A qualitative study of cultural concepts of distress among Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Rohingya refugees residing in Bangladesh have been exposed to profound trauma in addition to ongoing daily stressors of living in the refugee camps. Accurate assessments of mental health burden and their impact among this population require culturally sensitive tools that remain lacking in this context. The purpose of this study was to characterize salient cultural concepts of distress (CCDs), their causes, consequences, and approaches to treatment, among Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, to help inform future measurement and intervention design.

Between December 2020 and March 2022, 106 free-listing interviews and 10 key informant interviews were conducted with community members to identify and better understand common CCDs. Rohingya research staff analyzed the interview transcripts by tabulating the frequency of unique CCDs in the free-listing interviews and the unique attributed causes, signs, consequences, and treatment strategies for each CCD in the key informant interviews.

In total, five CCDs were identified: tenshon (tension), bishi sinta (excessive thinking), feshar (pressure), gum zai nofara (unable to sleep), and shoit-shoit lagon (feeling restless and/or trapped). Although the five CCDs had overlapping symptoms, they also had unique presentation, consequences, and preferred strategies for treatment that may impact service-seeking behavior. Three out of the five CCDs were considered life-threatening, if severe and left untreated.

The five CCDs identified are culturally salient ways of experiencing and communicating distress within this community but are not adequately captured in existing mental health assessments for this population. This may negatively impact programmatic efforts among the group.