher sense of coherence (SOC) has been associated with lower depression in Western societies; however, it is not clear whether this association manifests similarly in non-Western cultural contexts. AIMS: To examine the associations between different levels of SOC and depressive symptoms (DS) among indigenous-minority Arab Bedouin women in Israel and explore possible explanatory variables for this association. METHODS: We conducted face-to-face interviews with 464 women (aged 18-49 years). DS was measured based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. We used the SOC-13 questionnaire and conducted path analysis using Structural Equation Modeling to examine the contribution of two levels of SOC (low/high) to predict DS beyond psychological resources and socioeconomic position. RESULTS: The mean score of SOC was 3.42, standard deviation (SD) = 1.15. While high SOC (mean = 4.38, SD = 0.66, range = 3.5-6.38) was positively and significantly associated with DS (r = 0.46), SOC was not associated (r = 0.02) with DS in the low SOC group (mean = 2.4, SD = 0.56, range = 1-3.42). CONCLUSIONS: Relationships between high versus low SOC and DS among Bedouin women differ from those found in Western societies. This raises questions about the use of SOC as a universal tool in different cultural contexts.
BACKGROUND: Higher sense of coherence (SOC) has been associated with lower depression in Western societies; however, it is not clear whether this association manifests similarly in non-Western cultural contexts. AIMS: To examine the associations between different levels of SOC and depressive symptoms (DS) among indigenous-minority Arab Bedouin women in Israel and explore possible explanatory variables for this association. METHODS: We conducted face-to-face interviews with 464 women (aged 18-49 years). DS was measured based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. We used the SOC-13 questionnaire and conducted path analysis using Structural Equation Modeling to examine the contribution of two levels of SOC (low/high) to predict DS beyond psychological resources and socioeconomic position. RESULTS: The mean score of SOC was 3.42, standard deviation (SD) = 1.15. While high SOC (mean = 4.38, SD = 0.66, range = 3.5-6.38) was positively and significantly associated with DS (r = 0.46), SOC was not associated (r = 0.02) with DS in the low SOC group (mean = 2.4, SD = 0.56, range = 1-3.42). CONCLUSIONS: Relationships between high versus low SOC and DS among Bedouin women differ from those found in Western societies. This raises questions about the use of SOC as a universal tool in different cultural contexts.
Entities:
Keywords:
Depressive symptoms; minority women; sense of coherence; specific cultural context; universal
Authors: Orna Braun-Lewensohn; Sarah Abu-Kaf; Khaled Al-Said; Ephrat Huss Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2019-03-05 Impact factor: 3.390