Special Report-Mental Health and Human Rights in Cambodia (original) (raw)
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Development of mental healthcare in Cambodia: barriers and opportunities
2020
Background Despite the increasing recognition globally of the importance of mental health for sustainable development, significant barriers remain to developing mental health services in low- and middle-income countries. This study explored the particular barriers and opportunities for developing mental health services in Cambodia and how these compared with those described in other low- and middle-income countries. Methods For this qualitative study, 18 experienced mental health professionals from different disciplines were selected using purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in Phnom Penh and thematic analysis of the data was completed. Results Five key themes were identified: (1) Prioritising mental health in Cambodia, (2) Strengthening collaborations between mental health stakeholders, (3) Developing a mental healthcare model appropriate for the Cambodian culture and context, (4) Increasing the quantity and (5) Improving the quality of mental healthcare...
Starting mental health services in Cambodia
Social Science & …, 1999
Cambodia has undergone massive psychosocial trauma in the last few decades, but has had virtually no westernstyle mental health services. For the ®rst time in Cambodia a number of mental health clinics in rural areas have been started. This experience is used to discuss the risks and opportunities in introducing these services in the present war-torn situation. Basic statistics from the clinics are presented in the context of the historical and traditional setting, and the eort to maintain a culturally informed approach is described. The contrasting results in the clinics are analyzed in relation to factors intrinsic to the health care system and those related to the local population in order to highlight the issues involved in establishing future mental health services, both locally in other provinces and in situations similar to Cambodia. The ecacy of introducing low-cost, basic mental health care is shown, and related to the need to ®nd solutions for prevailing problems on the psychosocial level. They can be introduced with modest means, and can be complementary to local health beliefs and traditional healing. In introducing mental health services, an approach is needed which adapts to the absorption potential of the health system as well as to the patients' need to ®nd meaningful help. Existing resources, from the traditional healing sector to rudimentary village structures, cannot be neglected in the rehabilitation of the community, or in interventions to help the individual patient. #
Mental health in primary health care in a rural district of Cambodia: a situational analysis
International journal of mental health systems, 2018
While mental and substance use disorders are common worldwide, the treatment gap is enormous in low and middle income countries. Primary health care is considered to be the most important way for people to get mental health care. Cambodia is a country with a long history of war and has poor mental health and limited resources for care. The aim of this study was to conduct a situational analysis of the mental health services in the rural district of Lvea Em, Kandal Province, Cambodia. A cross-sectional situational analysis was done to understand the mental health situation in Lvea Em District comparing it with the national one. The Programme for improving mental health care (PRIME) tool was used to collect systematic information about mental health care from 14 key informants in Cambodia. In addition, a separate questionnaire based on the PRIME tool was developed for the district health care centres (12 respondents). Ethical approval was obtained from the National Ethics Committee fo...
Mental health policy development: case study of Cambodia
Australasian Psychiatry, 2005
To identify key issues in the mental health policy development process in Cambodia that will contribute to an increased understanding of how mental health policy gets on the public policy agenda, how it stays there and why policy implementation fails or succeeds. The research was formative because mental health policy analysis is a young and newly emerging discipline.
The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia
The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia, 2015
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia offers a comprehensive overview of the current situation in the country, providing a broad coverage of social, cultural, political and economic developments within both rural and urban contexts during the last decade. Cambodia has undergone a rapid transformation in the years since the UNTAC mission of the early 1990s, and it seems necessary to take stock and explore the dimensions of these significant shifts in a country now garnering global media attention. From the violence of its (still) disputed 2013 elections, the protests of garment workers calling for higher pay on the global assembly line, to the widespread reality of forced evictions attracting international condemnation, it is an apposite time for an essential guide to examine these and other injustices which mark out the contemporary landscape of Cambodia. With proposed contributions from over 35 leading Cambodia scholars, the Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia will offer a systematic overview of Cambodia’s political-economic tensions, rural developments, urban conflicts, social processes and cultural currents. Numerous books have been published on Cambodia, including important edited volumes, but none of these contributions have attempted to bring the diverse scope and wide-ranging coverage that we plan to incorporate here. Most of the edited volumes and monographs on Cambodia that have been published to date have a very specific thematic focus, either on particular empirical case studies, or alternatively attempt to wrestle with a specific historical concern. In contrast, the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia aims to provide the first comprehensive overview of the state of the field today. With authors working at institutions spread across the globe, the Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia will offer a thorough examination of how contemporary Cambodia is understood by social scientists working from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. Our goal is to advance the established and emergent debates in a field of study that has changed rapidly in the past ten years. In short, the Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia will intervene by both outlining how understandings of sociocultural and political economic processes in Cambodia have evolved and by exploring new research agendas that we hope will inform policy making and activism. The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia will include a substantive introductory chapter and six main thematic sections. By presenting a comprehensive examination of the field, this edited volume will serve as an invaluable resource for undergraduates, grad students, and professional scholars alike. We envision the book as both a teaching guide and a reference for Asian studies scholars, human geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, and critical economists.
Journal of mental health (Abingdon, England), 2018
Reliable population-based epidemiological data of Cambodian mental health is lacking. This study identifies the prevalence of and factors associated with anxiety, depression and PTSD in Cambodian adults. A nationally representative sample of Cambodian adults (N = 2690) was interviewed utilizing the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (assessment of PTSD symptoms) and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (assessment of symptoms of anxiety and depression). Respondents expressed high rates of anxiety (27.4%), depression (16.7%) and PTSD (7.6%). Correlations between symptoms and sociodemographic markers varied in significance. Women had significantly higher rates of mental health symptoms than men. Women who were in debt, widowed or divorced and had low levels of education were the most likely to report symptoms. These findings can inform Cambodian mental health policies and development strategies, especially targeting the most vulnerable groups.